A suspected hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius, a cruise vessel traveling between Argentina and Cape Verde, has resulted in three deaths and at least three additional cases as of early May 2026. The WHO has confirmed at least one case, with epidemiological and genomic sequencing investigations ongoing. Hantavirus — typically transmitted through contact with infected rodent excreta — ca…

The FDA has appointed Katherine Szarama as acting director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), the unit responsible for evaluating the safety, effectiveness, and availability of vaccines and other biological products for human use. Szarama, who previously served as CBER's deputy director under Vinay Prasad, brings prior experience from the Centers for Medicare and Medi…

Public health communicators who regularly engage media contacts can strengthen those relationships by avoiding three common pitching missteps. According to Cision's State of the Media Report, 78% of journalists will block sources who repeatedly send irrelevant pitches, while Muck Rack's State of Journalism Report finds only 3% of journalists report that pitches consistently match their coverage…

CDC's Division of Overdose Prevention has launched the Clinical Drug Test Dashboard, a new interactive tool tracking trends in fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and polysubstance use among adults diagnosed with substance use disorders. Powered by clinical urine drug test data from Millennium Health — representing more than 650,000 specimens collected between October 2023 and Decembe…

CDC's Tick Bite Data Tracker shows weekly emergency department visits for tick bites are currently above historical norms in most U.S. regions, with rates in all areas except the South Central U.S. at their highest for this time of year since 2017. CDC is urging preventive measures ahead of Lyme Disease Awareness Month in May, citing risks of Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and al…

The Big Catch-Up (BCU), a multi-year initiative launched in 2023 by Gavi, WHO, and UNICEF, delivered over 100 million vaccine doses to an estimated 18.3 million children aged 1–5 across 36 countries, with 12.3 million of those children classified as zero-dose. Notably, 15 million had never received a measles vaccine, and 23 million doses of inactivated polio vaccine were administered. Twelve…

The federal reclassification of state-licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III marks a significant regulatory shift with direct public health implications. The order, signed April 24, 2026, legitimizes medical cannabis programs in 40 states, removes research penalties for scientists using state-licensed cannabis, and opens a pathway for expanded clinical study of safety and effi…

A longitudinal study from Rush University Medical Center tracked nearly 2,000 adults over eight years and found that those with the highest lifetime levels of cognitive engagement — reading, learning, and intellectually stimulating activities across all life stages — were 38% less likely to develop Alzheimer's and 36% less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment than their least-engaged pee…

The Trump administration's America First Global Health Strategy has replaced USAID with bilateral aid agreements that require recipient governments to co-finance — and eventually fully fund — their own health programs.   Kenya signed a five-year, $1.6 billion deal and pledged an additional $850 million domestically. Uganda is positioned to produce up to 11 million doses of lenacapavir, a t…