Category: Public Health

A Secret Weapon in Preventing the Next Pandemic: Fruit Bats

New research links habitat destruction with the spillover of viruses from animals to humans.

Ohio measles outbreak is over, health officials say

An outbreak of measles a few months ago has now been reported to be over, according to Ohio’s Columbus City Health Department.

Tuberculosis patient's treatment refusal prompts court orders

Health officials in Washington state have filed numerous court orders requiring a woman with an active tuberculosis infection to isolate and receive treatment, NBC News reported Jan. 3. 

Tuberculosis patient's treatment refusal prompts court orders

Health officials in Washington state have filed numerous court orders requiring a woman with an active tuberculosis infection to isolate and receive treatment, NBC News reported Jan. 3. 

A Technicality Could Keep RSV Shots From Kids in Need

The Vaccines for Children program, which buys more than half the pediatric vaccines in the U.S., may not cover the RSV shot for babies because it’s not technically a vaccine.

Up to 56% of adults have received inappropriate antibiotics for bacterial infections: study

Up to 56 percent of U.S. adults received inappropriate antibiotics for common bacterial respiratory infections between 2016 and 2018, according to findings from researchers at Washington University in St. Louis. 

A new tool to reduce COVID-19 vaccine 'deserts'

Research released Feb. 2 and led by experts from Boston Children’s Hospital examined the widespread barrier of vaccine deserts, defined as geographic areas that are “more than a 15-minute drive to the closest active COVID-19 vaccination site.”

Flu positivity falls to 2%: 6 notes

Just 2 percent of more than 69,000 specimens tested for influenza at clinical laboratories in the U.S. were positive for the week ending Jan. 28, according to the CDC’s latest FluView report. During the height of the flu outbreak in early December, the…

COVID-19 admissions fall 8% this week: 7 CDC updates

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations fell nationwide this week, though the rate of decrease slowed compared to the week prior, according to the CDC’s COVID-19 data tracker weekly review published Feb. 3. 

Why the mpox outbreak only lasted 6 months: 3 notes for future infection crises

The highly infectious mpox virus, formerly called monkeypox, was declared a public health emergency in August and ended Jan. 31 thanks to an aggressive, highly coordinated public response, ABC News reported Feb. 2.