Ongoing Measles Outbreaks In Canada Cost Americas Their Elimination Status
Individual countries are maintaining their standing, health officials say, but the U.S. might lose its elimination status if it can't get current outbreaks under control by January. Plus, two U.S. airports report measles exposures.
BBC:
Canada Loses Measles Elimination Status, With US On Track To Follow
Canada has lost its measles elimination status, said the Pan American Health Organization (Paho) on Monday, after failing to curb an outbreak of the virus for 12 consecutive months. Because Canada is no longer deemed measles-free, the Americas region as a whole has lost its elimination status, although individually the other countries are still considered to have stamped out the disease. The US, however, risks losing its status as well if it does not stop an ongoing outbreak by January. (Yousif, 11/10)
Fox 8 Live:
Passenger With Contagious Measles Passed Sunday Through Armstrong New Orleans Airport, LDH Says
The Louisiana Department of Health has confirmed one case of measles in an adult resident in Region 9, which includes Livingston, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington parishes. The patient was exposed during international travel. The individual was not hospitalized and will remain in isolation until no longer infectious. The vaccination status of the person is unknown. (11/10)
6 ABC Philadelphia:
Health Officials Warn Of Possible Measles Exposure At Philadelphia International Airport
The Philadelphia Department of Public Health says an individual with measles was traveling through the airport and that the exposure may have happened at Terminals A and B at PHL on Sunday, between 8:50 a.m. and 4 p.m. (11/11)
In other outbreaks and health threats —
The New York Times:
Infant Formula Recall Expands As Botulism Outbreak Grows
ByHeart, a maker of organic baby formula, expanded a voluntary recall on Tuesday to include all of its products sold nationwide after federal health regulators found botulism infections in two additional infants, bringing the number of reported cases to 15. The expanded recall was announced days after the Food and Drug Administration told caregivers to stop using two batches of ByHeart’s powdered Whole Nutrition Infant Formula after health agencies found an increase in the number of botulism infections in infants who had consumed it. (Kirk, 11/11)
The Texas Tribune:
Whooping Cough Cases In Texas Reach An 11-Year High
More than 3,500 cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, cases have been reported in Texas so far this year, already reaching a 11-year high even though two more highly infectious months are left in the year, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. (Simpson, 11/11)
CIDRAP:
Mpox Infection Triggers Stronger, Longer-Term Protection Than Vaccination, Study Suggests
Infection with the mpox virus (MPXV) confers strong immunity against future infection for up to two years, compared with vaccine-conferred protection, which wanes with time and requires boosting, researchers in Belgium and the Netherlands reported late last week in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. (Van Beusekom, 11/11)
On the environment and your health —
The New York Times:
Newsom In The Spotlight At The Climate Conference That Trump Decided To Skip
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California on Tuesday cast himself as the “stable and reliable” American partner to the world, called a reported White House proposal to open offshore drilling in the waters off California “disgraceful” and urged his fellow Democrats to recast climate change as a “cost of living issue.” (Sengupta, 11/11)
KFF Health News:
What The Air You Breathe May Be Doing To Your Brain
For years, the two patients had come to the Penn Memory Center at the University of Pennsylvania, where doctors and researchers follow people with cognitive impairment as they age, as well as a group with normal cognition. Both patients, a man and a woman, had agreed to donate their brains after they died for further research. “An amazing gift,” said Edward Lee, the neuropathologist who directs the brain bank at the university’s Perelman School of Medicine. “They were both very dedicated to helping us understand Alzheimer’s disease.” (Span, 11/12)
