Surgeon general warns of link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk
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(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory on Friday warning of a link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk.
Alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, after tobacco and obesity, according to the Surgeon General’s advisory.
For some cancers, including breast, mouth, and throat cancers, the risk of developing cancer may increase with one or fewer drinks per day, the advisory states.
Despite a growing body of evidence, fewer than half of Americans recognize alcohol consumption as a risk factor for cancer, according to the advisory.
A person’s risk of developing cancer due to alcohol consumption is also determined by other factors, including biological, economic, environmental and social, the advisory says.
“Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States – greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the U.S. – yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk,” U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said in a statement. “This Advisory lays out steps we can all take to increase awareness of alcohol’s cancer risk and minimize harm.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Federal health officials have begun collecting samples of aged raw cow’s milk cheese across the U.S. to test for bird flu, the Food and Drug Administration announced.
Sample collection started at the end of this month and is expected to be completed by the end of March 2025, the FDA said Monday. If needed, the agency said it will extend the collection period.
It comes after the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a federal order earlier this month that raw milk samples nationwide would be collected and shared with the agency to be tested for bird flu.
The FDA said it plans to collect 300 samples of raw cow’s milk cheese that has been aged for at least 60 days from warehouses and distribution centers across the country.
Samples will be tested with a PCR test, which looks for genetic material from the virus, and will be completed within one week of collection, according to the FDA. Samples that indicate the presence of the virus will undergo viability testing.
Viability testing will be done by injecting part of the virus into an embryonated egg and analyzing if it grows or multiplies.
Raw milk cheese is made with unpasteurized milk. In the U.S., cheese can be made from raw milk but must be aged a minimum of 60 days to lessen the risk of any pathogens that may be present, per the FDA.
Samples that test positive for viable virus will be “evaluated on a case-by-case basis,” the FDA said, and the agency may issue actions “such as a recall, follow-up inspection or other possible responses to protect public health.”
The FDA has previously warned of the dangers of drinking raw milk, which does not undergo pasteurization — a process that kills viruses and bacteria. The agency currently considers unpasteurized soft and hard cheeses, as well as other products made from unpasteurized milk, a “high-risk choice.”
Past studies from federal health officials have shown that pasteurization effectively kills the bird flu virus. Nearly all, or 99%, of the commercial milk supply produced on dairy farms in the U.S. follows a national pasteurization program.
Pasteurization has been a practice in the U.S. for more than 100 years and kills harmful bacteria and viruses by heating milk to a specific temperature over time, the FDA notes.
The U.S. has been facing an outbreak of bird flu, or avian influenza, since April, when the first human case was reported.
Almost all confirmed cases have had direct contact with infected cattle or infected livestock. Most bird flu cases in the U.S. have been mild, and patients have typically recovered after receiving antiviral medication.
(NEW YORK) — Some hospitals in the U.S. are seeing an increase in RSV and higher levels of “walking pneumonia” among young children despite overall respiratory illness activity remaining low nationally.
Cook Children’s Medical Centers in Texas reported a “steep increase” in children visiting the emergency room due to respiratory-related illnesses.
On Tuesday, at the health system’s Fort Worth location alone, there were 572 patients — a near-record-high number — in the emergency department. Officials said the increase in hospital visits is due to a spread of RSV and walking pneumonia in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Additionally, University of North Carolina hospitals reported 40 walking pneumonia cases in the last week of October compared to no cases the same time last year.
Infectious disease specialists say that although parents should stay alert when it comes to respiratory illnesses spreading, this season also may also be marking a return to typical seasons seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s the calm before the storm,” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, told ABC News. “It feels that there’s so much going on … that we almost forget about respiratory viruses, but they’re very regular. They’re kind of falling back into normal pre-pandemic cadence.”
Walking pneumonia seeing cyclical increase
So-called “walking pneumonia” is a respiratory tract bacterial infection caused by the bacteria Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Infections are generally mild, and people may seem better than expected for those with a lung infection, hence the term walking pneumonia, the CDC said. Sometimes serious complications, however, emerge requiring hospitalization.
For the week ending Nov. 2, the latest for which CDC data is available, 2.8% of all pneumonia-associated ED visits led to an M. pneumoniae diagnosis, up from just 2% at the end of September.
Rates were highest among those ages 1 and younger, making up 7.8% of all pneumonia-associated ED visits with an M. pneumoniae diagnosis for the week ending Nov. 2.
Experts say mycoplasma infections have a cyclical nature and tend to surge every three to seven years.
