Measles News:

• Arizona confirmed its first measles cases, in four individuals from Navajo County who recently traveled internationally. (CIDRAP) 
• Dallas County reported its first measles case this year. (Dallas News)
• Denver Health is reporting a 13% uptick in MMR vaccines so far this year. (9 News)
  
  

Health News:

• “Razor blade throat,” a sore throat so severe it’s painful to swallow, is becoming a more common COVID symptom with the latest variant. (SF Chronicle)
• While COVID case counts are still low in the U.S., wastewater activity is increasing, meaning we may see a summer wave start soon. (Wastewater Scan)
• Blackberries and potatoes were added to the “dirty dozen” list of foods most likely to have harmful pesticide residue; spinach tops the list once again. (CNN)
• A new bill in Texas would put warning labels on food with any of 44 additives. (STAT)
• Cases of tick- and mosquito-borne diseases nearly doubled from 2022 to 2023, with West Nile and Powassan topping the list. (MMWR)
• CDC has rescinded 400 layoff notices, including workers in the Viral Hepatitis, and Tuberculosis Prevention programs. (Politico)
• RFK Jr. has appointed 8 new members to the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee (ACIP) after removing all 17 previous members earlier this week. (BBC)
• The WHO raised mpox to the highest level of alert as outbreaks continue to spread to new countries in Africa and Sierra Leone’s cases skyrocket. (WHO)

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Mental Health & Substance Use News:

• Alcohol-related liver disease deaths have doubled since 1999. (Axios)
• Mental health after ICE raids may affect employees. KTLA compiled a list of resources to help in the L.A. area. (KTLA)

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or need help, call 988 or message the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. 
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Best Questions:

With so many cucumber-related products recalled for Salmonella, should we be rethinking our menu?

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If you have any products that could… maybe… possibly contain cucumbers from Bedner Growers in Florida, we think you should stop using them immediately. This year, 45 people have gotten sick in a Salmonella outbreak linked to their cucumbers, and another 551 got sick in a separate outbreak linked to the same grower last year. 

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So far, the recalls have included everything from tubs of sliced cucumbers and veggie trays to prepared salads, salsas, sushi, and noodle bowls. While it’s unlikely that your produce supplier is still carrying whole or chopped cucumbers from Bedner directly, the list of recalled pre-packaged foods keeps growing, and some of them have long shelf lives.

We don’t think you need to pull fresh cucumbers off the menu entirely, but this is a good time to confirm your supply chain, especially if you use pre-packaged items made offsite. If there’s any uncertainty about the source, it’s safer to switch to an alternate vendor or substitute ingredient until this gets sorted.

Sources: CDC, FDA

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Can tear gas or rubber bullets actually make an L.A.  employee sick enough to miss work?

Yes, absolutely - and this isn’t the first time we’ve had employees call out with injuries after a major police (or in this case, military) response to protests. Tear gas is a chemical irritant and it’s known to cause immediate effects like tearing, pain, and burning of the eyes, skin irritation, sore throat, sneezing, coughing, and vomiting. But for some, like people who smoke or have asthma, the effects can last well beyond the exposure. One study from the U.S. military found that being exposed to tear gas and pepper spray makes people more vulnerable to respiratory infections in the week following exposure compared with the week before, raising the risk chances that people get sick in the weeks after the incident.

While rubber bullets are marketed as “less lethal,” they can still cause serious injury and even death, especially if they hit the face, neck, or eyes. 

If your team is in or near areas where crowd-control measures like tear gas and rubber bullets are used, it’s absolutely plausible that employees may be feeling the after-effects — and not faking it. Keep an eye out for symptoms, encourage employees to shower and change clothes before coming to work if exposed, and consider sharing basic safety tips with your team. 

Sources: WIRED, UMN, CDC
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Best Read:

We loved this week’s pick because it’s a fun, bite-sized dive into a term we use all the time in food safety but rarely stop to question. Turns out, the name “salmonella” has nothing to do with fish — and everything to do with a 19th-century scientist and a taxonomic mix-up…

Word of the Week: how a bacterium unrelated to fish got its name 'salmonella' - NPR

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