(NEW YORK) — At least 177 new measles cases have been reported in the U.S., according to newly updated data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A total of 910 infections have been confirmed in 24 states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Signs point the way to measles testing in the parking lot of the Seminole Hospital District across from Wigwam Stadium on February 27, 2025 in Seminole, Texas. Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — There have been at least 733 confirmed measles cases reported across the nation, the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed Friday.
In just a few weeks, the United States reported four times as many cases than typically seen throughout an entire calendar year.
Before last year, which had a record breaking 2,276 cases, the U.S. averaged 180 cases annually since measles was declared eliminated in 2000.
The record numbers come as South Carolina is dealing with the largest outbreak recorded in recent memory.
Other states that have reported cases and are dealing with ongoing outbreaks include Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Most of the outbreaks occurring across the country are in pockets of under-vaccinated or unvaccinated communities.
The rate of kindergartners vaccinated with the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine has fallen from 95% in 2019 to below 93% in 2025, CDC data shows. Herd immunity, a threshold for vaccination rates that slow a virus’ ability to spread, is typically achieved at 95% vaccination rates, public health experts say.
Declining vaccination rates have left approximately 300,000 kindergarteners unprotected from measles infection.
The MMR vaccine is given in two doses, the initial shot given after the first year of life and the second shot given after the fourth year of life.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Signs point the way to measles testing in the parking lot of the Seminole Hospital District across from Wigwam Stadium on February 27, 2025 in Seminole, Texas. Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — There have been at least 733 confirmed measles cases reported across the nation, the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed Friday.
It comes as South Carolina is dealing with the largest outbreak recorded since measles was declared eliminated within the U.S. in the year 2000.
A total of 20 states have reported cases so far including Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Last year had a record breaking 2,276 cases nationwide, the highest number since 1992. There were also three measles deaths, the first in a decade.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
In this May 13, 2025, file photo, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand speaks at a press conference on the World Trade Center Health Program at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Congress has approved legislation for a funding fix that fully supports the World Trade Center Health Program and prevents a projected multibillion-dollar shortfall that threatened the program’s future.
At a press conference Thursday morning, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., highlighted the action as a critical step toward protecting long-term care for those sickened by toxic exposure after the Sept. 11 attacks.
“Fully funding the World Trade Center Health Program honors our promise to never forget 9/11 survivors and the brave first responders who put their lives on the line for our country,” Gillibrand said.
Since its creation in 2011 through an act of Congress, the program reports it has helped over 150,000 individuals get care and medical monitoring. Gillibrand said the package will fully fund the program through 2040.
The new measure updates how the program is financed, allowing it to meet rising medical costs and growing enrollment without the risk of sudden funding gaps.
Supporters say the change provides long-term stability for the thousands of people whose health was harmed by exposure to toxic chemicals after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.
“Making sure our 9/11 first responders and survivors have the resources they need to cope with the long-term health effects from toxic exposure has been one of my top priorities for my entire service in Congress,” Gillibrand said. “I am relieved that, after years of fighting tirelessly for its passage, this funding has been signed into law.”
The World Trade Center Health Program provides medical monitoring and treatment for first responders, cleanup workers, and community members affected by 9/11-related exposure. Advocates stressed that stable funding is critical not only for current patients but also for people who may develop related illnesses years or decades later.
Doctors, responders, advocates, and survivors have long warned that the program faced a looming financial crisis.
Enrollment has continued to grow as more people develop cancers and chronic conditions linked to toxic dust and debris, while aging patients require more complex care, Benjamin Chevat, executive director for nonprofit Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, told ABC News.
An outdated funding formula failed to reflect those realities, raising concerns that treatment could be delayed or limited, advocates cautioned.
Still, supporters say funding alone does not resolve all of the program’s challenges.
“Finally, fully funding the World Trade Center Health Program after so many years is a real accomplishment, for the 9/11 responders and survivors who walked the halls of Congress and called their representatives, and for Rep. Andrew Garbarino and Sen. Gillibrand among others who worked to get it done,” Chevat said.
