1st measles death linked to outbreak in Texas confirmed in child
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(LUBBOCK, Texas) — An unvaccinated school-aged child in Texas has died of measles, the first associated with an outbreak in the western part of the state that has infected more than 100 people.
Lubbock city spokesperson Lauren Adams confirmed the death to ABC News on Wednesday.
In a press release, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) said the child was hospitalized in Lubbock, located in northwestern Texas, last week and tested positive for measles.
As of Wednesday, 124 cases of measles have been confirmed, according to data from DSHS.
Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, and 18 people have been hospitalized so far, DSHS said.
Children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases with 62, followed by 39 cases among children ages 4 and under.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Canned cherries made with red dye #3/Photo credit: Linnea Bullion For The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is moving to ban the use of Red No. 3 dye in food products.
The agency said Wednesday it is amending its color additive regulations to no longer allow the use of Red No. 3 in food, beverages and ingested drugs, in response to a 2022 petition from health groups and activists.
FD&C Red No. 3, also known as Red 3, is a synthetic food dye that gives foods and drinks a bright, cherry-red color. It is primarily used in foods such as candy, cakes and cupcakes, cookies, frozen desserts, frosting and icings, and some ingested drugs.
At least two studies have shown that high levels of the food dye were linked to cancer in rats. However, the link between the dye and cancer does not occur in humans, the FDA says.
While studies in other animals and humans did not show this link of cancer, an FDA regulation prohibits the agency to authorize color additive found to induce cancer in humans or animals, pushing the agency to revoke the food dye’s authorization.
Food manufacturers will have until 2027 to reformulate their products while drugmakers will have until 2028.
FDA Commissioner Robert Califf was asked at a Senate hearing in December why the dye had not been banned. He said the FDA hasn’t been given the resources to do the kind of post-market monitoring of substances done in Europe, where it has been largely banned since 1994. The FDA also banned the use of Red 3 in cosmetics in 1990.
“We have repeatedly asked for better funding for chemical safety … Please look at our request for funding for the people who do this work, remember that when we do ban something, it will go to court, and if we don’t have the scientific evidence … we will lose in court,” Califf said at the hearing.
Red 40, another synthetic food dye used to achieve a bright crimson color in condiments and candy, will remain available for use. Some studies have also shown Red 40 is a carcinogen in animals.
Red No. 3 was first approved by the FDA in 1969 and had been reviewed “multiple times” since then, according to the agency.
ABC News’ Kelly McCarthy contributed to this report.
In this undated stock photo, signage for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is shown. (STOCK PHOTO/Adobe Stock)
(WASHINGTON) — Medical groups are expressing deep concern about the sudden removal or alteration of government data sets and webpages from agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at the behest of President Donald Trump’s administration.
The American Cancer Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating the disease, called on the administration to “restore access to comprehensive data, refrain from changes that would lead to incomplete future data collection and commit to ensure evidence-based science can proceed without additional bureaucracy or red tape” in a statement published on its website on Thursday.
“Any restriction to gather and release these data could thwart our ability to address and reduce the cancer burden across all communities,” interim CEO Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick said in the statement.
The organization highlighted the removal of the Social Vulnerability Index, which uses U.S. census data to identify county-level risk and vulnerability factors facing communities, taking into account poverty, race, disability, housing and more, according to the CDC.
“Data from public sources like the Social Vulnerability Index are key to deploying the right resources to those who could benefit the most,” the group said. “Therefore, any barriers to accessing these data can also have repercussions on planning and deployment of support services for cancer patients and survivors.”
The Trump administration transition team didn’t immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Across the federal government, webpages and datasets were removed or altered following Trump’s executive orders on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and transgender identities called for an “end” to any related policies within the federal government.
Webpages about HIV, LGBTQ+ people and multiple other public health topics were taken down. Some of the terms being flagged for removal include pregnant people, chestfeeding, diversity, DEI and references to vaccines, health and gender equity, according to officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who spoke to ABC News on the condition of anonymity.
Several data tools were also removed or modified, according to Frederick.
Frederick said data collected by a plethora of federal and state agencies play a key role in many of the organization’s reports and publications, including the agency’s “Cancer Statistics, 2025” report and its companion, the “Cancer Facts and Figures” report.
