logo
Measles warning issued following Shakira concert at MetLife

Measles warning issued following Shakira concert at MetLife

Yahoo21-05-2025

Shakira fans who managed to make it to MetLife Stadium are being warned that measles were also in the house last week.
'The New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) is alerting residents about potential exposures associated with a newly identified case of measles in a non-NJ resident who attended a concert in NJ while infectious,' officials said Tuesday.
The warning was issued for those who attended Shakira's concert on Thursday night into Friday morning.
Health officials said that potentially exposed individuals 'could develop symptoms as late as June 6.' Those could include high fever, cough, runny nose, watery eyes and a facial or hairline rash that tends to appear within five days of infection.
Where in the stadium the infected person was seated, where they live and how they arrived to the concert isn't clear. Due to a New Jersey Transit strike that's since been resolved, Garden State buses and trains were not operating when Shakira performed, though Coach USA buses brought some passengers from Port Authority to New Jersey for the shows.
While vaccinations protect against measles, the World Health Organization says there's no specific treatment for the very preventable yet highly infectious virus. The New York State Department of Health has recorded five cases of measles in New York City and six cases outside the five boroughs so far this year.
The problem's much worse in Texas, where 722 people had tested positive as of Tuesday. Two unvaccinated children with no underlying health conditions have died from measles since late February, according to health officials in the Lone Star State.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Sickle Cell Awareness: Hampton Roads teen siblings diagnosed at birth
Sickle Cell Awareness: Hampton Roads teen siblings diagnosed at birth

Yahoo

time6 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Sickle Cell Awareness: Hampton Roads teen siblings diagnosed at birth

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Sickle Cell Disease is the most common inherited blood disorder in the United States, affecting the lives of 100,000 people, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Teen siblings, Morgan Tarrer, 15, and Olivia Tarrer, 19, of Virginia Beach represent that number. Data from the CDC also shows approximately 1 in 365 Black or African American newborns are born with SCD, which is the case for Morgan and Olivia, whose parents are carriers. The two were diagnosed at birth and are left with no choice but to embrace their condition as there is still no cure. 'So I have an abnormality of my Hemoglobin,' says Khristina Reid, Virginia Sickle Cell Network founder and mother of Morgan and Olivia. 'So I carry the C-gene, and Olivia and Morgan's dad, he carries the S-gene. Together our children have both genes. The S and C-gene. So they live with Hemoglobin S-C Disease. While there have been many advances in treating sickle cell disease, the reality for the siblings and others is reduced life expectancy and the probability of health complications. 'It's something that I've found is always on your mind,' says Olivia. 'I'm in college. I'm up in New York, so I'm very far from my family. And I've realized, especially living in dorms, being around with friends, that you have to be extra, extra careful. Because with sickle cell, you're very, immunocompromised.' CDC finding reveal, more than 90% of people diagnosed with sickle cell in the US are non-Hispanic black or African American. 'So the reason is, sickle cell disease was the body's kind of defense mechanism against malaria,' says Reid. 'So you will find the highest prevalence of sickle cell disease in your, locations that are near the equator. So Nigeria right now is the, largest country, with the largest population of people living with sickle cell disease.' Those diagnosed with SCD can range in symptoms from frequent infections, anemia, episodes of pain, problems with vision and tiredness. Olivia's says she experiences a great deal of fatigue. While she remains optimistic, there's always concern about her years ahead. 'That has been a problem in school for me,' she says. 'I remember last not last year, but my senior year of high school. All through high school, it was a struggle getting to school because we had it so early. I think the most challenging part is uncertainty about the future. I'm in film. I'm a NYU film, and it's a very physical job. It's also a very, You have to be up early, go to sleep late. And that's when I do that. When I am on set, it's very strenuous, and I worry that I won't be able to be at the same caliber, as my peers.' For information on the Virginia Sickle Cell Network, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Nunavik's tuberculosis outbreaks are a result of decades of colonial neglect, professor says
Nunavik's tuberculosis outbreaks are a result of decades of colonial neglect, professor says

