A measles outbreak in Collier County has reached 12 confirmed cases.

This outbreak joins ones already existing and growing in Texas and South Carolina with hundreds of cases. Those outbreaks are a threat to the United States keeping its measles-free status.

Starting Jan. 29, measles cases began showing up at Ave Maria University.

--

Dozens of routinely updated CDC databases have gone quiet. Here’s what states and medical societies are doing to preserve U.S. public health.

---

As measles cases continue to rise, the United States is at risk of losing its measles elimination status.

According to a spokesperson from the Pan American Health Organization, which will oversee the review of the United State’s measles elimination status on April 13, the “reestablishment of endemic transmission would be defined as a continuous chain of transmission lasting through or beyond” Jan. 20.

The Herald spoke to experts at Brown to better understand measles, its potential threats and the possibility of the United States losing its elimination status.

---

The promise and perils of artificial intelligence (AI) are perhaps most starkly demonstrated in the worlds of healthcare and biomedical sciences. In these fields, striking the right balance between innovation and regulation is quite literally a matter of life and death. As scientists, policymakers, and practitioners around the world contemplate using AI to support research, transform the delivery of care, and protect us from the next pandemic, they must also contend with the potential of this technology to compromise privacy, curtail freedoms, and even create new biological threats.

---

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. RAMBLED THROUGH a long list of topics when he spoke at the White House during Thursday’s cabinet meeting.

He talked about dietary guidelines and rural health care. Prescription drugs and medical research. He even mentioned hospital price transparency, which is one of the more obscure parts of his portfolio as secretary of health and human services.

But there was one subject Kennedy skipped, in an omission as disturbing as it was conspicuous. He didn’t say a word about the measles outbreak in South Carolina, which is the nation’s biggest in decades.

---

(TNND) — A dozen leading medical groups lent their support to the American Academy of Pediatrics' 2026 childhood vaccine recommendations, which run counter to recently revised recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, or AAP, published its updated vaccine schedule Monday, weeks after the CDC trimmed the list of shots it advises all children receive.

The AAP recommends routine immunizations against 18 diseases, including RSV, hepatitis B, the annual flu shot, and others that the CDC now only recommends for high-risk groups or in consultation with a doctor.

---

COVID-19 offered a difficult lesson about the devastation a virus can bring to our world. In his latest book, Fair Doses: An Insider's Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity, Dr. Seth Berkley provides us the fascinating backstory of vaccines: how they came about, why they’re important, and how they have been made globally available. But our quest for vaccine equity remains ongoing. Dr. Berkley, an internationally-recognized infectious disease epidemiologist, offers an insider’s view of the challenges of developing and disseminating vaccines for a broad swath of illnesses, from Ebola to AIDS to malaria and beyond.

Seth Berkley, MD, is an infectious disease epidemiologist currently advising vaccine, biotechnology, and technology companies, and is Adjunct Professor and Senior Adviser to the Pandemic Center at Brown University. He co-founded COVAX, a global vaccine initiative; and founded and served as CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.COVID-19 offered a difficult lesson about the devastation a virus can bring to our world. In his latest book, Fair Doses: An Insider's Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity, Dr. Seth Berkley provides us the fascinating backstory of vaccines: how they came about, why they’re important, and how they have been made globally available. But our quest for vaccine equity remains ongoing. Dr. Berkley, an internationally-recognized infectious disease epidemiologist, offers an insider’s view of the challenges of developing and disseminating vaccines for a broad swath of illnesses, from Ebola to AIDS to malaria and beyond.

Seth Berkley, MD, is an infectious disease epidemiologist currently advising vaccine, biotechnology, and technology companies, and is Adjunct Professor and Senior Adviser to the Pandemic Center at Brown University. He co-founded COVAX, a global vaccine initiative; and founded and served as CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

NYC Health + Hospitals Launches Special Pathogens Biopreparedness Map to Monitor and Prepare for Outbreaks

New interactive map will help healthcare providers screen patients based on their travel history and potential exposure to special pathogens and other biothreats

The public health care system’s Biopreparedness Program, established after the 2014 Ebola outbreak, is a national leader in infectious disease preparedness and response

The United States’ withdrawal from the World Health Organization became official Thursday, formalizing a fissure between the Trump administration and the Geneva-based global health agency that dates back to the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of the date on which the WHO was informed that President Trump had decreed that the U.S. would terminate its membership in the organization, something he tried to do during his first term in office. According to a joint congressional resolution passed in 1948 to allow the United States to join the WHO, the country had to give a year’s notice before withdrawing. (The joint resolution also stipulated that the country had to pay outstanding bills before leaving, a condition that has not been met.)

After a year of ongoing measles outbreaks that have sickened more than 2,400 people, the United States is poised to lose its status as a measles-free country. However, the newly appointed principal deputy director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ralph Abraham, said he was unbothered by the prospect at a briefing for journalists this week.

---

Scott Rivkees still remembers two cases from his first week as a pediatric intern at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1982.

The first was a patient with chickenpox or varicella encephalitis, a virus that causes brain inflammation. The second was a child with bacterial meningitis, a severe infection that causes inflammation of the membranes around the brain and spinal cord. The infection can produce seizures and deafness and lead to death.