The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act is named after a New York City Police Department officer whose 2006 death was linked to exposures from the World Trade Center disaster.
Chevat said that some challenges remain for the program.
Certification of new conditions has slowed, staffing shortages persist at some clinical sites, and administrative backlogs have delayed care for certain patients, Chevat said. Addressing these issues will ensure the program can fully deliver on its mission, he added.
Dr. Joseph Wendt, a member of the ABC News Medical Unit, contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Colorectal cancer was once viewed as being mostly diagnosed among middle-age and older adults, but that’s changing.
Research shows more adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s are being diagnosed with colorectal cancer, with incidence increasing over the last three decades.
Deaths are on the rise too, with a recent study finding colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men — and second in women, under age 50.
“It’s definitely incredibly concerning that these rates continue to rise and that we really don’t know why this is happening,” Dr. Andrea Cercek, a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, told ABC News.
Oncologists told ABC News that it’s important to get the word out about how colorectal cancer is affecting younger adults in an effort to try and reverse the trends.
Colorectal cancer rising among younger adults According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), incidence of colorectal cancer in adults between ages 20 and 39 has been rising about 2% every year since the mid-1990s.
What’s more, about one in five people currently being diagnosed with colorectal cancer are under age 55, ACS states.
“Two-thirds of the young patients present already as stage three and four, which is a sad fact,” Dr. Y. Nancy You, a professor of surgery in the department of colon & rectal surgery and medical director of the young-onset colorectal cancer program at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, told ABC News.
Research shows it’s not only colorectal cancer cases that are on the rise among younger adults but deaths as well.
A study published earlier this month from ACS in the medical journal JAMA found that as of 2023, colorectal cancer has surpassed all other cancers as the leading cause of cancer deaths among Americans under age 50.
Since 2005, deaths from colon and rectal cancers in those under age 50 have risen by 1.1% every year, the study found.
“Whenever we see rates increasing for cancers in younger individuals, it does lead to concern as to why this is happening and also how these individuals may know that they could start screening at younger ages,” Dr. Veda Giri, a professor of internal medicine (medical oncology) and director of the early onset cancer program at at Yale School of Medicine, told ABC News.
“So, the concern comes up not only about why, but what can we do now based on our available ways of screening, detecting and treating cancers that we can now implement in this space of early onset colorectal cancer,” she added.
Why are cases, deaths related to colorectal cancer rising? Oncologists told ABC News they’re not sure why there’s an increase in colorectal cancer among younger adults, but research is ongoing.
Giri said some the rise could be tied to a higher consumption of ultra-processed foods and processed meats along with a lower intake of fiber or other food substances.
She said a great deal of research is being focused on the gut microbiome and whether disruptions from external exposures, such as diet or environment, may play a role.
“There’s been some work going on trying to characterize obesity patterns and rise in colorectal cancer,” Giri said. “Obesity might be a proxy for things like sedentary lifestyle, eating of these ultra-processed foods, and we certainly see a spectrum of patients where some with early onset colorectal cancer may have obesity, but they’re also individuals that are not obese.”
Risk factors including smoking and heavy alcohol use and have been linked with a higher likelihood of developing colorectal cancer.
A family history of colorectal cancer or colon polyps can also raise the risk of colorectal cancer as can genetic conditions such as Lynch syndrome.
Additionally, inflammatory bowel diseases, including chronic ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, can lead to long-term colon inflammation and raise the risk of colorectal cancer.
Experts believe that whatever is behind the rise, it’s likely to be caused by multiple factors rather than one factor.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a single smoking gun,” You said. “I think cancer is a complex disease. It’s heterogeneous. What makes a cell turn cancerous is probably a lot of factors.”
How to reverse the trend In 2021, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force lowered the recommended age at which people at average risk should start screening from age 50 to age 45.
For those with a family history of colon cancer, doctors say people should start screening at either age 40 or 10 years before the age a family member was diagnosed, whichever comes first.
