#Flu update: Nationally, flu activity in the US remains low, with all jurisdictions reporting minimal activity in the week ending Sept. 26. www.cdc.gov/fluview/surv...
Helen Branswell 🇨🇦
@helenbranswell.bsky.social
I cover infectious diseases for STAT (www.statnews.com). 2020 Polk winner. Nieman '11. She/her. I write about H5N1 (in all species), Covid, polio, flu, Ebola, RSV, mpox, STIs. Send me news tips on Signal: HBranswell.01
The #Ebola outbreak in DRC isn't getting much attention these days. It should be. www.statnews.com/2026/10/02/e...
An Ebola treatment center was burned down as the death toll in Congo passes 4,000
Congo's Ebola outbreak has killed more than 4,000 people, authorities said, as they struggle to contain what has become the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history.
statnews.com
The list of people seeking to be the next #WHO director-general has grown to 6 with Botswana's nomination of Armenian oncologist Gevorg Tamamyan. I wrote about the other 5 & the selection process here, before this nomination was made public. www.statnews.com/2026/09/25/w... & x.com/GevTamamyan/...
Gevorg Tamamyan (@GevTamamyan) on X
I am honored to announce my candidacy for Director-General of the World Health Organization, nominated by the Republic of Botswana. I am deeply grateful to President Advocate Duma Gideon Boko and th...
x.com
#CDC was informed of 3 more pediatric #flu deaths, 2 in the soon-to-end 2025-26 season & 1 from 2024-25. That brings the totals to 195 this year & 298 last year. Bad years for kids & flu. Flu is ticking up a bit, but all areas are still reporting minimal activity. www.cdc.gov/fluview/surv...
5 people are known to be in the running to become the next director-general of the #WHO. Although the nomination deadline was yesterday, it's possible other candidates are in the mix but haven't been announced yet. Whoever wins faces daunting challenges. www.statnews.com/2026/09/25/w...
At least five candidates vie to become the next WHO leader, as questions over U.S. role loom
At least five candidates are in the running to become the next director-general of the WHO, a job that will come with extraordinary challenges.
statnews.com
#CDC has been informed of another child who died from #flu this past winter, bringing the 2025-26 total to 193 deaths. The new season starts in Oct. All states are reporting minimal flu activity, but you can see (right) it's starting to tick up, led, as usual, by kids. www.cdc.gov/fluview/surv...
#CDC reports today that as of 9/17, the US has recorded 3,471 confirmed measles cases in 2026, up 50% from the figure recorded in all of 2025. CDC is still not acknowledging the 4 measles-related deaths Pennsylvania has reported. Important note: confirmed cases are a fraction of the true total.
#USDA reports that 2 more Texas dairy cow herds have tested positive for #H5N1 #birdflu. That brings the number of declared outbreaks from Texas to 38 and the national tally to 1,177 herds in 19 states. www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-po...
#USDA reports that Idaho has reported 2 more dairy cow herds infected with #H5N1 #birdflu. This brings the state's total to 177 herds, and the national total to 1,175 infected herds in 19 states since the outbreak was first recognized in March 2024. www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-po...
The #CDC #measles page still doesn't list any measles-related deaths in 2026. But the coroner in Lancaster County, PA has reported that at least 1 of 2 recent deaths linked to measles was due to measles. The CDC site was updated today. Will another update follow? www.nytimes.com/2026/09/04/w...
#CDC has been informed of another child who died from #flu during the 2025-2026 flu season; the death occurred in late March. It brings the confirmed death toll among kids to 192 for the season so far. www.cdc.gov/fluview/surv...
Wondering about fall vaccines — who should get them, when, & will they still be available? Key medical organizations have issued clear guidance today. Good news: The Vaccines for Children program, which covers about 50% of US kids, will still provide them this year. www.statnews.com/2026/09/02/v...
Doctors groups release vaccination guidelines ahead of respiratory illness season
Ahead of respiratory illness season, professional organizations have issued guidance on flu, Covid, and RSV vaccines.
statnews.com
When you have the number of confirmed #measles cases that the US has these days — nearly 2,800 as of last week — measles deaths are going to happen. Each is a tragedy. The more children vaccinated against measles, the lower the risk of this unbearable loss. www.statnews.com/2026/08/25/t...
Pennsylvania reports first 2 measles deaths in the U.S. this year, both people unvaccinated
Two unvaccinated Pennsylvania residents have died from measles, state health officials said Tuesday, the first measles-related deaths in the U.S. this year.
statnews.com
Public comments about a proposal that would make science funding decisions open to political influence are removed from the record, but not by the submitters. A number mentioned that OMB Director Russell Vought's family has benefited from federally funded research. www.statnews.com/2026/08/25/r...
Comments on OMB research rule mysteriously removed from federal website
Some comments on a proposed OMB research rule have been mysteriously removed from a public-facing government webpage.
statnews.com
.@WHO has increased its recommendations about how #DRC should contain the #Ebola #Bundibugyo outbreak, including postponing mass gatherings in areas with ongoing transmission, limiting the number of passengers on motorcycles & reducing crowding in bars. www.who.int/news/item/24...
