Medicine

CNN reports: A measles outbreak in Texas has grown to 159 cases, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it is now on the ground in that state to respond. The agency posted on X that it’s partnering with the Texas Department of State Health Services. Speaking to Fox News on Tuesday, U.S. Health and Human Services …

Courthouse News reports: A New York State law requiring Amish students to receive vaccinations does not violate those students’ constitutional rights, a Second Circuit panel ruled Monday. The case, which the panel heard this past November, had been brought by three Amish community schools that were fined in 2019 for failing to comply with state-mandated school vaccinations. The schools and …

HHS Sec. Robert Kennedy writes for Fox News: As the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I am deeply concerned about the recent measles outbreak. This situation has escalated rapidly, with the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) reporting 146 confirmed cases since late January 2025, primarily in the South Plains region. Tragically, this outbreak …

Ars Technica reports: A Texas health authority is warning against “measles parties” as the outbreak in West Texas grew to at least 146 cases, with 20 hospitalized and one unvaccinated school-age child dead. In a press briefing hosted by the city of Lubbock, Texas, Ron Cook, chief health officer at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, offered …

The Huffington Post reports: Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been prohibited from co-authoring publications with World Health Organization staff, dealing a blow to global research efforts and continuing the Trump administration’s aggressive attack on government-funded science. “CDC staff should not be co-authors on manuscripts/abstracts with WHO staff,” an interim guidance document dated Thursday and obtained …

Houston’s ABC affiliate reports: On Friday morning, the state reported that 146 cases in nine counties have been identified since late January. Twenty of the patients have been hospitalized, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., , said Wednesday that HHS is watching cases and dismissed the Texas outbreak as “not unusual.” He appeared to misstate a number of facts, including a claim …

Axios reports: The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is having a huge impact on cervical cancer prevention among young women, a U.S. government report published Thursday suggests. The CDC report shows that rates of precancerous lesions among women aged 20-24 screened for cervical cancer dropped by about 80% from 2008 to 2022. The report comes just days after Robert F. Kennedy …

ABC News reports: More measles cases are being confirmed across the United States as health officials work to treat patients in an ongoing outbreak in Texas. The Kentucky Department for Public Health announced on Wednesday a confirmed case of measles in an adult resident, the first in the state in two years. The departments said the resident recently traveled internationally …

The New York Times reports: A panel of scientific experts that advises the Food and Drug Administration on vaccine policy — and that has been the target of criticism from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — learned on Wednesday that its upcoming meeting to discuss next year’s flu vaccines had been canceled. The F.D.A. sent an email to members …

The Associated Press reports: A person who was hospitalized with measles has died from measles in West Texas, the first death in an outbreak that began late last month. Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center spokesperson Melissa Whitfield confirmed the death Wednesday. It wasn’t clear the age of the patient, who died overnight. Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock didn’t immediately …

The Birmingham News reports: The families of men who died in Alabama prisons and were returned without all of their organs sat in court Tuesday, watching as lawyers for the University of Alabama at Birmingham argued that the school’s contract allowed them to keep organs after autopsies. The hearing had mentions of Nazi Germany, rats, artificial intelligence and illegal organ …

ABC News reports: A measles outbreak in Texas is continuing to grow, reaching 124 cases, new data released Tuesday shows. Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, and 18 people have been hospitalized so far, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). Five cases included those who have …

Austin’s Fox affiliate reports: The Hays County Health Department was notified about the potential for exposure of residents to a person who tested positive for measles by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). The person who tested positive for measles is a Gaines County resident who visited San Marcos on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025 from 3 p.m. to …

The Austin Statesman reports: A fast-growing measles outbreak in West Texas has nearly doubled in just one week, now totaling 90 cases across seven counties and spreading to New Mexico. Earlier this week, the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed 49 cases in five counties. The outbreak began about three weeks ago with two cases among unvaccinated children. Most cases …

The New Republic reports: On February 8, German newsmagazine Der Spiegel reported that the Max Planck Society—one of the world’s top scientific research institutions—is experiencing an uptick in applications from American scientists. Its president said the society regards the U.S. as “a new talent pool” at a time when the Trump administration seeks to cut billions in funding to the …

The Texas Tribune reports: An outbreak of measles in West Texas has grown to 58 cases, including four patients who said they were vaccinated against the disease. Ten more cases were added to the count Tuesday, including for the first time the four who self-reported they were vaccinated against the disease, according to the agency’s latest update. Health investigators are …

CNN reports:  The US Department of Agriculture last week issued a conditional license for an avian flu vaccine for use in chickens, amid an outbreak ravaging poultry flocks, contributing to the sky-high price of eggs. Zoetis, the manufacturer behind the vaccine, announced the conditional approval. “We’ve been working with the administration and with Congress, and we’re very excited today to get …

Cincinnati’s CBS affiliate reports: Ken Long, a 54-year-old veteran from Eaton, has been denied a heart transplant at Christ Hospital due to his refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Long, who was diagnosed with congestive heart failure nearly a year ago, believes the decision is based on his vaccination status.  “I don’t want to die because I got a granddaughter and …

Mother Jones reports: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has issued a statement that laid out sweeping plans for his first 100 days in office. Chief among his goals, he wrote, was to combat what he called a “growing health crisis” of chronic disease.  The government, he said, would “assess the prevalence of and threat posed by the prescription of selective serotonin reuptake …

The Associated Press reports: Nearly 1,300 probationary employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — roughly one-tenth of the agency’s workforce — are being forced out under the Trump administration’s move to get rid of all probationary employees. The Atlanta-based agency’s leadership was notified of the decision Friday morning. The verbal notice came from the U.S. Department of …