Trump administration loses grip on bird flu, experts warn Disease is spreading among mink and cattle in a ‘completely preventable’ outbreak
The Trump administration has been criticised for losing control of a bird flu outbreak that has spread among mink and cattle farms across the United States.

90% of cases occurred in historically under-vaccinated communities; findings offer insights for countries aiming to retain or regain their elimination status.

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In her Science Insider story “New U.S. rules on risky pathogen research draw mixed reviews” (29 July, 10.1126/science.zfz2hl6), S. Reardon reports concerns about the ambiguity of the United States Government Policy for Stopping High-Risk Life Sciences Research.

At the School of Public Health’s State of the School address last month, SPH Dean Francesca Beaudoin PhD’17 announced a pilot program that aims to connect Master’s in Public Health students with local public health organizations. The initiative, called the Anchor Fellowship, seeks to develop lasting relationships.

Canada’s loss of measles elimination status is a troubling sign of a global trend in increasing susceptibility to infectious diseases. Even high income countries are struggling to control a disease that they once eliminated, raising serious questions about international efforts in protecting populations from dangerous pathogens. Amid a worldwide measles resurgence, Canada’s experience underscores the fragility of hard-won public health achievements and the need for countries to recommit to elimination, not only to prevent needless illness and death but also to strengthen defences against risk of infectious diseases more broadly.
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For nearly two years, the U.S. has had to swallow an uncomfortable reality: A highly infectious disease it once eliminated is spreading again.

More than 4,400 measles cases and at least three deaths have been reported nationwide this year, marking the country’s worst outbreak in more than three decades. The spike followed nearly 2,300 cases in 2025. But many public health experts argue that the return of measles isn’t the only concerning development — it’s also what the resurgence signals about America that’s causing alarm.

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An outbreak of bird flu at a mink farm in Utah – and the response from its owner and regulators – has sparked concerns from infectious disease experts about the Trump administration’s ability to manage such viruses.

How many people, when they consider the biggest impacts on their health, would include the buildings they occupy on the list? Surely not many – yet the high-caliber experts presenting at the third Healthy Building Policy Summit held in late September in Washington, D.C., are seeking to change that.

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A recent indoor air report from the Brown University Pandemic Center, International WELL Building Institute and Air Club can help union health and safety committees make their case to improve school air for everyone.

The strain of bird flu that’s ripped through American barns for the last four years has killed two people who caught it from sick animals. But as far as anyone can tell, humans can’t spread it. The virus has remained a true “bird” flu, tailored to attach to avian cells, not invade human throats and noses, where coughing and sneezing reliably spew droplets.

More than two decades after measles was declared eliminated in the United States, the country is experiencing its deadliest resurgence of the virus since 2000, with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announcing the third measles death of the year this week.

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At UNGA 81, health experts urged governments to integrate noncommunicable disease prevention into pandemic preparedness plans. Here are three key recommendations to bridge the gap.

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