Colorado officials warn of ‘community transmission' risk after third confirmed measles case
Blood sample positive with Measles virus (iStock / Getty Images Plus)
Colorado health officials warned Tuesday that measles may be spreading undetected in Colorado following the confirmation of the state's third case this year in an Archuleta County resident.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's warning comes after two previous measles cases in Pueblo and Denver. Unlike in those two cases, the Archuleta County resident, an adult whose vaccination status has not been confirmed, did not recently travel internationally.
'This case does not appear to be linked to the other cases reported in Colorado and the individual did not travel outside of Colorado, which leaves open the possibility of community transmission,' Dr. Rachel Herlihy, Colorado's deputy chief medical officer and state epidemiologist, said in a statement. 'We urge Coloradans to monitor for symptoms if they may have been exposed, and to make sure they are up to date on their (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccinations.'
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Measles is a highly contagious and often severe disease that causes symptoms including fever, cough and a characteristic rash. Cases in the U.S. plummeted following the introduction of a vaccine in the 1960s, and the recommended two doses of the MMR vaccine provide about 97% protection against infection.
Colorado has not had three measles cases confirmed in the same calendar year in at least 12 years, according to state data.
The infections come amid an alarming rise in measles outbreaks nationwide, including several clusters in west Texas and neighboring states that have caused at least two deaths of unvaccinated children. Falling rates of vaccination, fueled by anti-vaccine conspiracy theories like those spread by newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have preceded many of those outbreaks.
Colorado had the nation's sixth-lowest rate of MMR vaccine coverage for kindergarteners in the 2023-24 school year, with an estimated only 88.3% of kindergarten students vaccinated, according to federal data. While state law requires K-12 students to receive the MMR vaccine and five others, it allows for broad exemptions on medical or religious grounds.
CDPHE officials say people may have been exposed to measles at the Wolf Creek Ski Area and Resort between March 28 and 30; the Pagosa Springs City Market on March 31; and the Pagosa Medical Group clinic at 27B Talisman Dr. on March 31 and April 2. People who were exposed should monitor for symptoms for at least three weeks after exposure and avoid public gatherings, especially if they are unvaccinated.
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Vox
4 hours ago
- Vox
The one drug RFK Jr. should actually ban
is a senior reporter for Vox's Future Perfect section, with a focus on animal welfare and the future of meat. Pigs fed ractopamine has been linked to their inability to stand up, difficulty breathing, and even death. It also carries a number of environmental and human health becoming secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services and leader of the Make America Healthy Again movement, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was a swashbuckling environmental attorney who regularly took aim at the meat industry. He sued large meat companies and the Environmental Protection Agency over water pollution from factory farms, and criticized factory farming for its 'unspeakable' animal cruelty and overreliance on feeding animals hormones and drugs. For over a decade, a group of food safety, environmental, and animal welfare nonprofits has petitioned the US Food and Drug Administration — which Kennedy now oversees — to ban the use of one of the most controversial of those drugs: ractopamine hydrochloride. Fed to pigs in the final weeks of their lives, ractopamine speeds up muscle gain so that pork producers can squeeze more profit from each animal. But the drug has been linked to severe adverse events in pigs, including trembling, reluctance to move, collapse, inability to stand up, hoof disorders, difficulty breathing, and even death. It also carries a number of environmental and human health concerns. Earlier this year, the FDA denied the petition to ban the drug, arguing that current regulations ensure a 'reasonable certainty of no harm to consumers.' While the agency doesn't dispute that ractopamine can harm animals, and it halved the maximum dose in pigs in 2006, it has argued welfare issues can be mitigated by simply asking meat producers to handle ractopamine-fed animals more carefully — a response that the petitioning organizations called 'toothless.' This story was first featured in the Processing Meat newsletter Sign up here for Future Perfect's biweekly newsletter from Marina Bolotnikova and Kenny Torrella, exploring how the meat and dairy industries shape our health, politics, culture, environment, and more. Have questions or comments on this newsletter? Email us at futureperfect@ The FDA didn't respond to a request for comment in time