“If we can identify individuals at risk, then we could screen those individuals earlier,” Cercek said. “The problem is that we’ve lowered already screening age to 45, which captured a lot of the population, but the steepest rise is actually the 20 to 30 year olds.”
Doctors said they hope highlighting the risk younger Americans face will raise awareness and help them pay attention to any symptoms they develop.
The most common symptoms of colorectal cancer include persistent changes in bowel habits, unfinished bowel habits, rectal bleeding or blood in stool, abdominal pain or discomfort, unexplained weight loss and fatigue.
“We definitely don’t want to create like a reign of terror where any little thing will trigger a cancer worry or cancer workup,” You said. “But at the same time, I think there’s room to improve in terms of whenever somebody does present with symptoms to get them to a cancer workup faster than what is happening today.”
Signs point the way to measles testing in the parking lot of the Seminole Hospital District across from Wigwam Stadium on February 27, 2025 in Seminole, Texas. Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — At least 588 measles cases have been confirmed so far this year across the U.S., according to updated data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This means the U.S. has seen more cases in about one month than is typically recorded in an entire year.
Only nine other years, including last year, have had higher case counts since measles was declared eliminated in 2000.
The high case counts in 2026 are largely being driven by a measles outbreak in South Carolina.
At least 17 states have also reported measles cases this year including Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
Almost all cases are tied to ongoing outbreaks in pockets of undervaccinated or unvaccinated communities. Just three measles cases were reported among international travelers so far this year, according to CDC data.
Last year, the U.S. saw a record-breaking number of measles cases reported with 2,257 infections, the highest figure recorded since 1992. The U.S. could be on pace to surpass that record if cases continue to mount at this rate.
The CDC currently recommends that people receive two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective against measles, the CDC says.
However, federal data shows vaccination rates have been lagging in recent years. During the 2024-2025 school year, 92.5% of kindergartners received the MMR vaccine, according to data. This is lower than the 92.7% seen in the previous school year and the 95.2% seen in the 2019-2020 school year, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The national trends mirror those see in counties across the U.S. A recent map from ABC News — a collaboration with researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard School of Medicine and Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai that allows people to type in their ZIP code and see the measles risk in their area — found a wide range of risks in areas across the U.S.
Some counties and ZIP codes fell into the “lowest risk,” with 85% or more of children under 5 years old receiving one or more measles vaccine dose to “very high risk” with fewer than 60% of children under age 5 receiving one or more measles vaccine dose.
Airport health authorities wearing protective masks monitor passengers from international flights arriving at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, January 25, 2026. Suvarnabhumi Airport Office/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Several countries, including Thailand and Nepal, have increased their surveillance after cases of the deadly Nipah virus were detected in India.
So far, just two cases have been confirmed among 25-year-old nurses, a woman and a man, in West Bengal, according to the World Health Organization.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told ABC News earlier this week that Indian health authorities have deployed an outbreak response team and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is in contact with local officials. The CDC said it is “monitoring” the situation.
Despite the virus’s high fatality rate, experts have said it’s very unlikely it will lead to a global emergency.
Here’s what you need to know about the virus, including signs and symptoms, how the virus is transmitted and what treatments are available.
What is Nipah virus?
Nipah virus is a type of zoonotic disease, meaning it’s primarily found in animals and can spread between animals and people.
It was first discovered in 1999 after a disease affected both pigs and people in Malaysia and Singapore, according to the CDC.
The virus is most often spread by fruit bats, and can spread through direct or indirect contact.
The virus can also spread from person to person by being in close contact or coming into contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms typically occur between four and 14 days after exposure. The most common symptom is fever followed by headache, cough, sore throat, difficulty breathing and vomiting.
Diagnosing the virus in the early stages is often difficult because the symptoms resemble many other illnesses, the CDC has said.
The virus can lead to severe symptoms, including disorientation, drowsiness, seizures or encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain. These can progress to a coma within 24 to 48 hours, according to the CDC.
Deaths range anywhere between 40% and 75% among all cases, the federal health agency said. Some permanent changes among survivors have been noted, including persistent convulsions.
What are the treatments available?
