���ϳԹ���

Taylor Farms is pulling more than a dozen prepared food items containing jalapeños, including salsas and guacamole, from retailers due to concerns over salmonella, just weeks after federal health officials tied the produce company to a separate outbreak of cyclospora. (Rivera and Peterson, 8/9)

Health Secretary Robert. F. Kennedy Jr.’s call for Americans to “eat real food” to combat chronic illness is being tested by a parasite that’s driving consumers away from fresh produce. The spread of cyclospora, a parasite that can cause explosive diarrhea, is prompting people to reconsider their fresh food choices just as Kennedy launches a cooking show that he says is “intended to show families how to cook delicious, nutritious meals with real ingredients at affordable prices.” (Brown and Gardner, 8/8)

���ϳԹ��� News: ���ϳԹ��� News’ ‘On Air’: Journalists Cover Cyclospora And Measles Outbreaks, And Changing Health Policies

Céline Gounder, ���ϳԹ��� News’ editor-at-large for public health, discussed the cyclosporiasis outbreak on CBS News’ CBS Mornings on Aug. 5. Gounder discussed New Mexico’s measles outbreak on CBS News 24/7’s The Daily Report on Aug. 4. She also discussed peptides on Ideastream Public Media/WKSU’s Sound of Ideas on Aug. 3. (8/8)

Louisiana health officials are urging residents to take precautions against a flesh-eating bacterial infection following the deaths of five people this year. The Louisiana Department of Health issued a warning about the infection, known as Vibrio vulnificus, in a press release on Thursday. (Lavietes, 8/7)

No details are known other than the patient was over 60 and the infection was reported in late May or late June. There have been 14 cases of the flesh-eating bacteria in Florida this year. (Mayer, 8/9)

The High Line Hotel in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood has tested positive for the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease, according to the hotel workers’ union. The report comes about a week after the department said there was no longer an elevated risk of Legionnaires’ disease from an unrelated Upper East Side outbreak that killed seven people and sickened scores of others. (Ambaye, 8/7)

It’s been six weeks since local and state health officials trying to investigate a case of tuberculosis at the immigration detention facility in Aurora last heard from the GEO Group, the private contractor operating the center for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That’s despite repeated, ongoing efforts from local investigators to learn more about how many people were exposed to the potentially fatal infectious disease in the crowded facility and where those people are now. (Ingold, 8/7)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today confirmed 94 new measles infections—most of them in Pennsylvania—bringing the US total for the year to 2,465, the agency said in its weekly update. The numbers likely provide additional data to move the United States toward losing its measles elimination status this year. (Wappes, 8/7)

The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo may appear to worsen in the coming weeks as health officials dramatically expand their search for infections that have gone undetected. Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and its partners are shifting from conventional contact tracing toward door-to-door case finding in the hardest-hit areas, where widespread community transmission means almost anyone could have been exposed. (Gale, 8/10)

Democrats say the Trump administration’s new Medicaid work requirements — especially the narrow definition of who can get an exemption for medical reasons — are way too harsh. Conservatives contend they’re not tough enough, and have convinced some Republican-led states to be even stricter. (Ollstein and King, 8/9)

States unhappy about a new "medical frailty" provision in the Medicaid work requirement rule are continuing their fight over the rule in court. ... A hearing in the case has been scheduled for Oct. 20. (Frieden, 8/7)

Families with disabled children in Indiana face Medicaid cancellations due to administrative errors and new assessments. (Kenney, 8/6)

Experts warn Medicaid cuts won't just hurt the uninsured — the effects could ripple through the entire health system. (Hwang, 8/7)

Scott Stewart, CEO of the Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association, said the existing system for health insurance claims is not designed to indicate a person’s level of impairment or ability. “It’s set up to say this is what a patient has, but it’s not set up to say anything more than that,” Stewart said. “You have to really also think about the privacy aspects of that. Now you’re saying that I have to potentially give a patient’s chart, which they have to sign off on in terms of HIPAA, to say that they are medically frail and meet all definitions?” (Kirwan, 8/10)

After a 125-mile trip on his powered wheelchair, Carl Schulze rolled up just before noon Thursday to the Wisconsin Capitol. (Gunn, 8/7)

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told staff members at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the US would have done better in the Covid outbreak by listening to “dissenting voices,” according to a recording of the event reviewed by Bloomberg News. (Nix, 8/7)

The U.S. Senate voted Friday to confirm Mark Cruz, a citizen of the Klamath Tribes, to lead the federal agency that provides healthcare for some 2.8 million Native American and Alaska Native patients. Cruz was confirmed to serve a four-year term as director of the Indian Health Service, a position that has sat vacant since late 2025. At his July confirmation hearing, Cruz said he would advocate “ferociously” to improve health outcomes in Indian Country and bring lived experience to the role. (Peters, 8/8)

The National Institutes of Health plans to close the door on one of the few pathways available to international students on visas to forge a career in biomedical research in the United States. (Oza, 8/7)

