A Catholic high school in Houston, Texas closed early for the Christmas holidays due to seven confirmed cases of pertussis (whooping cough). St. Theresa Catholic School cancelled all classes and activities on Dec. 12, 2019 due to the outbreak. The school will re-open on Jan. 6, 2020.1 2 The first case of pertussis at St. […]
A study by Rutgers University has found that the rate of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) four-year-old children in New Jersey rose by 43 percent from 2010 to 2014, to an estimated rate of 1 in 35 children—the highest of any state in the United States. According to the research, which was published earlier this year […]
On Dec. 20, 2019, the government of Samoa announced that 94 percent of the island nation’s population of about 200,000 people had been vaccinated against measles as part of a government-led mandatory, mass vaccination campaign. As of Dec. 20, the Samoan Ministry of Health (MOH) had confirmed 5,463 reported cases with 1,762 hospitalizations and 78 […]
A total of 72 people have died in Samoa during the current outbreak of measles there that began in mid-October. Most of the deaths have involved children under five years of age. U.S. and global media outlets have been following this story closely, providing regular updates on the number of people in Samoa who have […]
Uganda Radio Network (URN) reported on Nov. 16, 2019 that the Ministry of Health of Uganda is investigating the sudden death of a boy who died on Nov. 14, 2019 after receiving the measles-rubella and polio vaccines at a community vaccination center in the town of Kalagi, Uganda. Ugandan health officials stated that preliminary findings did not related the death to the vaccinations […]
After 65 years of global polio mass vaccination campaigns, on Oct. 24, 2019 (“World Polio Day”) the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that, along with wild type 2 poliovirus declared eradicated in 2015, wild type 3 poliovirus has been eradicated from the earth.1 The credit for the achievement was given to the Global Polio Eradication […]
(updated to reflect new outbreak figures released by AFP on Nov. 25, 2019)—A total of 2,194 cases of measles have been reported in Samoa this year. The government has declared a state of emergency and closed all schools, including the nation’s only university. Samoan health authorities are developing plans to implement compulsory MMR (mumps, measles, […]
California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) has issued a report revealing that public spending on special education students in California has risen by more than 20 percent during the past 10 years, from $10.8 billion to $13 billion. One out of every eight students in California’s public school system now requires special education services, with the […]
A new report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 2.6 million people die annually in low-and middle-income countries from medical errors, and that most of those deaths are related to misdiagnosis and administration of pharmaceutical products. According to the WHO, “Four out of every ten patients are harmed during primary and ambulatory […]
A recent report by Moody’s Analytics found that Americans born between 1981 and 1996—”Millennials”—are suffering from poorer physical and mental health than the previous generation known as “Gen-Xers,” born between the early-to-mid 1960s to the early 1980s.1 2 3 4 The 32-page report, titled “The Economic Consequences of Millennial Health” and prepared for Blue Cross […]