Author: Claudinne Miller
The Latest on Bird Flu in Humans, Chickens, and More
Scientific American Human Cases Within the past 10 days, three different states in the U.S. have reported new known and likely bird flu infections in humans: The first two are a confirmed case in a dairy worker in Nevada and a probable one in a farm worker in Ohio who had handled dead poultry. The third […]
Feb 19, 2025
Measles outbreak grows bigger in rural Texas, and officials expect more cases
NBC Out of the 58 new cases over the past three weeks, 13 people have been hospitalized. At least 58 new cases of measles have been reported across northwest Texas in recent weeks, state health officials said Tuesday, in a “highly contagious” outbreak that might be linked to lack of vaccination. A bulk of these new cases in […]
Feb 19, 2025
U.S. weighs destroying $500 million in stockpiled covid tests
Washington Post The government is reviewing proposals to shut down the program that ships free covid tests to American households and is considering destroying 160 million tests. The Trump administration has been evaluating the costs of destroying or disposing of tens of millions of coronavirus tests that would otherwise be provided free to Americans, according […]
Feb 18, 2025
The Next Pandemic May Come From Bats
Reuters Humanity is ramping up the risk of global health disasters by intruding deep into the world’s bat habitats, breeding grounds for deadly viruses. In this five-part series, Reuters pinpoints the places where the next outbreaks are likeliest. PART ONE: WEST AFRICA The world’s bat lands are under attack, seeding risk of a new pandemic. […]
Feb 18, 2025
USDA accidentally fired officials working on bird flu and is now trying to rehire them
NBC The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday that, over the weekend, it accidentally fired “several” agency employees who are working on the federal government’s response to the H5N1 avian flu outbreak. “Although several positions supporting [bird flu efforts] were notified of their terminations over the weekend, we are working to swiftly rectify the situation and […]
Feb 18, 2025
Zoetis Receives Conditional License from USDA for Avian Influenza Vaccine, H5N2 Subtype, Killed Virus, for Chickens
Zoetis Zoetis today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Center for Veterinary Biologics (CVB) has issued the company a conditional license for its Avian Influenza Vaccine, H5N2 Subtype, Killed Virus. The vaccine is labelled for use in chickens. The conditional license was granted on the demonstration of safety, purity, and reasonable expectation of […]
Feb 18, 2025
Flu deaths may have surpassed COVID deaths nationwide for first time since start of pandemic, early CDC data suggests
CBS News For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, more people in the U.S. died of influenza than from COVID-19 in the week ending on Jan. 25, according to weekly figures published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For the week ending on Jan. 25, nearly 1.7% of all deaths […]
Feb 18, 2025
As egg prices soar, Trump administration plans new strategy to fight bird flu
MSN With egg prices soaring, the Trump administration is planning a new strategy for fighting bird flu that stresses vaccinations and tighter biosecurity instead of killing off millions of chickens when the disease strikes a flock. The federal government will seek “better ways, with biosecurity and medication and so on” rather than the current standard practice of […]
Feb 18, 2025
Texas Measles Cases Are Up, and Now an Outbreak in New Mexico: What You Need to Know
MedPageToday State health officials say this is Texas’ largest outbreak in nearly 30 years. The measles outbreak in rural West Texas has grown to 58 cases as of Tuesday, and eight people in neighboring eastern New Mexico also have been diagnosed with measles. Public health officials in New Mexico have said they suspect some of the state’s […]
Feb 18, 2025
Texas measles cases are up, and New Mexico now has an outbreak. Here’s what you need to know
AP The measles outbreak in rural West Texas has grown to 58 cases as of Tuesday, and eight people in neighboring eastern New Mexico also have been diagnosed with measles. New Mexico health department spokesman Robert Nott said Tuesday that the agency hadn’t “identified any direct contact” between cases in its state and cases in Texas. Measles […]
Feb 18, 2025