Several thousand veterans await the outcome of a bill currently stalled in the U.S. Senate that would add roughly $833 a month to their benefits. H.R. 6047, known as the Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act of 2026, would benefit those already eligible for a monthly aid and attendance allowance due to service-connected disabilities or traumatic brain injuries. (Gramegna, 8/10)

More than 142,000 post-9/11 veterans who screened positive for a possible deployment-related traumatic brain injury and agreed to a comprehensive VA evaluation did not ultimately receive one, according to a new Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) watchdog report. The VA Office of Inspector General found that 301,177 veterans agreed to receive a comprehensive traumatic brain injury evaluation after screening positive between Sept. 11, 2001, and March 31, 2025. Only 158,907 received the evaluation, leaving 142,270 without the follow-up assessment. (LaBee, 8/10)

Former President Joe Biden’s prostate cancer has metastasized into his bones and spread further into his body, his son Hunter Biden said in a late Friday interview with the BBC. Hunter Biden said the disease has taken a “very painful” toll on his father, who has remained outspoken on politics since leaving office in 2024. “It’s very debilitating in many respects,” he continued. “But he’s still out there. He’s still doing his thing. He so believes in this country.” (Orellana Hernandez, 8/8)

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is urging senators to not support an amendment that would allow a federal ban on most hemp-derived products to take effect in November. In a Friday letter, Oz noted he had “grave concerns” about the amendment from Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), which would strip from a government funding bill a one-month delay of the ban. (Weixel, 8/7)

A federal ban on most hemp-derived THC products is set to be delayed for a month after a last-minute effort to keep the original timeline failed. The Senate voted 61-32 to table a bipartisan amendment from Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and about a dozen other senators to strip the delay from a stopgap government funding bill. Opponents of the delay had been holding up consideration of the funding bill until GOP leadership allowed a vote on the amendment. (Weixel, 8/8)

US lawmakers this week introduced a bipartisan bill that would aid efforts to develop new antibiotics. The Stop Superbugs Act, introduced this week by Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), would authorize the National Institutes of Health's Antimicrobial Resistance Leadership Group to facilitate clinical trials for new antibiotics to address the rising threat of drug-resistant infections. (Dall, 8/7)

Key members of the Senate’s health committee are renewing their push for the Justice Department to prosecute former Steward Health CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre. Dr. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee chair, and ranking member Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) asked the agency Thursday about the status of a criminal contempt referral for de la Torre. (Court, 8/7)

The push to charge former COVID czar Dr. Anthony Fauci with contempt of Congress is full of pitfalls for prosecutors, should the Justice Department choose to take up the case. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the criminal referral Thursday, arguing that Fauci’s assertion of his Fifth Amendment rights 111 times during a hearing the week before amounts to contempt. The resolution, spearheaded by the committee’s chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.), has not been vetted by the full Senate, something former prosecutors say is key in building a contempt case. (Beitsch, 8/9)

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said Saturday that she is freezing her eggs. “Usually, I keep my private life quite private, but I have made the decision to start freezing my eggs, and I want to share that with anyone who is — and I want to share this because I was weighing it for a very long time, and I think that, you know, I was saving for it for a very long time, and there just isn’t a ton out there, I feel, and sometimes it can feel very daunting,” the New York Democrat said on Instagram. (Suter, 8/9)

Sanofi is experiencing shortages of two medicines used to treat Pompe disease, and the problem emerged shortly after the Food and Drug Administration warned the company over manufacturing issues at the Irish facility where the drugs are made. (Silverman, 8/9)

When she heard about a new, experimental drug to treat pancreatic cancer, Rachelle Gardner tried not to get her hopes up. She wondered: Would she be eligible for the medication? Would her hospital be allowed to give it to her? Would she live long enough to get it? (Schencker, 8/9)

In cancer treatment, the pitch has been simple: What if, instead of blasting radiation across patients’ bodies, crop-dusting not only malignant cells but also neighboring healthy tissues, we could shoot chemical weapons directly at only the noxious tumors? (DeAngelis, 8/10)

Colder was not better when it came to donor heart storage, according to preliminary findings from a retrospective analysis. (Lou, 8/7)

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the fraud convictions of Outcome Health founders Rishi Shah and Shradha Agarwal, whose company once was a darling of the Chicago tech scene. The pair was convicted in 2023, along with fellow executive Brad Purdy, of defrauding customers, as well as investors and lenders. (Pletz, 8/7)

Two Connecticut hospitals owned by one of the largest nonprofit Catholic health systems in the country have struggled in recent years with serious shortcomings when it comes to patient care. (Golvala, 8/9)

A group of Washington hospitals received more than $5.4 million as part of a federal grant program that aims to increase access to care in rural communities. Red tape may limit its impact. The award from the state, part of $181.3 million Washington received from the Rural Health Transformation Program, went to the Rural Collaborative. The collaborative supports 31 public rural hospitals’ contracting, staffing and operations. (Kacik, 8/7)

