The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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CDC notice

Polio is not endemic in the US, but the viral disease is circulating in 30 other countries now. Since roughly 3 out of 4 infections are asymptomatic, people can easily spread it unknowingly. Here’s how to protect against the virus while traveling, according to a doctor. ps:I wonder why? Could it be because we shutdown USAID??

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America's Baby Bust

The US fertility rate hit another record low (w/charts) in 2025, falling from 53.8 to 53.1 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released yesterday. The decline extends a nearly two-decade slide and reflects a broader shift toward later childbearing and smaller families. See data here. Provisional data shows 3,606,400 total births last year, down 1% from 2024. Teen fertility dropped 7% to 11.7 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19, while births to that group fell 8% to 125,933. Rates for younger teens ages 15 to 17 and older teens ages 18 to 19 also reached record lows, while the rate for women ages 30 to 34 rose 3%. Since 2007, the overall birth rate has fallen 23%. The news follows a global trend of declining fertility, with most nations now falling short of the roughly 2.1 children per woman needed for stable populations. Final CDC data is due later in 2026.

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• 💉 The CDC won't publish a study showing that the COVID vaccine dramatically cut hospitalizations last winter, citing methodology concerns, The Washington Post reports. Gift link.

ps:I wonder who told them to do that???? You only need one guess!!

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Summer’s coming, and data show measles cases are rising

As summer vacations nears and the opportunity for travel increases, measles cases in Florida and across the United States continue to rise.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/05/08/summers-coming-and-data-show-measles-cases-are-rising/?

ps:How pathetic is this?????

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Experts question CDC’s response to cruise ship hantavirus outbreak In the midst of a hantavirus outbreak that involves Americans and is making headlines around the world, the U.S. government’s top public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been uncharacteristically missing in action, according to a number of experts. Read more.

Why this matters: To President Donald Trump, “We seem to have things under very good control,” as he told reporters Friday evening. To experts, the situation aboard a cruise ship has not spiraled because, unlike COVID-19 or measles or the flu, hantavirus does not spread easily. It has been health experts in other countries, not the United States, who have been dealing primarily with the outbreak in the past week. The CDC’s diminished role in this outbreak is an indicator the agency is no longer the force in international health or the protector of domestic health that it once was, some experts said.   Not until late Friday did CDC actions accelerate. Health officials confirmed the deployment of a team to Spain’s Canary Islands, where the ship was expected to arrive early Sunday local time, to meet the Americans onboard. They said a second team will go to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska as part of a plan to evacuate American passengers from the ship to a University of Nebraska quarantine center for evaluation and monitoring. Also, the CDC issued its first health alert to U.S. doctors, advising them of the possibility of imported cases.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ 2 passengers test positive for hantavirus as a third one shows symptoms after cruise ship evacuation   Photos from onboard the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship   WATCH: Medics parachute onto remote island for suspected hantavirus case

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CDC breaks hantavirus silence

A cruise ship stricken with hantavirus approaches the Canary Islands yesterday. Photo: Andres Gutierrez/Anadolu via Getty Images The CDC broke its silence over the weekend on the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak, Axios' Tina Reed reports. 18 passengers were being evacuated from the Canary Islands off northwestern Africa to the University of Nebraska Medical Center. ✈️ Two of that group, who'd been traveling together, were later transferred to the biocontainment unit at Emory University in Atlanta. One tested positive, but wasn't showing symptoms. The other had mild symptoms. 👩‍⚕️ Public health experts criticized the CDC for not updating the public sooner or sending investigators. Acting CDC director Jay Bhattacharya told Jake Tapper on CNN's "State of the Union" that the agency didn't want to treat the incident like COVID and cause a panic. An agency spokesperson tells Axios: "We posted a statement the other day and Jay has had several X posts. So it's inaccurate to say we haven't been communicating." ⛑️ The big picture: Infectious disease experts say a lack of info from U.S. officials underscored the nation's diminished global public health role. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said in an interview with Axios: "How proactive would it be if it was more of a general public threat? How quickly could they respond?" Go deeper.