for publication. Elanco, the pharmaceutical company that developed ractopamine, didn't respond to an interview request for this story. While 26 countries have approved ractopamine use in livestock, more than 165 have banned or restricted it, and many have set restrictions on or have altogether prohibited the import of pork and beef from ractopamine-fed animals — actions that have set off trade disputes. The bans stem primarily from concerns that the trace amounts of the drug found in meat could harm consumers, especially those with cardiovascular conditions, since ractopamine belongs to a class of drugs (beta-agonists) that can increase people's heart rates. There's only been one tiny study on ractopamine in humans who took the drug directly, which European regulators — prone to taking a precautionary approach with new food additives — say is insufficient to prove its safety. Chinese scientists are concerned about the drug because its residues concentrate at higher rates in pigs' organs, which are more commonly consumed in Chinese diets. The heated international debate led one team of biotechnology researchers to call ractopamine 'the most controversial food additive in the world.' An inflatable pig has the words 'I am a ractopamine pig' written on it during a march in Taipei, Taiwan, in November 2020, as thousands demand the reversal of a decision to allow US pork imports into the country, citing food safety issues. Chiang Ying-ying/Associated Press Daniel Waltz, managing attorney of the Animal Legal Defense Fund — one of the organizations petitioning the FDA to ban ractopamine — told me it seems like just the kind of thing Kennedy would want to prohibit. 'So why isn't the FDA jumping at the opportunity to do something about ractopamine?' Waltz said. Kennedy and the broader MAHA movement have long elevated fears over pharmaceuticals and food chemicals, and it can sometimes be difficult to parse their valid concerns from their dangerous conspiracy theories. But he doesn't appear to have ever publicly criticized ractopamine, and it's unknown whether it's even on his radar. Given the lack of trials, ractopamine's threat to human health is unclear, and reasonable people can disagree on how government agencies should handle it. But there's a clear case to be made that ractopamine ought to be banned because of its awful effects on animals. The FDA's decision to continue to allow it in meat production represents a missed opportunity to challenge the factory farm system that Kennedy has long railed against, and to ban a chemical that no one — except the industry — really wants. Related Why Big Pharma wants you to eat more meat 'Ractopamine divides the world' There's ample real-world evidence that ractopamine can be terrible for pigs. Over an 11-year period, the FDA received reports that over 218,000 pigs fed ractopamine suffered adverse events, like trembling, an inability to stand up, hoof disorders, and difficulty breathing. That's a relatively small share of the billion or so pigs raised and slaughtered for meat during that time period, but the number only includes adverse events reported to the FDA — many more could've occurred without being reported. The next most reported drug had a little over 32,738 cases spanning 24 years. The FDA has said that reports of adverse events don't establish that the drug caused the effects — essentially that it's correlation, not proof of causation. But shortly after the drug came onto market, the FDA also received reports of an uptick in ractopamine-fed pigs unable to stand or walk at slaughterhouses. Some studies, including a couple conducted by the drugmaker — Elanco — have shown that ractopamine is associated with a number of issues in pigs, including hoof lesions, fatigue, increased aggression, and metabolic stress. Over the years, Elanco has added warning labels that ractopamine-fed pigs are at an increased risk of fatigue and inability to walk. A 'downer pig' — a pig unable to walk or stand — is dragged at a slaughterhouse that supplies to Hormel. When ractopamine first came onto the market, the FDA received reports of an uptick in ractopamine-fed pigs unable to stand or walk at slaughterhouses. Animal Outlook At the same time, a literature review by Elanco employees and university researchers looking at ractopamine studies found it had minimal effect on pig mortality, inconsistent effects on aggression and acute stress, and mixed results on a number of physiological responses, like cortisol and heart rate, with some research showing little to no effects, and others showing moderate effects. The size of the dose — and how workers handle the animals — were often important factors. Elanco has updated its label to clarify that there's no benefit to feeding pigs more than the lowest dose. There's also some evidence to suggest ractopamine negatively impacts the welfare of cattle, some of whom are fed the drug. Even more than concerns over animal welfare, the uncertainty over ractopamine's effect on consumers' health has courted international controversy. Those concerns have led to countries rejecting shipments of US pork and beef; Taiwanese lawmakers throwing