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.
(WASHINGTON) — When the White House budget office released a memo this week that instructed all federal agencies to cease spending on any financial assistance programs pending internal review, the fate of the nation’s largest public health insurance program was propelled into question.
Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that provides health care coverage to low-income individuals and families. There were over 79 million Americans enrolled in the program as of October 2024.
The online Medicaid reimbursement portal accessible by every state was reportedly down following Tuesday’s freeze announcement, despite the White House Office of Management and Budget saying in an updated memo that the program would not be affected.
On Wednesday, after being temporarily blocked by a federal judge and already facing a legal challenge from 22 state attorneys general, the freeze was rescinded.
While federal administrators and private individuals alike scramble to understand which programs could be affected by President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive orders, experts say Medicaid’s role in America cannot overstated.
“It’s really the backbone of many aspects of our health care system,” Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, told ABC News.
From birth to elder care, Medicaid covers newborns, children, low-income individuals and families, people with disabilities and substance abuse issues, and nursing home residents, among others, according to Alker.
“I think we all need to really pay attention to what’s going on here, both in the administration but, more importantly, in Congress, where they are contemplating these very large cuts,” Alker said.
What is Medicaid?
Medicaid, which turns 60 this year, was established in 1965 as amendments to Social Security by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The program was meant to provide health insurance to individuals and families who could not afford or were not provided private insurance through employment.
Now, it’s a nearly $900 billion program funded by both the federal government and individual states, with each state administering its own eligibility, benefits and payment rates based on federal guidelines, according to the program’s website.
The federal government reimburses states for a portion of Medicaid costs through the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage program, which covers hospitals, doctors, clinics, pharmacies and nursing homes with little to no copayments by the beneficiaries, according to Medicaid.
“Medicaid serves a key role in the health insurance market, and for many people, there is no alternative,” Eric Seiber, Ph.D., a professor in the College of Public Health and director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Evaluation Studies at Ohio State University, told ABC News.
“This affects Medicaid beneficiaries, but also Medicaid providers. What is often overlooked is one person’s healthcare expense is another person’s healthcare income,” Seiber added.
How many Americans are on Medicaid?
As of October 2024, the program reported that 79.4 million people were enrolled in Medicaid across the U.S. That includes 41.7 million adults enrolled in Medicaid and 37.6 million Medicaid child and Children’s Health Insurance Program enrollees.
Medicaid enrollment is on the rise, with the program seeing a 20% increase in applications since October 2023 and a 66% increase since October 2022, according to the program.
Who is eligible for Medicaid?
Eligibility for Medicaid coverage is based on income, family size, disability status and age, and can vary from state to state.
The expansion of Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act made adults with incomes of up to 138% of the federal poverty level, or about $20,783 for an individual, eligible in 2024, according to the program.
Not everyone to enrolls in Medicaid remains on it indefinitely, according to Seiber.
“Medicaid often serves as a trampoline, not a safety net. People land on Medicaid and often bounce right back off,” Seiber told ABC News of Medicaid’s role in the American health care system.
“I would say that Medicaid protects people’s health, but also their future,” Seiber added.
Medicaid during Trump’s first administration
Trump’s first administration saw threats to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act that were ultimately rejected, perhaps most dramatically in 2017 when Sen. John McCain, who died of brain cancer the following year, returned to Washington, D.C., to vote against the so-called “skinny repeal” of the ACA and hundreds of billions in cuts to Medicaid.
Trump was attempting to replace the ACA with the American Health Care Act, which would have repealed the individual mandate and the employer mandate, amended Medicaid eligibility and weakened protections for patients with pre-existing conditions.
In December 2017, a Republican tax reform law was passed that eliminated individual mandates, which Gallup later said may have reduced participation in the insurance marketplace.
At the end of 2019, 13.7% of adults were without health insurance, the highest level seen since early 2014, according to Gallup data.
Fast-forward to the 2024 election cycle: Trump made little mention of Medicaid amid various campaign trail comments about possible changes to Medicare and Social Security.
In March, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he was “not running to terminate” the ACA but said he wanted to make it “better” and “less expensive.”
During the September presidential debate, he said he had “concepts of a plan” and said it would be “better health care than Obamacare,” but offered few details.
