Medicine

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 …

The Washington Post reports: A report from the CDC published Thursday shows some veterinarians who provide care for cattle were unknowingly infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus last year. The report on the cattle veterinarians found that a small number who had been infected did not knowingly work with infected dairy herds or animals. The CDC tested the blood …

Axios reports: At least two dozen cases of measles have been reported in a single county in Texas over the past two weeks, in the latest sign the disease is rebounding amid falling vaccination rates. Public health experts say the spread of the highly contagious and potentially life-threatening disease is preventable, noting cases have surged in areas with high vaccination …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: Infectious disease specialists throughout Georgia have worked rapidly over the past few weeks to respond to a measles outbreak in the metro Atlanta area, according to the Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale Public Health Departments. At the Gwinnett County Board of Health meeting Monday, epidemiology program manager Keisha Francis-Christian provided more information about how local health agencies …

STAT News reports: Attorneys general representing 22 states sued the Trump administration on Monday, asking a federal judge to temporarily block a major policy change by the National Institutes of Health that would substantially limit payments for research overhead to universities, medical centers, and other grant recipients. In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, …

Spectrum News reports: DSHS reported eight of the cases are school-aged children and two are children under the age of 5. Health officials say seven of the patients have been hospitalized. According to data from the state, Gaines County has one of the highest percentages of vaccine exempt students from kindergarten through 12th grade. The South Plains Public Health District …

Axios reports: The National Institutes of Health sent shockwaves through academic research circles late Friday, saying it will dramatically cut the rate it pays for universities’ administration and overhead costs to save the government more than $4 billion. The reductions will particularly hit elite institutions including Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins and fulfill a long-sought conservative goal that was included …

Ars Technica reports: As of mid-day February 7, the outbreak total reached nine confirmed measles cases in the South Plains Public Health District (SPPHD) that includes Gaines County, according to Zach Holbrooks, Executive Director for SSPHD. In an interview with Ars, Holbrooks reported that there were three additional probable cases that are linked to the confirmed cases. Gaines County has …

The New York Times reports: Cats that became infected with bird flu might have spread the virus to humans in the same household and vice versa, according to data that briefly appeared online in a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but then abruptly vanished. The data appear to have been mistakenly posted but includes crucial information …

The New York Times reports: Dairy cows in Nevada have been infected with a new form of bird flu that is distinct from the version that has been spreading through herds over the last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Wednesday. The finding indicates that the virus, known as H5N1, has spilled from birds into cows at least …

Reuters reports: Medical advocacy group Doctors for America on Tuesday sued the main U.S. health agencies over the sudden removal of websites containing “a broad range of health-related data and other information” after President Donald Trump took office. The lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C. federal court, names the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, Department of …

Axios reports: Dozens of newly confirmed cases of avian influenza in wild birds and the first verified U.S. case of a new strain of the virus are raising concern the bird flu crisis may be entering a troubling new phase. The outbreak is intensifying as the Trump administration maintains a pause on most external federal health agency communications, including publication …

CBS News reports: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took offline recommendations on how doctors should treat sexually transmitted infections and vaccinate adults Friday, as part of a sweeping purge of all mentions of “gender” from federal websites ordered by the Trump administration this week. “Doctors in every community in America rely on these treatment guidelines to know what …

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports: An ongoing tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas has become the largest in recorded history in the United States. “Currently, Kansas has the largest outbreak that they’ve ever had in history,” Ashley Goss, a deputy secretary at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, told the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee on Tuesday. As of Jan. 17, …