Author: Claudinne Miller
Second measles death reported in ongoing outbreak
NBC An unvaccinated adult in New Mexico tested positive for the measles virus after their death, the state Health Department said. The New Mexico Department of Health said Thursday that the state had its first measles death. A person in New Mexico tested positive for the measles virus after death, the state Health Department said. The official […]
Mar 11, 2025
Texas measles cases grow to 223, mostly among children and teens
ABC News The measles outbreak in western Texas is continuing to grow with 25 cases confirmed over the last five days, bringing the total to 223 cases, according to new data published Tuesday. Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, with 80 unvaccinated and 138 […]
Mar 11, 2025
NIH to terminate or limit grants related to vaccine hesitancy and uptake
Washington Post The order covers more than 40 awards to researchers around the country seeking to understand why vaccine acceptance has declined. The National Institutes of Health will cancel or cut back dozens of grants for research on why some people are reluctant to be vaccinated and how to increase acceptance of vaccines, according to an internal […]
Mar 11, 2025
Kennedy Links Measles Outbreak to Poor Diet and Health, Citing Fringe Theories
NYT In a recent interview, the health secretary also suggested that the measles vaccine had harmed children in West Texas, center of an outbreak. In a sweeping interview, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, outlined a strategy for containing the measles outbreak in West Texas that strayed far from mainstream science, relying […]
Mar 11, 2025
Roald Dahl’s Heartbreaking Letter About Losing his Daughter in 1962
Brain Food Roald Dahl, the beloved author of my personal favorites Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and The BFG, lost his eldest daughter, Olivia, to measles in the early 60s. It wasn’t until 1988, however, that he penned a remarkable letter that doubles as a plea to parents, urging them to have their children vaccinated. The letter is […]
Mar 5, 2025
New mutant mpox strain discovered in the DRC
Telegraph A mutation of an older variant that may feature enhanced transmissibility is giving scientists cause for concern. A new variant of mpox that may be better adapted to spread between people has been identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The new strain is a mutation of Clade 1a mpox – an older variant […]
Mar 5, 2025
DR Congo conflict: 500 mpox patients flee clinics after rebel looting
BBC More than 500 mpox patients have fled clinics in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo over the last month amid the current conflict. Officials at Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), a leading health agency on the continent, have said they are worried as the missing patients risk spreading the highly contagious […]
Mar 5, 2025
Avian flu was in Oregon wastewater weeks before state’s first bird outbreaks, study shows
CIDRAP A retrospective analysis reveals that H5 avian flu surfaced in Oregon wastewater weeks before the state’s first outbreak in poultry and wild birds and 2 years before the first outbreak in US cattle. A team led by Oregon State University researchers evaluated 551 influenza A virus–positive wastewater samples from 20 sites from September 2021 to July […]
Mar 5, 2025
The US Is Withdrawing From Global Health at a Dangerous Time
Bloomberg To keep an eye on some of the world’s most dangerous infectious diseases, scientists rely on reports from the Global Measles and Rubella Laboratory Network. Known affectionately as Gremlin, it’s a grouping of more than 700 international labs that test about 500,000 patient samples annually. Gremlin monitors the prevalence of a huge range of pathogens […]
Mar 5, 2025