Health News:
- Canada lost its measles elimination status after 30 years, after failing to curb a year-long outbreak. (Reuters)
- Whooping cough cases in Texas have surged past 3,500 – about 4x the total reported by this time last year. (TX DSHS)
- New York state saw a 49% increase in test positivity for flu in the past week. Other areas with growing case counts include the South, Hawaii, and Arizona. (Outbreak Outlook)
- U.S. childhood flu vaccination rates dropped from 62% to 49% since 2020. Last year there were 280 pediatric deaths, the highest since tracking began in 2004. (YLE)
- In the U.S., heat-exposed workers may have a higher risk of chronic kidney disease. (Undark)
- Two batches of ByHeart brand baby formula were recalled for botulism, after 13 babies in 10 states were hospitalized. (Washington Post)
- A Cincinnati hospital is investigating a possible Legionnaires’ disease outbreak. (Cincinnati.com)
- Antimicrobial peptides show promise against Salmonella in chickens as a possible alternative to antibiotics, a new study found. (CIDRAP)
- The shingles vaccine may help prevent dementia by reducing the risk of varicella-zoster virus reactivation. (Washington Post)
- Avian flu hit a large turkey farm in North Dakota with nearly 25,000 birds and one in Michigan with over 62,000. Meanwhile, California reported an outbreak at an egg laying facility with 231,000 birds. (CIDRAP)
Best Question:
Will bird flu affect Thanksgiving turkey prices?
Almost certainly, yes.
Bird flu is soaring this fall. There have been over 67 detections in the past 30 days alone affecting 3.72 million birds.
Turkeys are particularly susceptible. H5N1 spreads more easily between turkeys than other birds, including egg-laying chickens. A whopping 1.2 million birds have died or been culled since September 1st, nearly 20x higher than in that same time frame last year. Another million turkeys were lost in 2025 before then.
Wholesale prices are up 75% from last fall. In October 2024, turkey was about 94 cents per pound and was at about $1.71 last month. Retail prices are expected to be up about 25%. That means a 15-pound turkey would cost a family $31.
But prices probably won’t rise more between now and Thanksgiving. Because Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away, experts don’t expect that number to rise much more, since your holiday bird is probably already processed and on its way to your local grocery store.
Sources: Think Global Health, NBC, NPR
Best Read:
Think Global Health is an initiative from the Council on Foreign Relations, and we liked this well-researched article on what bird flu’s comeback means for our dinner tables at Thanksgiving.