Currently there are no specific treatments available for Nipah virus other than managing symptoms with supportive care, including rest and fluids.
Experts said there are treatments currently under development. One is a monoclonal antibody, a treatment that uses immune system proteins manufactured in a lab. They mimic the antibodies the body naturally creates when fighting the virus.
Dr. Diana Finkel, an associate professor of medicine in the division of infectious disease at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, previously told ABC News that the drug has already completed phase I clinical trials and is currently being used on a compassionate basis.
Researchers are also studying the potential benefit of remdesivir — the intravenous medication used to treat COVID-19 — which has been shown to work well in nonhuman primates with Nipah virus.
What is the likelihood of Nipah virus spreading?
Experts said that while anything is possible, it’s very unlikely that cases in India will lead to global spread.
“The world is small, but the likelihood that somebody’s infected, or an infected fruit bat with Nipah virus would be here, right now, is very unlikely,” Finkel previously told ABC News.
She said when people are exposed in health care settings, it’s often because proper standard precautions were not followed, such as not wearing gloves or masks.
Experts have said Nipah virus cases are also a reminder of the potentially devastating effects of habitat destruction and climate change, possibly leading to more interaction between infected animals and humans.
“You have to think about why are fruit bats that harbor this Nipah virus, why are they coming into contact with people?” Dr. Peter Rabinowitz, director of the University of Washington Center for One Health Research, previously told ABC News. “What is changing in terms of the movement of the bat populations? Are they leaving [a] habitat where there were not very many people? Are they now spending more time close to people?”
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report.
Jayanta Bhattacharya, director of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Last week, the Trump administration announced it was banning the use of human fetal tissue from some abortions in federally funded medical research.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) said the policy would go into effect immediately and advance “science by investing in breakthrough technologies more capable of modeling human health and disease,” NIH director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement.
Scientists told ABC News that research using human fetal tissue has contributed to understanding diseases better, such as HIV and Ebola, and helped in the development of some vaccines and drugs.
Some scientists worry the ban could prevent groundbreaking discoveries about the behaviors of certain diseases and stop the development of life-saving therapies.
“It’s not a scientific decision,” Dr. Lawrence Goldstein, a professor emeritus of cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California, San Diego, told ABC News. “It’s a moral decision that places the rights of fetal tissue that would be discarded above the rights of sick people who will benefit from that research.”
How human fetal tissue has been used
Human fetal tissue has been used to study serious diseases and disorders, including AIDS, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, dengue, Ebola, hepatitis C, diabetes and spinal cord injuries.
Cell lines have been created from human fetal tissue that have led to the development of vaccines for rubella, rabies, chickenpox, shingles and hepatitis A. Research has also led to the development of drugs to treat HIV, hemophilia and sepsis.
President Donald Trump himself benefited from the research: the experimental antibody treatment he took to treat COVID-19 was developed using cells derived from human fetal tissue. At the time, Trump praised the treatment as a “cure.”
The tissue has been also used in reproductive medicine research to study fertility issues, pregnancy issues, and pregnancy conditions such as pre-eclampsia.
Goldstein said that human fetal tissue research also helps create humanized mouse models to study human immune systems.
“Using fetal tissue, you can make mice that have human blood-forming and immune systems,” Goldstein said. “And that’s valuable because a lot of the viruses that trouble human health don’t grow properly in mice. But if you can make mice with human blood and immune systems, those viruses will frequently grow, and you can learn how to make therapies to block them.”
There are very strict guidelines that researchers have to follow when using human fetal tissue, ensuring they are in compliance with federal and sometimes state requirements.
Additionally, the research must be reviewed and approved by the NIH’s Institutional Review Board (IRB), which specifically assesses federally funded research that uses human subjects.
The IRB assures that donation and reception of human fetal tissue were done with consent and not coercion and that there were no enticements provided to the participant, the clinic or the research team.
A researcher with knowledge of the matter, who asked that their name not be used due to fears of retribution, told ABC News that federal law states that donation cannot be even brought up to a pregnant individual deciding to terminate their pregnancy before the decision to terminate.
