California health departments are fighting to contain measles outbreaks as cases rise and resources shrink. Investigating communicable diseases is time-intensive and expensive. Officials say teams have about 72 hours after a positive case to find exposed people and stop spread. Nurses trace contacts, order quarantine, or give post-exposure medicine. They then monitor people for 21 days. Experts say measles spreads fast and hangs in the air for hours. California has high vaccination rates overall, but unvaccinated pockets drive outbreaks. The outbreaks are occurring as local health departments also face major funding cuts and staffing losses.
New options for testing and treating some of the most common sexually transmitted diseases are becoming available. In the past year, U.S. health officials approved new home-based tests that can detect common infections like gonorrhea, chlamydia and HPV. The Food and Drug Administration also approved two new drugs for gonorrhea, the first new options in decades. Experts hope the trend toward access and convenience will keep downward pressure on infection rates. Cases of sexually transmitted diseases have been falling for several years after spiking during the COVID-19 pandemic.
By ALI SWENSON and LAURAN NEERGAARD Associated Press
The U.S. has taken the unprecedented step of dropping the number of vaccines it recommends for every child — leaving other immunizations, such as flu shots, open to families to choose but without clear guidance. Officials say the overhaul to the federal vaccine schedule, announced Monday, won't result in any families losing access or insurance coverage for vaccines, but medical experts are slamming the move, saying it could lead to reduced uptake of important vaccinations and increase disease.
It's one of medicine's biggest mysteries — why sometimes our immune system attacks our own bodies. Autoimmune diseases affect as many as 50 million Americans and millions more worldwide. They're hard to diagnose and treat, and they're on the rise. A Massachusetts woman's journey with one named lupus — called the disease of 1,000 faces for its baffling variety of symptoms — offers a snapshot of the burden. Now researchers are decoding the biology behind these debilitating diseases in hopes of eventually treating the causes, not just the symptoms.
A mosquito-borne virus more common in South America has been detected in the United States. Health officials say the chikungunya virus has been identified in a patient living in the suburbs of New York City who began experiencing symptoms in August. Authorities say it's the first locally acquired case identified in any state since 2015, meaning the patient didn't travel outside the country before becoming infected. It's also the first locally acquired case that New York has ever seen. Chikungunya typically produces symptoms including fever, muscle pain, nausea, fatigue and a rash.