“Just like other respiratory viruses, there was not a lot of exposure during the pandemic years because of social distancing and people staying away from each other, and so we’re catching up to that,” Chin-Hong said. “Mycoplasma may also be one of these things where you’re kind of seeing the perfect storm. So, it comes back every four or five years and people are getting back to their normal lives.”
RSV activity returning to pre-pandemic levels
Respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is a common respiratory virus with most children affected by their second birthday, according to the CDC.
Although it typically causes mild, cold-like symptoms and most people recover in one to two weeks, it can be a serious infection for infants and older adults, resulting in hospitalization, the CDC said.
Current levels remain lower than those seen at the same time during the past few seasons.
“While RSV activity is increasing in certain regions, particularly among young children, it’s important to remember that we’re seeing a return to more typical pre-pandemic patterns,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.
“This year’s season is starting later and progressing more slowly compared to the past few years, which were marked by earlier and more severe outbreaks,” he added.
Brownstein pointed out that while national levels remain low, certain regions in the southern U.S. and eastern U.S. are seeing localized surges, especially among young children.
When to go to the emergency room
Chin-Hong said if symptoms are mild, including low-grade fever, dry cough, sore throat, headaches and mild aches and pains, parents can keep their children home and contact their primary care provider with any questions.
However, when symptoms become more severe including difficulty breathing, a long-lasting fever or lethargy, then it might be time to visit the emergency room.
If you have “a child who’s having a cough for more than seven days and maybe they’re not shaking that off, then you worry about something like walking pneumonia,” Chin-Hong said.
How to prevent RSV and walking pneumonia
To prevent RSV, there are three vaccines approved for adults ages 60 and older as well as some adults between the ages 50 and 59 who are at higher risk. There is also a vaccine available for pregnant women between 32 weeks and 36 weeks of pregnancy.
For babies under eight months, there are two monoclonal antibody products available. Monoclonal antibodies are proteins manufactured in a lab that mimic the antibodies the body naturally creates when fighting an infection.
“For walking pneumonia. or mycoplasma, there’s no vaccine for that, but by getting vaccines for RSV, COVID [and] influenza, you reduce the probability of co-infections that can make things worse,” Chin-Hong said.
Experts also recommended applying lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as wearing a mask in spaces with poor ventilation.
“Practicing good hygiene, like frequent hand-washing and covering coughs and sneezes, remains essential in preventing the spread of respiratory infections,” Brownstein said.
(NEW YORK) — Moderna has been awarded approximately $590 million from the federal government to help speed up the development of an mRNA-based bird flu vaccine, alongside other influenza vaccines, health officials announced Friday.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a press release that the funding will allow the pharmaceutical company to accelerate the development of an H5N1 mRNA influenza vaccine “that is well matched to strains currently circulating in cows and birds and expands the clinical data supporting the use of mRNA vaccines that may be needed if other influenza strains emerge with pandemic potential.”
Moderna said the funding will support the expansion of clinical studies “for up to five additional subtypes of pandemic influenza.”
The U.S. government previously awarded the vaccine manufacturer $176 million in July 2024 to help expedite the development of an mRNA vaccine that could be used for bird flu.
mRNA technology is the same type that was used in the development of some COVID-19 vaccines. While some vaccines use a weakened or inactive virus to stimulate an immune response, mRNA vaccines teach the body how to make proteins that can trigger an immune response and fight off an infection.
Researchers can often design mRNA vaccines more quickly than they can produce the live or weakened pathogens needed for a live-attenuated or inactivated vaccine.
The federal government already has two bird flu vaccine candidates, which use traditional vaccine technology, available in the nation’s stockpile. Officials previously noted they’d have 10 million ready-to-use doses within the beginning of 2025. Vaccines were being stockpiled as a precaution.
“Avian flu variants have proven to be particularly unpredictable and dangerous to humans in the past. That is why this response has been a top priority for the Biden-Harris Administration and HHS,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement on Friday. “Accelerating the development of new vaccines will allow us to stay ahead and ensure that Americans have the tools they need to stay safe.”
Bird flu cases in humans have been spreading across the country since April 2024 with 67 confirmed cases as of Friday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The first death of a human bird flu patient was reported in Louisiana earlier this month. The patient was over the age of 65 and had underlying medical conditions, according to health officials.
Most human cases have occurred after coming into contact with infected cattle, infected poultry farms or other culling operations.
The CDC and other public health officials say there is currently no evidence of human-to-human transmission and the risk to the general public is low.
ABC News’ Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.