“These are extremely important guardrails that are in place to ensure that everything is handled properly,” the researcher with knowledge of the matter said.
Impacts of ending NIH funding
The Trump administration first instituted a ban ending all human fetal tissue research at NIH in 2019, but it was reversed by the Biden administration in 2021.
The current ban stops NIH funds from supporting all “grants, cooperative agreements, other transaction awards and research and development contracts,” the agency said in a statement.
Some groups praised the Trump administration’s new policy, including the Independent Medical Alliance, a group that promoted unproven treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There is no ethical justification for performing experiments on tissue derived from aborted human beings,” Dr. Joseph Varon, president and chief medical officer of the Independent Medical Alliance, said in a statement. “The fact this practice continued for years within federally funded research institutions shows just how far removed parts of HHS had become from foundational medical ethics. This correction is long overdue.”
However, some scientists say the ban will affect ongoing and future work.
Dr. Anita Bhattacharyya, an associate professor of cell and regenerative biology in the school of medicine and public health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said she was hoping to apply for a future NIH grant to study human fetal tissue research and will now not be able to do so.
Bhattacharyya explained she currently uses human-induced pluripotent stem cells, which are reprogrammed cells that are similar to embryonic stem cells, in her work. However, the loss of NIH funding for human fetal tissue research could affect future work.
“My reaction was, ‘How are we going to do some of our research if we can no longer use human fetal tissue?'” she recalled to ABC News. “In particular, my lab studies Down syndrome and so we know that in Down syndrome, the brain develops differently to lead to the intellectual disability that people with Down syndrome have.”
Bhattacharyya said human fetal tissue is valuable when studying Down syndrome or neuropsychiatric disorders because it can recapitulate what’s happening in brain development.
“And so that’s where the human fetal tissue really provides us with a benchmark or the ground truth so that we can validate our models,” she said.
Finding alternative methods of funding is another issue, scientists told ABC News. The NIH was the largest funder of research involving human fetal tissue, and no longer financially supporting such research may leave scientists scrambling to find other donors.
Goldstein said there are private disease foundations that will sometimes fund human fetal tissue research, such as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which funds stem-cell-related research in California.
However, experts say the hole left behind by the lack of NIH funding cannot be made up through private donations.
“There’s really nothing adequate to substitute for the federal effort,” Goldstein said. “It is the largest funder of medical research in the United States. It has systems in place to regulate quality and ensure that ethics and scientific principles are being adhered to. We really can’t move ahead as efficiently as we would like with the absence of the NIH.”
Although the NIH said tissue from spontaneous abortions will still be available, the researcher with knowledge of the matter said this tissue is very often not suitable for research purposes.
“The reason is because, most often, spontaneous abortion happens as a result of some sort of genetic abnormality or some injury, infection, some kind of damage to the fetus itself, that renders that tissue completely unusable for scientific research,” they said.
“Additionally, because spontaneous abortions are just that, they’re spontaneous and therefore completely unpredictable,” the researcher continued. “We have to be very careful in the way that we handle that tissue. It makes those studies intractable. And so, for that reason, spontaneous abortions are not a suitable replacement for fetal tissue research that we would normally obtain.”
In this photo illustration a girl looks at the screen of her smartphone on April 16, 2021 in Bonn, Germany. (Ute Grabowsky/Photothek via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — So-called “night owls” may face a higher risk for heart attack and stroke, a new study published Wednesday finds.
Researchers found that “evening type” people had poorer cardiovascular health scores than those who were neither “morning type” or “evening type” people and had an associated 16% higher risk of heart attack and stroke.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, analyzed survey and biometric data from more than 320,000 British adults aged 39 to 74.
Participants were asked whether they considered themselves a “definite morning” person, a “definite evening” person or somewhere in between, termed “intermediate.”
Researchers then calculated each person’s heart health using the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) score. These factors include four health behaviors — diet quality, physical activity, sleep duration and nicotine exposure — and four health factors, including blood pressure, body mass index, blood sugar and blood fat levels.