The organization’s reports provide up-to-date trends on cancer occurrence, survival, symptoms, prevention, early detection and treatment, Frederick said.
“ACS develops guidelines for cancer screening and prevention, informed by the latest available data and evidence, to meet the needs of clinicians, the general public, and policy,” he said. “We are very concerned that the changes in data collection and dissemination have the potential to impact these efforts in the future.”
The organization is concerned about how the scope and impact of data removal and potential long-term changes to data collection will impact its research capabilities.
The ACS warning came just days after the medical nonprofit group Doctors For America filed a lawsuit against several Trump administration agencies over its sudden removal of health information from multiple government websites.
The suit targets the Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Health and Human Services (which controls the CDC and FDA), asking a federal court in Washington, D.C. to order the government to restore the webpages and datasets.
ABC News has reached out to the agencies for comment.
In a statement to ABC News, the CDC confirmed that changes “to the HHS website and HHS division websites are in accordance with President Trump’s January 20 Executive Orders, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government and Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.”
The Office of Personnel Management provided guidance on both executive orders, prompting HHS and divisions to respond accordingly, the spokesperson stated.
In a separate emailed statement to ABC News, the CDC’s SVI coordinator also attributed the online restrictions to the HHS “pause on mass communications and public appearances that are not directly related to emergencies or critical to preserving health.”
It said the pause will be brief, “to allow the new team to set up a process for review and prioritization.”
In the lawsuit, Doctors for America expressed concerns that the lack of data “creates a dangerous gap in the scientific data available to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks, deprives physicians of resources that guide clinical practice, and takes away key resources for communicating and engaging with patients.”
Asked last Friday afternoon if government websites would be shut down to be scrubbed, the president said it wouldn’t be a “bad idea.”
“DEI … would have ruined our country, and now it’s dead. I think DEI is dead,” Trump said. “So, if they want to scrub the website, that’s OK with me. But I can’t tell you.”
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud and Peter Charalambous contributed to this report.
(LOS ANGELES) — The percentage of emergency department (ED) visits related to fire and smoke inhalation rose dramatically in the days immediately after the Los Angeles wildfires last month, new data published Thursday shows.
The wildfires broke out in the Pacific Palisades and in Eaton Canyon on Jan. 7. Although several destructive wildfires emerged, the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire caused the most damage.
Fueled by strong winds and dry weather, the fires burned more than 57,000 acres, destroyed about 16,000 structures, and killed at least 29 people, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
A team from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reviewed data from the county’s Syndromic Surveillance program, which receives and analyzes real-time data from most county EDs.
By collecting this data, the program can detect early warning signals of a potential public health threat that requires a response and alert health care professionals, according to the department of health.
ED visits, referred to in the report as “encounters,” were classified as being wildfire-associated if fire or smoke inhalation–related terms were listed in the chief complaints or the diagnoses sections.
The team looked at three periods: a three-week period before the wildfires began, the first six days of the wildfires and the week after the wildfires began.
Data showed the average percentage of ED visits associated with the wildfires increased eightfold from 0.06% to 0.52% in the six days after the wildfires. The peak was seen on Jan. 8, with 1.01% of all ED visits related to the wildfires. During the week after the wildfires began, ED visits decreased but still remained elevated at 0.2% compared to baseline.
The average percentage of ED visits was found to be linked to an increase in the average daily Air Quality Index (AQI), which is put out by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Average daily AQI rose from 75, which is classified as “moderate level of concern” to an average of 110, classified as “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” in the six days after the wildfires began. In the week following the outbreak of the fires, average daily AQI returned to “moderate” at 58.
The report found a small increase in the average percentage of burn-related injuries and eye-related injuries but there were no increases seen in the percentage of visits related to asthma or cardiovascular reasons.
In contrast, the report found that immediately after the wildfires began, all-cause ED encounters — meaning visits to the department for any reason — decreased by 9%.
The authors stated that the decrease could for multiple reasons, with some including school closures, business closures, displacements, challenges accessing health care, residents seeking care in clinics or urgent care centers, or residents visiting EDs in neighboring counties.
“Near real-time surveillance of health outcomes during and after wildfires can estimate effects on health care use, serve as an early warning for acute health impacts, and identify opportunities for intervention,” the authors wrote. “Further analyses are planned to identify which illnesses have most affected specific populations.”
