Author: Claudinne Miller
Colorado: An emergency room physician describes why the 2025-26 flu season is hitting hard
The Conversation Colorado is in the midst of a record-breaking flu season. In the week ending Dec. 27, 2025, 831 people were hospitalized with influenza – the most since the state started tracking flu cases two decades ago. Hospitalizations eased the following week to 737 but still remain higher than prior years. Colorado is among the top five states with the […]
Jan 14, 2026
Viruses may be more powerful in the International Space Station’s microgravity environment
Space Microgravity pushed evolution into corners of the phage we still don’t fully understand” The International Space Station (ISS) is a closed ecosystem, and the biology inside it — including its microbial residents — don’t necessarily behave the same way on our home planet. To better understand how microbes may act differently in space, researchers at the […]
Jan 14, 2026
Poultry farms need an avian flu emergency preparedness plan
Watt Poultry Commercial poultry operations should have an avian influenza emergency preparedness plan as a tool to protect the health and safety of workers, veterinarians and anyone else who comes into contact with poultry. Matthew Spencer, U.S. Poultry & Egg Association vice president of HR and safety programs, highlighted basic requirements of such an emergency preparedness plan during the […]
Jan 14, 2026
The expanding H5N1 avian influenza panzootic causes high mortality of skuas in Antarctica
Nature High pathogenicity avian influenza virus H5N1 subtype (H5N1 HPAIV), clade 2.3.4.4b, is expanding its host and geographical range, and invaded Antarctica in 2023. Although mortality in Antarctic wildlife from H5N1 HPAIV has been suspected, mainly based on virological analysis of swabs collected from dead animals, it has not been unequivocally diagnosed. Here we show […]
Jan 14, 2026
The Flu Really Is That Bad
The Atlantic The virus is storming the country, a reminder of how terrible its toll can be. The flu situation in the United States right now is, in a word, bad. Infections have skyrocketed in recent weeks, filling hospitals nearly to capacity; viral levels are “high” or “very high” in most of the country. In […]
Jan 14, 2026
The Best Flu Drug Americans Aren’t Taking
The Atlantic This flu season has been rough. Antivirals can help. Antiviral drugs for influenza, the best known of which is Tamiflu, are—let’s be honest—not exactly miracle cures. They marginally shorten the course of illness, especially if taken within the first 48 hours. But amid possibly the worst flu season in 25 years, driven by […]
Jan 14, 2026
South Carolina confirms 124 new measles cases as outbreak on the Arizona-Utah line grows
AP Health officials in South Carolina confirmed 124 new measles cases since Friday, as the outbreak in the northwestern part of the state balloons following the holidays. There is a second, separate measles outbreak along the Arizona-Utah border, where 418 people have been infected since August. Last year was the nation’s worst year for measles spread since […]
Jan 14, 2026
Medical Groups Will Try to Block Childhood Vaccine Recommendations
NYT The groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, say the C.D.C.’s revised vaccine schedule is not based on scientific evidence and will harm the public. Six leading medical organizations plan to ask the courts to throw out revisions to the childhood vaccination schedule announced last week by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and […]
Jan 14, 2026
Nonmedical Childhood Vaccination Exemptions Are Climbing
MedPageToday Nonmedical exemptions to childhood vaccination requirements are on the rise, with substantial variation among U.S. counties and states, an analysis of county-level data showed. The median rate of nonmedical vaccination exemptions for personal beliefs or religious reasons increased from 0.6% in 2010-2011 to 3.1% in 2023-2024, while the rate of medical exemptions remained steady, […]
Jan 14, 2026
New RFK Jr. pick for vaccine panel: ‘I was not anti-vaccine. I am now.’
Washington Post Two OB/GYNs appointed to an influential federal vaccine advisory panel have criticized vaccination during pregnancy and more broadly. One called the vaccine industry “disgusting.” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday expanded a key federal vaccine advisory panel to include more critics of vaccines who have contradicted mainstream medical guidance, including one […]
Jan 14, 2026