Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
LA County Declares Communitywide Hepatitis A Outbreak
Los Angeles Times: Hepatitis A Outbreak Declared In L.A. County. What You Need To Know
Los Angeles County has declared a communitywide outbreak of hepatitis A, a highly contagious viral disease that can lead to lasting liver damage or even death. Although cases of hepatitis A are nothing new in the region, health officials are now expressing alarm both at the prevalence of the disease and who is becoming infected. The total of 165 cases recorded in 2024 was triple the number seen the year before, and the highest in the county in at least a decade, officials say. Seven deaths have been linked to the now-13-month-old outbreak. (Lin II, 5/5)
On the spread of measles —
CIDRAP: North Dakota Reports First Measles Case Since 2011
An unvaccinated child in Williams County, North Dakota, is the state’s first measles case since 2011. According to state health officials, the child is believed to have contracted the illness from an out-of-state visitor. The child is recuperating at home in isolation. (Soucheray, 5/5)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Officials Warn Of Measles Exposure At St. Louis Aquarium
A person with a confirmed case of measles visited the St. Louis Aquarium and a local restaurant last week, potentially exposing others to the highly contagious virus. (Bernhard, 5/5)
On salmonella and bird flu —
AP: New Salmonella Outbreak Is Linked To Backyard Poultry, CDC Says
A new salmonella outbreak linked to backyard poultry has sickened at least seven people in six states, health officials said Monday. Two cases were identified in Missouri, and one each in Florida, Illinois, South Dakota, Utah and Wisconsin, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. People got sick in February and March of this year, the CDC said. They all had the same strain of salmonella — a version that has been traced to hatcheries in the past. The investigation is continuing, health officials said. (Stobbe, 5/5)
ABC News: Bird Flu Is Continuing To Spread In Animals Across The US. Here's What You Need To Know
Bird flu is continuing to spread in animals across the United States more than a year after the first human case was detected. Since then, at least 70 people have fallen ill and at least one death was recorded in Louisiana, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of confirmed cases in humans has held steady for almost two months, but hundreds of dairy cows continue to be infected and raw milk samples in several states have tested positive for bird flu, according to federal health officials. (Kekatos, 5/5)
On covid —
CBS News: Scientist Who Pushed For COVID Lab Leak Theory Investigation Says High-Risk Research Needs Oversight
Five years after the COVID pandemic started, a scientist who warned against dismissing the controversial "lab leak" theory says more needs to be done to prevent high-risk research from potentially causing a global health crisis. Alina Chan is a molecular biologist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. When WBZ-TV interviewed her in 2021, she said she got online hate and even death threats over her belief that COVID could have originated from a lab in Wuhan, China. (Ebben and Riley, 5/5)
Capital B News: The Fight to Be Believed: Long COVID’s Toll on Black Americans
Black people made up about 32% of long COVID cases, one study found, but are “not being taken as seriously,” said one patient. (Sager and AP, 5/5)
