CDC says it is monitoring unknown disease in Congo
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(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is closely monitoring an unknown disease that has killed dozens in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the agency said in a statement on Monday.
“CDC is monitoring the situation closely and engaging with DRC officials on what support the agency can offer,” the agency’s spokesperson said.
At least 1,096 people have been sickened and 60 people have died from the disease, the World Health Organization said Thursday in its most recent update.
This is the third time in the past few months officials have identified increases in illness and deaths in a different area of Congo, triggering “follow-up investigations to confirm the cause and provide needed support,” the WHO said in a statement on Thursday.
For example, there was a separate report of an unknown disease in December of last year in the central African country that was later attributed to illnesses from malaria and respiratory illnesses.
The symptoms for this latest cluster of disease include fever, headache, chills, sweating, stiff neck, muscle aches, multiple joint pain and body aches, a runny or bleeding from the nose, cough, vomiting and diarrhea, the WHO said.
Initial lab tests have been negative for Ebola and Marburg virus disease, the WHO said.
Around half of samples tested have been positive for malaria, which is common in the area, according to the WHO. Tests continue to be carried out for meningitis, and officials said they are also looking into food and water contamination.
The WHO said it has delivered emergency medical supplies, including testing kits and “developed detailed protocols to enhance disease investigation.”
“The WHO is supporting the local health authorities reinforce investigation and response measures, with more than 80 community health workers trained to detect and report cases and death,” the organization said.
(NEW YORK) — Before there was a vaccine in 1963, measles infected millions and killed hundreds of people in the U.S. every year. Now, with the first measles death occurring in over a decade, doctors warn that declining vaccination rates are bringing the disease back, putting more people — especially children — at risk.
Here are five things to know about measles.
What is measles?
Measles is a highly contagious virus that can cause serious illness. One in nine people who are exposed to the measles virus will become infected if they don’t have immunity through previous infection or vaccination, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Symptoms often begin one to two weeks after exposure. Early symptoms can look like other common respiratory illnesses starting with a high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and white spots in the mouth.
Dr. Ari Brown, a pediatrician in Austin, Texas, who treated measles decades ago, warns measles “doesn’t look like measles initially, and so that’s what’s so scary … this could look like flu.”
A distinct red rash typically appears three to five days later, usually starting on the face and spreading down the body.
What is the earliest my child can get vaccinated?
The CDC recommends all children receive two doses of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine, with the first dose given between 12-15 months and the second dose when they reach 4-6 years old.
In some circumstances, children as young as 6 months old may receive the vaccine, and a second dose can be given as soon as 28 days after the first, according to the CDC.
Dr. Lara Johnson, a pediatrician and the chief medical officer at Covenant Children’s and Covenant Health in Lubbock, Texas, said people worried about their vaccination status should talk to their doctor.
“One of the messages that’s really important in the context of this outbreak is, if you’re behind on your vaccinations, now’s a great time to get caught up,” Johnson told ABC News.
Can you get measles if you are fully vaccinated? One dose of the MMR vaccine is 93% effective against measles and two doses are 97% effective, according to the CDC.
That means that 3 out of 100 vaccinated people may get sick if exposed to the virus, but these infections are usually less severe than in unvaccinated people who get sick, according to the CDC.
Most people who were vaccinated as children won’t need any additional measles vaccines. But adults who only had one measles vaccination or people who were vaccinated in the 1960s may be candidates for an additional vaccination.
Anyone unsure of their vaccination status should have a discussion with their doctor. There’s no harm in getting an additional dose of the MMR vaccine. According to the CDC, people born before 1957 are immune to the virus because almost everyone at the time was infected with measles, mumps and rubella during their childhood.
Anyone living in a high-risk area should speak to their doctor about whether they need a booster, according to the CDC.
What can pregnant women do to stay safe?
Measles in pregnancy is associated with a higher risk of miscarriage, low birth weight and preterm birth, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. However, women should not receive the MMR vaccine while they are pregnant because it is a live vaccine.
If a pregnant person is exposed to measles, they should talk to their doctor as soon as possible — within six days — to know if they should receive a post-exposure prophylaxis with measles immunoglobulin (an injection of antibodies that can help reduce the severity of illness for high-risk people), according to the CDC.
Can measles kill you?
Measles can cause complications like pneumonia, brain swelling, long-term hearing loss and death — as is the case in the current Texas outbreak.
In the decade before the measles vaccine, the CDC estimates 3 to 4 million people were infected and 400 to 400 people died from the virus every year in the United States.
Other long-term complications include subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a rare but fatal complication that can develop seven to ten years after recovery. SSPE causes a gradual loss of mental abilities, which progresses to a vegetative state and eventually leads to death, according to the National Institutes of Health.
There is no specific treatment for measles, so doctors say the best way to prevent complications of measles is to get vaccinated.
“The vaccine is so effective,” Dr. Summer Davies, a pediatrician currently treating hospitalized patients at Texas Tech University Health Science Center and Covenant Children’s, told ABC News.
Davies said the best way to protect yourself, your children and your community is to get the vaccine, even “if you’re not worried yourself about getting it.”
This is not just like any other virus, Davies said.
“Some people think, ‘Oh, this is just a virus like the flu. I’ll get it, maybe get a fever and rash and get over it,’” Davies said. “But it can be really severe, as we have seen here.”
