Data Report

SUMMARY - The Texas Measles Outbreak of 2025 has now risen to 146 cases. It is the largest measles outbreak in the state of Texas in nearly 30 years. Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the nation’s top health official and a vaccine critic, dismissed the Texas outbreak as “not unusual.” (Emphasis added).

COMMENTARY - Elections have consequences.

LINK - https://www.khou.com/article/news/health/measles/measles-outbreak-texas-2025-update/285-dded2ec7-e37b-42f7-8adb-2956fdb329bc

SUMMARY - A child in the state of Texas has died from measles, the first U.S. fatality from the disease since 2015. The child was unvaccinated.

LINK - https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/02/26/nx-s1-5309800/texas-measles-child-death-vaccination

SUMMARY - Two universities in Texas have been put on alert after an individual who tested positive for measles during the ongoing Texas Measles Outbreak of 2025 visited those locations and more prior to testing positive. The individual also visited two restaurants and a museum.

LINK - https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/health-science/2025/02/24/514586/measles-alerts-issued-in-san-antonio-new-braunfels-and-san-marcos-as-texas-outbreak-spreads/

NOTE - Please use this thread for any E. Coli-related events that occur in China (which includes Hong Kong). I understand the political tensions of putting the two together; This board is about diseases, not "What is a country and what isn't?" If the two really need to be separated, that issue is for another day.

SUMMARY - The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has issued an urgent advisory today (23rd February), urging the public to refrain from consuming a specific batch of raw milk cheese imported from France due to a potential contamination with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). Retailers and distributors are instructed to cease the sale of this product immediately.

COMMENTARY - Another dairy product recalled for safety reasons because it was made from raw milk? You don't say. And it was made by Perrin Vermot? Didn't France recall some of their stuff in January? Huh. What an amazing coincidence...

LINK - https://www.dimsumdaily.hk/centre-for-food-safety-issues-urgent-recall-of-french-cheese-over-e-coli-contamination-risk/

SUMMARY - The state of Nevada (country: United States) has signed into law a bill allowing for non-cage free eggs and "Grade B" eggs to be sold during emergencies of up to 120 days each. Nevada previously had a law stating that only eggs produced from cage-free hens to be sold. The law was created to address the growing egg crisis brought on due to HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza) adversely affecting the egg-laying population.

LINK - https://www.carsonnow.org/02/22/2025/nevada-issues-temporary-order-allowing-the-sale-of-non-cage-free-eggs

SUMMARY - A suspected outbreak of bird flu in Telangana's Wanaparthy district (in the nation of India) has resulted in the death of 2,500 chickens at a farm during the last three days, leading the authorities to sound an alert.

NOTE - The chickens died of the suspected ailment, not killed once the outbreak was discovered. In the United States, if one chicken in a flock has HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza), then all of the chickens must be killed and that number is usually reported. It is not known how many additional chickens were killed (or will be killed) as a result of this event.

LINK - https://www.ibtimes.co.in/beware-alert-telanganas-wanaparthy-district-suspected-bird-flu-879830

SUMMARY - The Board of Commissioners in both Mercer and Darke County in the state of Ohio have passed an emergency declaration of government support on February 18, 2025, due to the ongoing bird flu outbreak. Darke County experienced its first case of HPAI on Dec. 24, 2024, while Mercer County had its first case on Jan. 10, 2025, according to the resolution documents. According to the declarations, both counties are requesting support from the State and Federal Governments to assist “assist in the containment, eradication, and recovery efforts related to the disease.'

COMMENTARY - So much irony in a red state asking the Federal Government for assistance in combating the spread of a deadly virus... Must resist temptation...

LINK - https://www.whio.com/news/local/counties-issue-declaration-emergency-support-amid-ongoing-bird-flu-outbreak/HUXVL6RTE5FNRM35JP7PA6BBTM/

SUMMARY - The United States Department of Agriculture has conditionally approved an avian flu vaccine for use in chickens. Zoetis, the manufacturer, has made similar vaccines before, such as one to protect California Condors. The approval may signal a shift in strategy for the United States, which has traditionally killed all chickens in a flock if HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza) was detected.

LINK - https://www.wpbf.com/article/avian-flu-vaccine-usda-approval/63818369