“Medicaid will be turning 60 this year, so we are very concerned that that proposal may arise again,” Alker said of possible cuts to federal Medicaid funding.
“So our future is really at stake here, and I think with an aging population, with a growing need for long-term care, there’s no way that states can manage this,” she added.
(LUBBOCK, Texas) — The measles outbreak in western Texas is continuing to grow with 20 additional cases confirmed, bringing the total to 279 cases, according to new state data published Tuesday.
Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). Just two cases are among fully vaccinated individuals. At least 36 people have been hospitalized so far, the state said.
In the Texas outbreak, children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases, at 120, followed by children ages 4 and under making up 88 cases, the DSHS data shows.
“Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, additional cases are likely to occur in the outbreak area and the surrounding communities,” the DSHS said in its update.
Two likely measles deaths have been reported so far in the U.S. The first reported death was an Texas, according to the DSHS. The child did not have any known underlying conditions, according to the department.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Tuesday marks five years since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the global outbreak of COVID-19 to be a pandemic.
Since then, millions of Americans have been hospitalized, and more than 1.2 million people have died.
Additionally, millions of adults and children are still feeling the effects of their illness and have been diagnosed with long COVID.
Here’s a look at the disease in the U.S. by the numbers.
Hospitalizations
In the last 28 days, ending about Feb. 16, 2025, about 3,800 Americans were hospitalized due to COVID-19, according to data from the WHO.
During the week ending Feb. 22, the most recent week for which data is available, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that just 1.3% of inpatient beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients as well as 1.3% of intensive care unit beds.
Additionally, during the week ending March 1, the rate of COVID-19-associated hospitalizations was 1.4 per 100,000 people. The peak for the 2024-25 season was 4.2 per 100,000 people during the week ending Jan. 4, which is much lower than the peak of 35.6 per 100,000 people during the 2021-22 season.
Deaths
Since the pandemic began, more than 1.22 million Americans have died from COVID-19 as of March 6, 2025, according to the latest CDC data. The U.S. crossed the 1 million mark on May 12, 2022.
During the week ending March 1, there were 274 deaths recorded from COVID, according to CDC provisional data. This is the lowest number recorded since the pandemic began.
Meanwhile, the age-adjusted death rate currently sits at 0.1 per 100,000 people, which has remained relatively consistent since spring 2024 and is among the lowest rates recorded since the pandemic.
By comparison, during the height of the omicron wave in winter 2021-22, the death rate was 53 times higher at 5.3 per 100,000. The highest-ever death rate was recorded the week ending Jan. 9, 2021, at 6.5 per 100,000.
Studies have suggested COVID-19 vaccines, combined with mitigation measures, helped save hundreds of thousands of lives in the U.S.
Long COVID
Long COVID is a condition that occurs when someone infected with COVID-19 is within three months of the initial diagnosis and lasts at least two months.
As of August 2024, a federal survey found that 17.9% of adults have experienced long COVID — equivalent to about 47.6 million Americans, according to 2024 U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
Meanwhile, 5.3% of adults — equivalent to about 14.1 million Americans — reported they were currently experiencing long COVID symptoms at the time of the survey. Of those currently experiencing long COVID, nearly a quarter said they had significant activity limitations.
Another recent federal study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics in February, showed approximately 1.01 million children, or 1.4%, are believed to have ever experienced long COVID as of 2023 and about 293,000, or 0.4%, were experiencing the condition when the survey was being conducted.
Vaccines
In June 2024, the CDC recommended that everyone ages 6 months and older receive an updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine to protect against severe illness, hospitalization and death.
The updated vaccines target the JN.1 lineage of the virus, an offshoot of the omicron variant. There are formulations from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna available for those 6 months old and older and from Novavax available for those aged 12 and older.
The CDC, however, has previously stated vaccination coverage remains low, meaning “many children and adults lack protection from respiratory virus infections provided by vaccines.”
As of Feb. 22, 2025, only 23.2% of adults and 11.9% of children were vaccinated with the updated vaccine, CDC data shows.
Additionally, despite evidence showing the vaccine is safe for pregnant women, the CDC estimates that just 13.8% of pregnant women have received the updated vaccine.