“These are the factors the American Heart Association has identified as cardiovascular disease risk factors,” Kristen Knutson, associate professor of neurology and peventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine specializing in sleep and circadian rhythm research and fellow at the American Heart Association, told ABC News.
“Different people will have them in different combinations, but they are all correlated with one another,” she added.
Evening people were 79% more likely to have poor overall heart health compared with those in the intermediate group, the study found. Morning people did slightly better than the intermediate group, with a 5% lower risk of having a poor LE8 score.
Researchers found the evening people had a 16% higher risk of both heart attack and stroke. Researchers estimated that about 75% of this higher risk was explained by other LE8 factors, rather than sleep timing alone.
“It isn’t being a night owl that’s a problem,” Knutson said. “I think being a night owl who’s trying to live in a morning lark’s world is a conflict between one’s internal clock and their social clock.”
The higher risk appeared to be due to certain lifestyle behaviors and other health factors, the study found.
Nicotine use had the strongest impact on heart health, explaining 34% of the link between late bedtime and heart disease. Shorter sleep duration accounted for 14% of the extra risk, high blood sugar for 12% and body weight and diet each accounted for about 11% of the increased risk.
Behavioral effects of being a night owl were stronger in women than in men — women were 96% more likely to have lower LE8 scores compared to 67% in men, though they did not have a higher risk of heart attack or stroke.
“Women are further stressed by that lifestyle because they’re having to still get up and be the primary caregiver for family members,” Dr. Sonia Tolani, preventative cardiologist, Associate Professor of Medicine, and co-director of the Columbia University Women’s Heart Center, told ABC News.
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The researchers concluded prevention efforts should focus on improving lifestyle habits when spending more time awake at night.
“The most obvious way is to quit smoking and that’s not new advice,” Knutson says. “But sleep regularity, meaning trying to go to bed at about the same time every day and not jumping around the clock — particularly on days off — can really help lead to regular timing of other behaviors like light exposure, meals, exercise activity.”
“Prioritize the low-hanging fruit” recommended Tolani. If an hour at the gym is not doable, “maybe you can find a way to do a 10-minute walk or cut a little bit of salt from your diet. Just try to make small changes,” she said.
Demonstrators participate in a rally and march during an “ICE Out” day of protest on January 23, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Community leaders, faith leaders and labor unions have urged Minnesotans to participate in what they are calling a “day of action” as hundreds of local businesses are expected to close during a statewide general strike held in protest against immigration enforcement operations in the region. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Over the last several days, many Americans have seen upsetting, and often violent, images and videos of protests in Minneapolis amid a flood of ICE agents entering the city for a federal immigration enforcement operation.
Research has shown that images of extreme violence can impact mental health, increasing symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Among the videos and images that circulated widely in recent weeks have been the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens involving federal agents just 17 days apart: Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Psychologists and psychiatrists told ABC News that witnessing a death can add an extra level of distress for some people and lead to long-lasting consequences.
Symptoms of anxiety and depression Studies have shown the symptoms of depression and anxiety can increase when exposed to negative news.
One 2011 study from the University of Sussex in Brighton, U.K., found that people had worsened mood and anxiety symptoms after just 14 minutes of negative news consumption.
Another 2022 study from Rutgers University, focused on COVID-19 news, found that greater daily exposure to news about the virus was linked to higher same-day and next-day worry about the pandemic as well as feelings of hopelessness and general worry.
Dr. Pierluigi Mancini, a psychologist and interim president and CEO of the nonprofit Mental Health America, told ABC News that witnessing any kind of violence whether through news, on social media or in person can lead to psychological effects
“So, people will experience fear, they’ll experience hypervigilance, they’ll experience emotional exhaustion, and they will have effects on their mental health,” he said.
Mancini added that witnessing violent events can activate the body’s “fight-or-flight response” which can include symptoms such as rapid heart rate, shallow breathing, nausea, irritability and difficulty concentrating, especially when the events happen in one’s own community.
