🌷 We have an abbreviated Briefing today with key news only - have a great holiday weekend! 🌷

Measles News:

• The CDC released its first batch of measles genetic sequencing. More should be released this month, which will determine if all U.S. outbreaks are related. (KFF Health News)
  
  
• Chicago is on alert after a potential measles exposure at O’Hare airport, along with some other retail locations. (CCPH)
  
  
• The Seattle and Portland areas also have a long list of potential exposure sites this week. (KOMO, OPB)

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Health News:

• Kids may be more likely to get the new ‘Cicada’ variant of COVID. (CNN)
  
  
• In the past 30 days, 70 U.S. poultry flocks have been infected with H5N1 bird flu, affecting 5.2 million birds. Meanwhile in Taiwan, there was a human H7 case in someone with close contact with birds. (CIDRAP)
  
  
• A new bill would cap insulin costs at $35 per month for Americans with insurance, if it passes in Congress. (AP)
  
  
• The CDC has paused testing for rabies and pox viruses (like mpox and smallpox), usually done to assist state and local health departments. (NY Times)
  
  
• Meanwhile, Berlin is seeing a rapid rise in locally-acquired clade 1b mpox cases (the more severe strain), in at least 34 men who had not traveled recently. (CIDRAP)
  
  
• Flea-borne Typhus cases are at an all-time high in LA County. (CBS)
  
  
• Farmers say that weight loss drugs are gutting supermarket demand for potatoes. (Fox)
  
  
• Warmer winters lead to more nitrate pollution in the drinking water near farms. (AP)
  
  
• More people who need transfusions are requesting “unvaccinated” blood for themselves and their children, leading to delays. (CIDRAP)
  
  
• Some good news: military suicides fell by 11% in 2024. (AP)

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