CDC updated its operational guidance for investigating suspected locally acquired mosquito-transmitted malaria in the United States following 10 autochthonous cases reported across four states in 2023 after two decades without documented local transmission. The guidance emphasizes that, although malaria was eliminated in the 1950s, widespread presence of Anopheles mosquitoes and increasing im…

The 2024 National Health Interview Survey found that 35.1% of U.S. adults (approximately 88.1 million) experienced at least one sunburn in the previous year, including 7.5% (18.8 million) with four or more sunburns. Among adults reporting sunburn, the most common context for the most recent event was spending time in, on, or near water (60.6%), followed by exercising (24.7%), drinking alcohol…

The VectorED Network, a CDC-funded Training and Evaluation Center serving the Ohio River Valley region through Penn State, is offering a free professional development webinar series focused on strengthening education and communication related to vector-borne diseases. Sessions will address the history of Lyme disease, best practices for risk communication during emergent threats, and vector b…

The de Beaumont Foundation’s new toolkit on engaging business leaders in public health partnerships highlights research-driven strategies to strengthen collaboration between public health agencies and the private sector. Drawing on interviews and focus groups with business leaders, the resource identifies key barriers to engagement, including perceptions that public health is overly regulator…

A recent study published in the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice found that nearly half of government public health workers contribute to communications activities, while only 11% identify communications as their primary role, underscoring persistent workforce and capacity gaps in public health messaging. In response, Arclet has opened applications for the second cohort of i…

Public health experts say the federal response to the hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship exposed gaps in outbreak readiness, particularly in communication and coordination. Former CDC officials and local health leaders cited delays in public briefings, provider alerts, and direct communication with states after potentially exposed passengers returned to U.S. communities.   The fir…

A reference-integrity audit of 2.5 million biomedical papers and 125.6 million references in PubMed Central identified 4,046 fabricated references across 2,810 papers after multi-database verification and filtering. Fabrication rates rose markedly, from 1 in 2,828 papers in 2023 to 1 in 458 in 2025, a more than 12-fold increase overall. Most affected papers contained one or two fabricated ref…

The Public Health Communications Collaborative (PHCC) will host its second annual half-day virtual conference on June 2, 2026, bringing together public health practitioners and professionals nationwide to share emerging research and perspectives on advancing public health communications. Sessions will emphasize practical, trauma-informed approaches to building resilience, strategies for advoc…

Researchers and clinicians have renamed polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) to polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) to better reflect the condition’s broader hormonal and metabolic impacts and improve patient care. Affecting an estimated 1 in 8 women worldwide, the condition is associated with irregular menstrual cycles, elevated androgen levels, infertility, and increased risk of Typ…