Congo’s Ebola Outbreak Passes 10,000 Confirmed Cases
The Bundibugyo outbreak is the fastest-growing in the country’s history, and no licensed vaccine exists for this strain.
Health
Public health, medicine, outbreaks and health policy. News, not medical advice.
Public Health
CDC’s Chief Medical Officer Is Leaving After a Few Months in the Job
Jennifer Shuford, the former Texas health commissioner who led that state through a major measles outbreak, cited family reasons. Her exit adds to steady turnover at the top of federal health agencies.
Public Health
CDC Report Says Drug-Resistant Germs Cause About 50,800 Deaths a Year
The agency’s updated threat assessment estimates 9.7 million resistant infections annually and lists a fungus that spreads in hospitals among the most urgent dangers.
Medicare
Medicare Advantage Plans Pull Back, Leaving Seniors With Fewer Choices for 2027
Insurers are closing plans in many markets, and nearly 200 mostly rural counties will have none at all. Open enrollment runs through December 7.
Cancer Research
Personalized mRNA Vaccine Cuts Melanoma Recurrence in Large Trial
Adding a custom-made vaccine to standard immunotherapy reduced the risk of the cancer returning or death by 42 percent at about two years, a result the companies call the first of its kind in a late-stage trial.
Public Health
Measles Cases Pass 4,400 as Experts Question How the CDC Reports Deaths
The national count is roughly double last year’s, with Pennsylvania the center of the outbreak. Public health experts say the agency has become less forthcoming about where people are dying.
Global Health
Nigeria Confirms First Ebola Case in 12 Years, Tied to Central African Outbreak
Health officials are monitoring 44 contacts of a traveler who fell ill after arriving from Uganda. The World Health Organization urged countries in the region to stay ready but advised against travel restrictions.
Vaccines
Nearly Half of Parents Wrongly Think Spacing Out Shots Is Healthier, Poll Finds
A KFF survey finds strong support for the measles vaccine across party lines, but sharp partisan splits on vaccine scheduling and falling confidence in COVID-19 shots during pregnancy.
Public Health
Measles Cases Near Double Last Year’s Total as Vaccine Policy Enters the Race
The country has recorded more than 4,400 cases this year, the most in decades. Two former Republican congressmen who are physicians warn that their party’s mixed signals on vaccines are hurting public health and its candidates.
Recovery
Pope Leo XIV Returns to Public View After Surgery for a Lung Tumor
Released from a Rome hospital on Saturday, the 71-year-old pope is due to lead the Sunday Angelus, and his surgeon says recovery should take a couple of weeks.
Health Care
Mental Health Patients With Insurance Often Hit Ghost Networks, Study Finds
Researchers posing as patients called thousands of psychiatrists and psychologists listed by commercial insurers. Only about a quarter of the calls that reached a person produced an appointment with the listed clinician.
Aging
Frequent Daytime Napping Linked to Higher Dementia Risk in Older Adults
A decade-long study of nearly 1,000 Medicare beneficiaries found that people who napped most days were more likely to develop dementia, though researchers say the naps may be a symptom rather than a cause.
Drug Policy
HHS Moves to Let Pharmacies Make Popular Peptides the FDA Had Deemed Too Risky
An interim policy sent to the White House would reportedly let compounding pharmacies make some injectable peptides, including BPC-157, without fear of enforcement. FDA scientists have said none have been studied enough to establish safety.
Prescription Drugs
Customs Delays Mail Rule Patient Groups Say Could Cut Off Canadian Medicines
New entry and data requirements for international postal packages were set to take effect Oct. 22. Customs and Border Protection pushed the deadline back 90 days, to Jan. 20.
Drug Safety
Study Ties Many Patient Voices on FDA Panels to Drug-Industry-Funded Groups
Researchers found that nearly 4 in 10 drug advisory meetings over a decade included a patient or consumer representative linked to an advocacy group that takes pharmaceutical money. Most of those ties were never disclosed at the meetings.
Measles
As Measles Cases Climb, Many Adults Ask Whether They Need Another MMR Shot
Most people vaccinated as children are well protected, but some adults, including many immunized in the 1960s, may need another dose, health officials say.
Health
Pope Leo XIV Says He Will Have Surgery to Remove a Small Lung Nodule
The 71-year-old pontiff said doctors found the growth at a very early stage. The Vatican expects the operation early this week and about a week of recovery.
Medicine
As GLP-1 Use Soars, Lawsuits Press How Common Serious Side Effects Are
Thousands of patients say drugmakers failed to warn them about rare harms, including a form of vision loss. The companies say the cases lack merit, and regulators are still studying the risk.
Public Health
Measles Cases in the United States Top 4,000, Far Past Last Year’s Record
Federal data show 95 percent of patients were unvaccinated or of unknown status. A Pennsylvania outbreak centered in Plain communities has passed 1,000 cases, and New York has declared an emergency.
Ebola
Kenya’s First Ebola Case Raises Questions About Border Screening
A Kenyan man who fell ill in Congo traveled by road and air through Uganda to Nairobi before he was diagnosed. Health officials are tracing dozens of contacts as the Congo outbreak spreads.
Medicine
Gene Therapy Built on This Year’s Medicine Nobel Partly Restores Sight
Ten people blinded by retinitis pigmentosa received an eye injection and special goggles. Six gained meaningful light sensitivity, researchers report, though none can yet make out faces.
Global Health
Plague Lab Worker’s Death in Siberia Prompts Quarantines and Calls for Openness
Russian health officials blame pneumonia of unknown cause and deny a lab accident, while the State Department and CDC say they are watching closely.
Nobel Prizes
Medicine Nobel Goes to Three Scientists Who Switched Brain Cells On With Light
Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel are honored for discovering light-sensitive proteins in algae and turning them into optogenetics, now a standard tool of brain research.
Public Health
Pennsylvania Braces for Wider Spread as Measles Cases Near 1,000
County officials expect the outbreak centered in Lancaster County to move into new communities, in a year that is already the nation’s worst for measles in decades.
Global Health
Global Life Expectancy Nearly Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels, WHO Says
People worldwide could expect to live about 73.3 years in 2023, the World Health Organization reported, but years lived in good health are recovering more slowly and chronic diseases now cause three in four deaths.
Vaccines
Shingles Falls Sharply in the First Generation Vaccinated Against Chickenpox
An analysis of health records for more than 85 million American adults found shingles rates more than halved among people in their late 20s, the first group eligible for the childhood shot.
Brain Health
Large Trial Finds Modest Cognitive Gains for Older Adults Who Kept Minds Busy
A year-long study of about 11,500 people aged 60 to 85 found that simple online support for reading, puzzles and social activity added small improvements on top of basic advice.
Public Health
Senate Panel Advances Nicole Saphier for Surgeon General
The radiologist and former Fox News contributor won committee approval on a party-line vote after telling senators that vaccines do not cause autism and that the measles shot is the best defense against the disease.
Medicine
Experimental Lilly Drug Produces Large Weight Loss in Type 2 Diabetes Patients
In a large late-stage trial published in The Lancet, retatrutide lowered blood sugar and cut body weight by about a fifth at higher doses. Lilly plans to seek approval early next year.
Food Safety
After a Summer of Outbreaks, Food Safety Becomes a Campaign Issue
A record cyclospora outbreak tied to lettuce and a salmonella outbreak tied to jalapenos have shaken shoppers. Democrats blame federal cuts; the administration says its record is strong.