���ϳԹ��� News: Same Knee Surgery, Twice The Price: Hospital Monopolies Push Up Healthcare Costs

More than a million times a year, a U.S. surgeon slices open a knee, strips out worn cartilage, caps the leg bones with metal, and drops in a plastic spacer to allow the new joint to glide. While knee replacement procedures have become standard, however, the prices charged have not. (Whoriskey, 8/10)

Dr. Maura L. Gillison once told an interviewer that she had wanted to be a doctor and a scientist since childhood. She trained in ballet, but as she grew to 6-foot-2, dance became an unlikely career path because she felt that it would draw too much attention to her height. Instead, she forged a trailblazing career studying head and neck cancers as a medical oncologist and a molecular epidemiologist. (Longman, 8/9)

A Northern California city declared a state of emergency Saturday after malware disrupted 911 routing, police and fire dispatch and other critical city systems. Suisun City officials said the cybersecurity incident began around 5:45 a.m. Friday. The city shut down its entire IT network to contain the threat and preserve evidence for a federal investigation. (Padilla, 8/9)

Smokes 4 Less in Fargo is stocked full with a rainbow of colorful products like vapes, pipes and bongs. But one shelf, deep in the store, is completely bare. It’s been that way since last Wednesday, when North Dakota’s ban on kratom took effect. (Ratanpal, 8/9)

As many Florida school districts look to close schools to cope with declining enrollment, leading to budget cuts, some are banding together to reduce another key factor to their bottom lines: health insurance premiums. (Goni-Lessan, 8/9)

���ϳԹ��� News: Many States Cover Doula Care, But Access To A ‘Birthing Bestie’ Is Often Out Of Reach

Doula Taja Iglesias and her business partner have built a space in Alexandria, Virginia, that’s all things pregnancy, birth, and childcare. Comfortable couches in one area invite expectant parents to settle in for birth education classes. In another, a colorful pile of toys await the babies and toddlers. And there’s a free supply of diapers and food. Years ago, as Iglesias was giving birth and expressing her wish not to have an epidural for pain, she felt isolated and that her preferences were dismissed by the medical staff. Today, she works hard to make sure other parents can have the support of a doula. (Spears, 8/10)

The 2026 heat season is now the deadliest in known history, as new data from the Maryland Department of Health reports a total of 50 heat-related fatalities since May, surpassing the previous record set of 46 in 2012. (Brown, 8/7)

Despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent on environmental cleanup, more than half the yards in a section of Omaha, Nebraska, that used to surround a lead smelter still have enough contamination to cause high blood-lead levels in kids, according to tests by the Flatwater Free Press and ProPublica. The findings were consistent across the city’s older urban core — in the historically Black neighborhoods north of downtown, the predominantly Hispanic areas to the south and the more white and affluent areas in midtown. (Bowling, 8/10)

One of the most vexing problems caused by the pandemic was the toll it took on the mental health of young people. Students struggled with school closures, isolation from their friends, and the difficulties of remote learning. But after years of focus on behavioral health, it appears that North Carolina high school students are doing better. (Henkel, 8/9)

When Mike Hotz approached a man standing on the edge of a bridge in Nashville, the man rebuffed him. “Stay back,” the man told him. “Don’t come any closer.” Hotz, a lieutenant for the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, was sent to the scene on July 23 after calls came in about a man who was livestreaming on social media and saying he was on a bridge and about to take his own life. (Page, 8/9)

The Senate committee hearings last week on the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic presented a master class in political distraction from what is important for the nation’s public health. And Thursday the committee held Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress for invoking his Fifth Amendment defense to a committee chaired by someone who has already said Fauci “should go to prison.” (David J. Hunter, 8/7)

If you’re experiencing hair loss, weight gain, muscle aches or brain fog, do you: a) consult your doctor or b) inject yourself with research-grade chemicals bought off the internet? A striking number of Americans are picking the latter — and if Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has his way, certain unapproved peptide therapies will soon become mainstream. (8/10)

China has demonstrated time and again that when its leaders make something a priority, they usually get results. A decision to ban all forms of the powerful drug fentanyl seven years ago under US pressure showed how quickly authorities can mobilize against an illicit trade. They should now bring that same attention to the export of unregulated peptides. (Juliana Liu, 8/9)

In September, states must start to notify Medicaid enrollees affected by new changes — including work requirements and new twice-yearly eligibility checks — that will begin in 2027. (Rebecca Myerson, Allison Espeseth and Laura Dague, 8/10)

When most people hear “Ebola,” they think of a single disease caused by a single virus. Scientists know better. Ebola virus disease is caused by several distinct virus species capable of causing devastating outbreaks in humans, each with important biological differences that influence diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics, and outbreak response. (Krutika Kuppalli and Placide Mbala, 8/10)