pig intestines at one another and mass protests in a dispute over the country's decision to allow US pork imports from ractopamine-fed pigs; and a highly contentious, multiyear debate at the United Nations-run Codex Alimentarius Commission, which sets food standards important for international trade. By the late 2000s, numerous countries had restricted imports of meat from ractopamine-fed animals, which posed a financial threat to the US meat industry. So the US Department of Agriculture spent five years advocating for the Codex commission to approve maximum residue levels of ractopamine in beef and pork as safe, which would give the US more legal leverage to challenge other countries' import bans. The commission's fight over ractopamine was 'really, really ugly,' Michael Hansen, a senior scientist at Consumers Union — the publisher of Consumer Reports — who attended commission meetings, told me. European Union officials argued there wasn't enough data to ensure consumers would be safe from ingesting trace amounts of ractopamine. While the drug had been tested on various animal species, only one human clinical trial had been conducted in 1994, which included just six healthy young men taking the drug, one of whom dropped out after complaints that his heart was pounding. Related The myths we tell ourselves about American farming In response to the trial, an FDA official at the time stated that 'the data from this study do not provide adequate assurance that the expected ractopamine levels in meat products will be without cardiovascular pharmacological effects in man.' In 2012, the UN commission narrowly voted to set maximum safe ractopamine residue levels in beef and pork by a margin of just two votes — an unusual outcome for a commission that historically ran on consensus. China and EU representatives, Hansen told me, were furious. US meat industry groups and the USDA secretary at the time, Tom Vilsack, cheered the decision. Writing about the commission fight, trade lawyer Michael Burkard wrote that ractopamine 'divides the world.' However, ractopamine remains controversial and the subject of trade disputes; just last year, China blocked shipments of US beef that contained traces of the drug. Make animals suffer less The fight over ractopamine is a microcosm of a broader problem in the meat industry: The government's reluctance to regulate it. Over the last century, meat companies have transformed how animals are raised for food. They've packed animals into crowded, sprawling warehouses; bred them to grow bigger and faster to the detriment of their welfare; stored vast amounts of their manure in open-air lagoons that leach into the environment; and designed complex drug regimens to keep them alive in unsanitary conditions or, like in the case of ractopamine, make a little more money off each animal. Whenever consumers and advocacy groups raise concerns over the problems factory farming has created, more often than not, a government agency tasked with regulating it takes action to defend the meat industry, not reform it.
The Hill
4 hours ago
- The Hill
CDC backtracks, will rehire more than 450 people it laid off
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is rehiring about 460 employees who had previously been laid off, according to an email notice reviewed by The Hill. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) confirmed on Thursday that reinstatement notices were sent, but provided few other details. 'The Trump Administration is committed to protecting essential services—whether it's supporting coal miners and firefighters through [the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health], safeguarding public health through lead prevention, or researching and tracking the most prevalent communicable diseases,' HHS said in a statement to The Hill. 'HHS is streamlining operations without compromising mission-critical work. Enhancing the health and well-being of all Americans remains our top priority.' Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here Fox News first reported that the CDC was rehiring hundreds of workers fired from multiple areas within the agency. Rehired workers are from four different operational divisions within the CDC: the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention; the National Center for Environmental Health; the Immediate Office of the Director, and the Global Health Center. The workers were initially fired as part of a broad reorganization and downsizing as HHS cut as many as 10,000 jobs across various health agencies. About 2,400 employees were laid off at the CDC. Among those reinstated are about 160 employees at the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, including people who fought childhood lead exposure and those who worked on cancer clusters. According to the email seen by The Hill, the agency said it 'revoked' the 'upcoming reduction in force' notices the workers had previously received, without explanation. In April, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. acknowledged that about 20 percent of the layoffs at HHS were a mistake and the plan was always for people to be rehired.