“So, the individuals that are on site where they are witnessing these effects in their neighborhoods get affected at a much higher level, but even those millions more that end up watching it on social media or traditional news sites also have those experiences,” he said.
Witnessing deaths may be especially traumatic Research has shown that mental health impacts are even more profound when someone’s unexpected death is witnessed and shared.
A May 2021 article looked at emotional and mental health impacts after the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who was killed in Minneapolis in 2020 after a white police officer knelt on his neck.
The team analyzed Gallup poll data and found that in the week following Floyd’s death, more than one-third of respondents reported feelings of anger and sadness.
Researchers found a 1.5-fold increase in feelings of anger and a 1.3-fold increase in feelings of sadness compared to poll data for the four weeks preceding Floyd’s death. Increases were seen despite already elevated levels of anger and sadness due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Johannes Eichstaedt, co-author of the study and an assistant professor in psychology at Stanford University, told ABC News he sees some similarities between the death of Floyd and the deaths of Good and Pretti, all of which occurred in Minneapolis.
He said there is scientific literature about linked fate, or the sensation someone has that a horrible event could have happened to them or someone they know.
“There is a very real fear response in the human body with lots of physiological consequences that are very real and when something like this happens and it’s recorded like this and then it traumatizes more or less everybody who watches this,” Eichstaedt said. “The problem is not that these things are getting captured in a video. The problem is that these things happen.”
Dr. Anthony Feinstein, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, told ABC News that witnessing a death can be distressing to anyone, but that it is important to determine when the stress becomes pathological.
“I think any individual with a moral compass would be distressed by seeing someone die like this on television,” he said. “It’s a very distressing thing to witness. And to feel momentary dismay and stress and sadness or anxiety in response to it strikes me as a normal human response to an abnormal event. Where it becomes problematic is when that stress and that distress doesn’t go away, when it lingers.”
Experts said witnessing deaths on the news, such as what occurred in Minneapolis, can elevate the level of potential mental health impacts, especially among those who are most vulnerable.
“It is extremely traumatic to see someone die,” Mancini said. “Once that sinks in that you witnessed someone lose their life, especially in a violent situation. It’s always traumatic even if you’re next to a loved one who’s passing and you’re expecting it, but when it’s unexpected and when it is violent, it is extremely difficult to watch and to process.”
Mancini said some people may be desensitized to violence, but others can be severely impacted. Witnessing violence can violate a person’s feeling of safety and stability, he said.
“In Minnesota, many people are experiencing that escalating stress,” he said. “They’re experiencing that fear, that violence and uncertainty in their communities. So, it’s gonna make you question everything that you were taught when you were growing up.”
How to protect mental health For those who are experiencing mental health impacts, experts say there are steps people can take to protect their mental health.
Rather than avoiding the news altogether, Mancini said people can purposely limit the time they spend watching news coverage.
He added that watching the news is important to remain informed, but that it is just as important to have intentional engagement.
“So, for example, it is as simple as maybe … I will watch the news two times a day, and when I’m watching this news, I’m going to set a timer,” he said. “I’m gonna limit the time that I’m to be watching this news. That is the healthy thing to do.”
To limit mental health impacts, people can also take action by getting involved with a group focused on the issues they are most passionate about or joining an affinity group, which are supportive communities of people who share a common identity, experts said.
Feinstein said having psychosocial supports can help people maintain mental well-being and allow them to be more vulnerable as well.
“Peer support is important and there is literature out there that peer support is comforting and it’s protective and it’s helpful when it comes to managing situations like this,” Feinstein said. “Obviously you want to keep your responses within the letter of the law … but being part of a support group is helpful.”
Feinstein added that, in stressful times, it’s important for people to devote sufficient time to things that are healthy and meaningful in their lives, whether it be friendships, hobbies or interests.
“And, by the way, don’t feel guilty by doing it,” he said. “That’s really important. People feel, ‘Well, I’ve got a good life, and I feel guilty that I can go to the cinema and theater with other people.’ No, it’s really important that you hold on to those good positive things, because that’s how you maintain your mental well-being.”