#USDA reports that Texas has found another 2 herds of dairy cows that are infected with #H5N1 #birdflu. They bring the state's total to 36 and the national total to 1,173 herds in 19 states. www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-po...
Jeremy Farrar, a @WHO assistant director-general, is retiring from the global health agency next month. He turns 65 — the UN's mandatory retirement age — in Sept.
2 honorable choices. She can resign or resist from the inside until she’s fired. She knew she was signing up for this. We’ll see.
Helen Branswell 🇨🇦@helenbranswell.bsky.social · 2mo ago#CDC 's new director clearly has been sworn in. Erica Schwartz is now listed on CDC's website as the director. First big challenge for Schwartz: how she responds to this week's executive order on reducing recommended childhood vaccines & the call to break up MMR vax. www.cdc.gov/about/leader...
#CDC has been alerted to another 101 #measles cases in the last week, bringing this year's total to date to 2,566. Only 16 of those infections were contracted outside the U.S. www.cdc.gov/measles/data...
#CDC 's new director clearly has been sworn in. Erica Schwartz is now listed on CDC's website as the director. First big challenge for Schwartz: how she responds to this week's executive order on reducing recommended childhood vaccines & the call to break up MMR vax. www.cdc.gov/about/leader...
CDC Director
Erica Schwartz, MD, MPH, JD (RADM, USPHS, RET)
cdc.gov
With @drtedros.who.int projecting DRC's #Ebola outbreak is on track to eclipse the 2014-16 West African outbreak, #WHO is finalizing a Phase 3 vaccine trial protocol it hopes DRC regulatory officials will green light. Likely to start with Merck's Ervebo vaccine. www.statnews.com/2026/08/12/e...
Talks on launch of clinical trial of Ebola vaccine in DRC advance, WHO says
Talks are underway between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the WHO to expedite the start of a multi-armed Phase 3 clinical trial of Ebola vaccines.
statnews.com
#WHO leaders, including @drtedros.who.int, criticized the changes to U.S. vaccination policy proposed by this week's executive order, saying they're politically motivated, not science based. “This is going in exactly the wrong direction," one official said. www.statnews.com/2026/08/12/t...
WHO says Trump’s latest vaccine policy order is misguided
The White House's order attempting to overhaul the vaccine schedule could subject children to more needles and more disease risk, world health leaders say.
statnews.com
Trump's #vaccines executive order calls for breaking combo vaxes into individual pathogen shots again, starting with #MMR — measles, mumps & rubella. Experts argue there's no science supporting this & manufacturers are not on board. Most parents likely aren't either. www.statnews.com/2026/08/11/h...
Trump is counting on the health care industry to remake vaccines. It’s pushing back instead
Trump wants to change how American kids are vaccinated, but doctors and the pharma industry aren't on board.
statnews.com
There've been big advances in #Ebola since the devastating West African outbreak in 2014-16. But unfortunately, most of those advances were aimed at tackling the Zaire species of Ebola. There are others, as this Bundibugyo outbreak in DRC painfully reminds us. www.statnews.com/2026/08/10/e...
We prepared for Ebola — but not this Ebola
“Preparedness cannot mean optimizing every investment for yesterday's epidemic,” write Krutika Kuppalli and Placide Mbala.
statnews.com
The confirmed #measles case count in the US jumped nearly 100 cases last week to 2,465 — 108% of the cases reported last year, but in only 7 months. Only 16 of these were imported cases. No abating happening here. And this graphic doesn't reflect the US situation. www.cdc.gov/measles/data...
Measles Cases and Outbreaks
Find the latest numbers of confirmed U.S. measles cases. CDC updates this page weekly.
cdc.gov
Another child died from #flu in the past season, bringing the confirmed, reported deaths to 191. There will likely be more before the calendar rolls over into the 2026-27 flu season at the beginning of Oct. But hey, fewer kids should get flu shots, the Health Sec says. www.cdc.gov/fluview/surv...
#USDA reports another #H5N1 #birdflu infected dairy cow herd in Utah, the state's 29th. This makes the 1,171th confirmed herd (in 19 states) since the outbreak in cows was first identified in March 2024. www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-po...
Twofer here: Last night Moderna got word the #FDA had approved its mRNA flu vaccine for older adults. www.statnews.com/2026/08/05/f... The decision came on the anniversary of when Health Sec. Kennedy axed flu pandemic preparedness funding for Moderna. www.statnews.com/2026/08/06/m...
FDA approves Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine, the first to use the technology
The FDA has approved Moderna’s influenza vaccine, the first licensed flu shot made using messenger RNA technology.
statnews.com
The #Ebola #Bundibugyo outbreak in DRC's Ituri province is now the 2nd largest in known history, having overtaken the 2018-2020 outbreak in North-Kivu & Ituri in a matter of 2.5 months. Hard to say how big this one will get. Can't see it ending anytime soon.
#CDC has been alerted to 2 more kids who died from #influenza last winter. They bring to 190 the number of confirmed pediatric #flu deaths in 2025-26. This in a year in which Health Sec. Kennedy told CDC to drop its recommendation that kids 6 months & older get flu shots. www.cdc.gov/fluview/surv...