Johnson said that measles is not just an issue from the past, but something that could progress in the future without proper vaccinations.
“[Measles] seems like something from the past,” Johnson said. “But if we don’t continue to vaccinate and do things that we did in order to make these illnesses of the past, then they’ll be illnesses of the present.”
-Dr. Amanda Hargett-Granato and Jade A Cobern contributed to this report. Hargett-Granato is a pediatric resident at Mayo Clinic and member of the ABC News Medical Unit. Cobern, MD, MPH, board-certified in pediatrics and general preventive medicine, is a medical fellow of the ABC News Medical Unit.
(NEW YORK) — More measles cases are being confirmed across the United States as health officials work to treat patients in an ongoing outbreak in Texas.
The Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) and the Franklin County Health Department announced on Wednesday a confirmed case of measles in an adult resident, the first in the state in two years.
The departments said the resident recently traveled internationally to an area where measles is spreading.
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, health officials confirmed two new measles cases in Bergen County linked to a patient whose case was confirmed earlier this month.
Officials haven’t found any links between the cases in Kentucky and New Jersey, and there’s no evidence the cases in Kentucky or New Jersey are connected to the outbreak in Texas, which has so far sickened 124 people and led to one death in an unvaccinated school-aged child.
Kentucky health officials are now attempting to contact anyone the infected resident may have come into contact with. The resident attended a Planet Fitness in Frankfort on Feb. 17 while contagious, officials said.
“Measles is one of the most contagious viruses in the world,” KDPH Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack said in a statement. “Fortunately, measles can be prevented with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which is safe and effective. Vaccines are an essential tool to keep children and adults safe and healthy.”
An official briefed on the situation told ABC News on Thursday that the new cases in New Jersey are members of the same family and were not vaccinated. Because they are in the same family, public health officials are hopeful public spread will have been limited.
The original case tested positive after traveling internationally. The New Jersey Department of Health said people may have been exposed to measles if they visited Englewood Hospital’s Emergency Department on Feb. 5.
Health officials said people who were exposed could develop symptoms until as late as March 6.
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to humans. Just one infected patient can spread measles to up to nine out of 10 susceptible close contacts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health officials have been urging anyone who isn’t vaccinated to receive the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine.
The CDC currently recommends that people receive two vaccine doses, 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. Most vaccinated adults don’t need a booster.
Measles was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000 due to the highly effective vaccination program, according to the CDC. However, CDC data shows vaccination rates have been lagging in recent years.
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(WASHINGTON) — The federal government has drastically lowered some of the funding that universities and research institutions receive from medical and scientific grants.
News of the cuts rattled the scientific community with many scientific institutions set to lose millions of dollars in funding annually.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the country’s primary agency responsible for conducting and supporting medical research, provides federal research grants to universities and research institutions in two separate buckets – direct and indirect costs.
Direct costs are expenses related to conducting research, such as paying for researchers’ salaries or travel as well as funding the equipment and supplies necessary for experiments. Indirect costs, also known as facilities and administrative (F&A) costs, include other expenses such as student services and paying for building expenses like utilities.
Previously, most universities had negotiated indirect cost funds with the federal government, with some acquiring as much as 70% or more. Now, those rates will be capped at 15%.
Attorneys general from 22 states immediately sued to block the NIH from enacting the rate change, arguing the policy would result in “catastrophic financial consequences.”
The lawsuit alleged that the policy would likely result in the closure of research programs, layoffs and furloughs, disruptions to clinical trips and “potentially [jeopardize] people’s lives and health.”
“Indirect costs are the backbone of IHEs’ research programs and cover everything from utilities to facilities and equipment maintenance to payroll for faculty and staff to compliance programs, hazardous waste disposal, and more,” the lawsuit said. “They quite literally keep the lights on.”
The lawsuit asked the Massachusetts District Court to immediately issue a temporary restraining order blocking the policy, arguing the policy would cause irreparable harm and is a clear violation of Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how the federal agencies create and enforce regulations.
In a social media post, the NIH noted that $9 billion of the $35 billion for research that was granted last year were for indirect costs. The agency anticipates that the rate cap will save more than $4 billion annually.
Funding from the NIH supports roughly 412,000 jobs and $92 billion in economic activity, according to a report from United for Medical Research, a coalition of top research universities, medical associations, and biomedical and pharmaceutical companies.
The report argues that NIH funding is not just responsible for university jobs – but also supports local industry and economic activity that bring additional benefits to their communities and states.
In a letter to students and faculty, Harvard University addressed the rate cuts noting, “the discovery of new treatments would slow, opportunities to train the next generation of scientific leaders would shrink, and our nation’s science and engineering prowess would be severely compromised.”
In a similar letter, Stanford University noted that, “a cut of this magnitude would potentially have deep impacts on medical care, human health, and America’s place in the world as the leader of biomedical research.”
Research funding isn’t limited to institutions in the Northeast or California. Florida, Tennessee, Missouri, Ohio and Georgia all received roughly $1 billion in funding from the institutes, according to active funding data from NIH.
The University of Alabama-Birmingham, the state’s largest employer, is among the top recipients of NIH funding, and received more than $413 million in NIH awards in 2023.
North Carolina, with more than 3,000 active projects and $3 billion in active NIH funding, and Texas, with more than 4,400 active projects and $2.5 billion in active NIH funding, are also among the GOP-leaning states that received NIH grants and support.