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Hantavirus worries

With grim memories of the Covid-19 pandemic still fresh, federal and state officials have repeatedly assured the public that hantavirus is not a comparable threat. It is true that it's no Covid, but some health experts say the messaging has at times been overly confident and too quick to dismiss the possibility of a threat. Read more.

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Ebola outbreak

Millions of dollars in foreign aid and several tons of medical supplies are pouring into central Africa amid a global effort to contain a deadly Ebola outbreak. The CDC has also banned visitors from the virus-hit region as some Americans affected by the crisis scramble to get out. Read more.

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• 🪱 The CDC is taking emergency measures to fight New World screwworm after the dangerous parasite was found in U.S. cattle after once being eradicated, Bloomberg reports. Gift link.

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COVID-19 vaccine study that was blocked from CDC journal is published elsewhere

NEW YORK (AP) — A study on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness has finally been published after being blocked from a government health journal.

https://apnews.com/article/cdc-covid-vaccine-effective-study-256e61b5ff4fcf3bfecd48826077e389?

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🕵️ Mystery stomach bug

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios Delayed federal health tracking and limited testing are making it harder to trace the source of an ongoing outbreak of a parasitic disease that's triggering "explosive diarrhea," Axios' Herb Scribner reports. "Nobody's identified a source yet … or a particular food or a particular line of transmission," David Freedman, a professor emeritus of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told Axios. "But there's something going on." 😷 Cyclosporiasis cases normally climb in the summer, but this year's outbreak has spread rapidly and sickened people across at least 31 states. The CDC has identified at least 843 confirmed domestic cases and over 1,500 that require further analysis. Share this story ... CDC resources.

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🥬 Cyclosporiasis rising

Data: CDC. Map: Brad Jennings/Axios. Cyclosporiasis cases have now been reported in at least 41 states, and infection rates continue to rise in the five states where the CDC has declared an outbreak. The CDC reported 4,173 confirmed cases in the U.S. between May 1 and July 20. Investigations continue to focus on contaminated iceberg lettuce as a source for the outbreak, Axios' Brad Jennings reports. Between the lines: Case numbers are likely higher than the map suggests. The CDC notes that it's aware of at least 7,400 cases — many from Michigan and Ohio — that have not yet been lab-confirmed. Plus, some people who get sick never get tested for cyclosporiasis.

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• 🦠 Two people in Michigan have died in connection with the multi-state cyclospora outbreak — the first confirmed deaths related to the microscopic parasite. Officials said that both people had underlying health conditions. Get the latest.

Michigan reports the first 2 US deaths related to a diarrhea-causing parasite

DETROIT (AP) — Two people have died in the cyclospora outbreak in Michigan, state health officials announced Monday, the first deaths confirmed in the U.S. related to the microscopic parasite.

https://apnews.com/article/michigan-cyclospora-outbreak-deaths-cf058908cdfd1bfd405d15e7079bed14?

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Cyclosporiasis deaths

Two people in Michigan have died in connection with the state's cyclosporiasis outbreak, health officials reported Monday, marking the first known deaths linked to the multistate outbreak of the diarrheal illness. Both individuals had significant underlying health conditions that may have been worsened by the parasite, officials said. Cases of cyclosporiasis typically rise in the spring and summer, but this year's outbreak has been unusually severe, with multiple clusters emerging across the Midwest.

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The CDC has zombie programs. Congress funds them, but few people are left to do the work

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still has an Alzheimer’s disease program. Congress appropriated $41 million to it this year. There’s just no one staffing it. Read More.

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New CDC director acknowledges agency problems in first large staff meeting

In her first large staff meeting, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention promised Wednesday to advocate for the agency while acknowledging that congressionally funded programs lacked staff and employees were feeling burned out. Read More.