Articles written by Mike Stobbe
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US measles cases are up in 2024. What's driving the increase?
Measles outbreaks in the U.S. and abroad are raising health experts' concern about the preventable, once-common childhood virus. One of the world's most contagious diseases, measles can lead to potentially serious complications. The best defense,...
Dairy cattle in Texas and Kansas test positive for bird flu
Milk from dairy cows in Texas and Kansas has tested positive for bird flu, U.S. officials said Monday. Officials with the Texas Animal Health Commission confirmed the flu virus is the Type A H5N1 strain, known for decades to cause outbreaks in birds...
US surgeons transplant a gene-edited pig kidney into a patient for the first time
NEW YORK (AP) — Doctors in Boston have transplanted a pig kidney into a 62-year-old patient, the latest experiment in the quest to use animal organs in humans. Massachusetts General Hospital said Thursday that it's the first time a genetically m...
The US hasn't seen syphilis numbers this high since 1950. Other STD rates are down or flat
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. syphilis epidemic isn't abating, with the rate of infectious cases rising 9% in 2022, according to a new federal government report on sexually transmitted diseases in adults. But there's some unexpected good news: The rate of...
Camp Lejeune water contamination tied to a range of cancers, CDC study says
NEW YORK (AP) — Military personnel stationed at Camp Lejeune from 1975 to 1985 had at least a 20% higher risk for a number of cancers than those stationed elsewhere, federal health officials said Wednesday in a long-awaited study about the North C...
Flu and COVID infections got worse over the holidays, with more misery expected, CDC says
NEW YORK (AP) — The flu season in the U.S. is getting worse but it's too soon to tell how much holiday gatherings contributed to a likely spike in illnesses. New government data posted Friday for last week — the holiday week between Christmas and...
Flu is on the rise while RSV infections may be peaking, US health officials say
NEW YORK (AP) — Flu is picking up steam while RSV lung infections that can hit kids and older people hard may be peaking, U.S. health officials said Friday. COVID-19, though, continues to cause the most hospitalizations and deaths among respiratory i...
The flu is soaring in seven US states and rising in others, health officials say
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. flu season is underway, with at least seven states reporting high levels of illnesses and cases rising in other parts of the country, health officials say. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted new flu data on...
US health officials propose using a cheap antibiotic as a 'morning-after pill' against STDs
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials plan to endorse a common antibiotic as a morning-after pill that gay and bisexual men can use to try to avoid some increasingly common sexually transmitted diseases. The proposed CDC guideline was released Monday...
US suicides hit an all-time high last year
NEW YORK (AP) — About 49,500 people took their own lives last year in the U.S., the highest number ever, according to new government data posted Thursday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which posted the numbers, has not yet c...
Superbug fungus cases rose dramatically during pandemic
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. cases of a dangerous fungus tripled over just three years, and more than half of states have now reported it, according to a new study. The COVID-19 pandemic likely drove part of the increase, researchers at the Centers for Disea...
Eye drops recalled after US drug-resistant bacteria outbreak
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials said Thursday a company is recalling its over-the-counter eye drops that have been linked to an outbreak of drug-resistant infections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week sent a health a...
US kindergarten vaccination rate dropped again, data shows
NEW YORK (AP) — Vaccination rates for U.S. kindergarteners dropped again last year, and federal officials are starting a new campaign to try to bring them up. Usually, 94% to 95% of kindergarteners are vaccinated against measles, tetanus and c...
'Viral jambalaya': Early flu adding to woes for US hospitals
As Americans head into the holiday season, a rapidly intensifying flu season is straining hospitals already overburdened with patients sick from other respiratory infections. More than half the states have high or very high levels of flu, unusually h...
Some officials now say monkeypox elimination unlikely in US
NEW YORK (AP) — Some U.S. health officials are conceding that monkeypox is probably not going away anytime soon. The disease's spread is slowing but the virus is so widespread that elimination is unlikely, the Centers for Disease Control and P...
If monkeypox spreads through sexual contact, is it an STD?
NEW YORK (AP) — For most of the six decades that monkeypox has been known to affect people, it was not known as a disease that spreads through sex. Now that has changed. The current outbreak is by far the biggest involving the virus, and it's been d...
Monkeypox virus could become entrenched as new STD in the US
NEW YORK (AP) — The spread of monkeypox in the U.S. could represent the dawn of a new sexually transmitted disease, though some health officials say the virus that causes pimple-like bumps might yet be contained before it gets firmly established. E...
Theories emerge for mysterious liver illnesses in children
NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials remain perplexed by mysterious cases of severe liver damage in hundreds of young children around the world. The best available evidence points to a fairly common stomach bug that isn't known to cause liver problems i...
COVID-19, overdoses pushed US to highest death total ever
NEW YORK (AP) — 2021 was the deadliest year in U.S. history, and new data and research are offering more insights into how it got that bad. The main reason for the increase in deaths? COVID-19, said Robert Anderson, who oversees the Centers for D...
CDC: Many healthy Americans can take a break from masks
Most Americans live in places where healthy people, including students in schools, can safely take a break from wearing masks under new U.S. guidelines released Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlined the new set of measures...
CDC posts rationale for shorter isolation, quarantine
NEW YORK (AP) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday explained the scientific rationale for shortening its COVID-19 isolation and quarantine recommendations, and clarified that the guidance applies to kids as well as adults. T...
US advisers endorse Pfizer COVID boosters for younger teens
Influential government advisers are strongly urging that teens as young as 12 get COVID-19 boosters as soon as they're eligible, a key move as the U.S. battles the omicron surge and schools struggle with how to restart classes amid the spike. All...
US officials recommend shorter COVID isolation, quarantine
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials on Monday cut isolation restrictions for Americans who catch the coronavirus from 10 to five days, and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine. Centers for Disease Control and P...
Omicron sweeps across nation, now 73% of new US COVID cases
NEW YORK (AP) — Omicron has raced ahead of other variants and is now the dominant version of the coronavirus in the U.S., accounting for 73% of new infections last week, federal health officials said Monday. The Centers for Disease Control and P...
'Strong' start to kids vaccine campaign, but challenges loom
WASHINGTON (AP) — The campaign to vaccinate elementary school age children in the U.S. is off to a strong start, health officials said Wednesday, but experts say there are signs that it will be difficult to sustain the initial momentum. About 900,000...