Miami Herald
4 hours ago
- Miami Herald
RFK Jr. names 8 new CDC vaccine advisory members, including skeptics
June 11 (UPI) -- Two days after disbanding the entire 17-member independent vaccine advisory committee, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday appointed eight new members, including prominent vaccine skeptics and pandemic response critics. CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, is scheduled to meet next on June 25. The new panel included seven men and one woman. "The slate includes highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts, and some of America's most accomplished physicians," Kennedy said in a post on X. "All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense. They have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations. The committee will review safety and efficacy data for the current schedule as well." On Monday, Kennedy said the former members had conflicts of interest on a panel that "wields the grave responsibility of adding new vaccines to the recommended childhood schedule." He pointed ties to Big Pharma. Kennedy, a long-time vaccine critic, said the "most outrageous example of ACIP's malevolent malpractice has been its stubborn unwillingness to demand adequate safety trials before recommending new vaccines for our children. ... ACIP has recommended each of these additional jabs without requiring placebo-controlled trials for any of them. This means that no one can scientifically ascertain whether these products are averting more problems than they are causing." CDC has narrowed its recommendations for mRNA Covid-19 shots, including by children and pregnant women. DHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told NBC News that "all newly appointed ACIP members were thoroughly vetted" but declined to offer specifics. ACIP normally includes pediatricians, geriatricians and other vaccine experts but the new panel includes a psychiatrist, neuroscientist, epidemiologist and biostatistician, and professor of operations management. Kennedy released information on the new members. Dr. Robert Malone, a physician-scientist and biochemist, has been a vocal critic of mRNA technology in COVID-19 vaccines after making early innovations in the field of messenger RNA. He suggested this year, without evidence, that pediatric deaths from measles were due to medical error. He has served in advisory roles for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense. "His expertise spans molecular biology, immunology, and vaccine development," Kennedy said. Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician and epidemiologist, co-authored an October 2020 strategy on herd immunity known as the Great Barrington Declaration with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, now director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. He formerly was at Harvard Medical School, and served on Food and Drug Administration and CDC panels. "He has also been an influential voice in public health policy, advocating for evidence-based approaches to pandemic response," Kennedy said. Dr. Cody Meissner, a Dartmouth professor of pediatrics who also signed the Great Barrington Declaration, has served on ACIP and on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. "His expertise spans vaccine development, immunization safety, and pediatric infectious disease epidemiology," Kennedy said. Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, is former acting chief of the U.S. National Institutes of Health section on nutritional neurosciences. "His work has informed U.S. public health guidelines, particularly in maternal and child health," Kennedy said. "Dr. Hibbeln brings expertise in immune-related outcomes, psychiatric conditions, and evidence-based public health strategies." Dr. Retsef Levi, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of operations management, has published studies on mRNA vaccines and cardiovascular events. "His research has contributed to discussions on vaccine manufacturing processes, safety surveillance, and public health policy," Kennedy said. He has been involved in healthcare systems optimization, epidemiologic modeling, and the application of AI and data science in public health. Dr. James Pagano, an emergency medicine physician with 40 years of clinical experience from "Level 1 trauma centers to small community hospitals, caring for patients across all age groups," Kennedy said in describing him as a "strong advocate for evidence-based medicine." He has served on hospital committees, including utilization review, and medical executive boards. Dr. Vicky Pebsworth, a pediatric professor at Dartmouth, is the Pacific region director of the National Association of Catholic Nurses. She has served on the FDA committee, as well as a national panel reviewing the 2009 H1N1 swine flu vaccine. "She has worked in the healthcare field for more than 45 years, serving in various capacities," Kennedy said. NBC News reported she is a leading source of misinformation about vaccines. Dr. Michael Ross, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at George Washington University and Virginia Commonwealth University, has served on the CDC's Advisory Committee for the Prevention of Breast and Cervical Cancer. "His continued service on biotech and healthcare boards reflects his commitment to advancing innovation in immunology, reproductive medicine and public health," Kennedy said. Dr. Noel Brewer, an ACIP member who was fired this week, told MSNBC on Wednesday: "The new panel is missing all of the expertise that has come before them. They don't know how to go about looking at the evidence, how to think about the volumes of data that will be coming their way." Brewer, who said members should be replaced on a rolling basis, is a professor in the department of health behavior at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health. "Being a vaccine skeptic is not a bad thing if you follow the science," Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told NBC News. "I'm concerned that the names he's put out so far aren't ideologically balanced. I think he got the slate he was looking for." Benjamin said Kennedy's policies are a danger to public health. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