Yahoo

time9 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Nunavik's tuberculosis outbreaks are a result of decades of colonial neglect, professor says

Nunavik is on track to set another record number of tuberculosis cases, which one scholar says is unacceptable in this day and age. There have been 56 cases so far this year of tuberculosis reported in the region, according to Quebec's health department. On Monday, the region's 14 mayors released a letter, calling on the Quebec government to declare a public health emergency over the rates of tuberculosis. The Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services has said the incidence of tuberculosis in the region is 1,000 times higher than among non-Indigenous people born in Canada. Health Minister Christian Dubé told CBC News he "will continue to follow the recommendations of public health experts on the subject," though he stopped short of committing to a declaration. Natasha MacDonald, a McGill University professor from Kuujjuaraapik who researches culturally responsive care for tuberculosis in Nunavik, said she doesn't believe Quebec is treating the tuberculosis situation in Nunavik with the same urgency as elsewhere in the province. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What do you make of this call from the mayors to declare a public health emergency over the tuberculosis situation? It's unfortunate that we are in a time and place where we have to make such calls to action. Under a number of international, national and provincial jurisdictions, including the Viens Commission, the Quebec government has a responsibility to ensure that health care in our communities is adequate and is on par with those of non-Indigenous populations. Because of the urgent situation that Nunavik is in right now, the mayors have had no choice but to unite together as one voice to demand that the government do its job. Why do you think we're seeing this upward trajectory in cases of tuberculosis, in 2025? What's unbelievable is that we are a first world nation in Canada, and we have a third world disease within Canada. It exists in Nunavik in our Inuit communities, and it's the same strain that has been in Nunavik since 1928. Quebec made efforts with the City of Montreal, not that long ago, to stop the spread of tuberculosis. Cases were found, contact tracing was done, people were isolated and medicated. In Nunavik, it has been left to grow and we have outbreaks in six of our 14 communities. This is unacceptable, and it should not happen. We are part of Quebec, we are part of Canada. You've alluded to the damage that tuberculosis has wreaked on families historically, with Inuit being sent south for care. Given that history, what do you believe we, as a society, still don't understand treating tuberculosis in Nunavik? What's happening in Nunavik is a result of decades of systemic colonial neglect. Inuit are expected to adapt to those systems, rather than the government adapting those systems to meet the needs of Inuit. The way the regional health board has been implanted by the provincial government makes it a very program-centred health-care system and not a person-centred health-care program. One of the infectious disease nurses said at one point, in all of Nunavik, they ran out of sputum testing kits. So she had to beg and plead from the province of Manitoba to send over 40,000 sputum testing kits. Quebec didn't have any and it wouldn't procure more. There aren't even X-rays in most of our communities, much less X-ray technicians in those communities. And Inuit feel uncomfortable going to the clinic or hospital because of decades of mistrust in medical care and the systemic and individual racism that exists. One of the calls to action in the mayors' letter is about Inuit health sovereignty. What does that look like? For things to change in our communities, Inuit need to be the ones who determine how our programs and systems run, so that they are tailored to the way we think and work. Inuit are being expected to move around the calendars and schedules of health-care workers, and they are workers are told they should not be going house to house for testing. If it were Inuit leading our organizations, we would have a better understanding on how to do more screening. It's not somebody from Quebec City who should be dictating how much money should be going toward basic equipment, We should be. We're the ones in our communities. We're the ones that know that the X-ray machine is broken in this one town, or that we have a new graduate who's just finished their radiography course who could be hired into a position within their community. What we are talking about here is structural change. Can you compare what the system looks like now with Nunavik's health organizations, to that ideal vision you've just talked about? Systemic change would come when Inuit are able to create a new system altogether, through self-determination or self-government. Or if we can appropriate the system and have an Inuk lead who can hire resources, because we know best on how to allocate our resources and where the needs are. The midwifery program in Nunavik is a perfect example of that. This is a system where Inuit have designed how our mothers want to give birth in a community with support, in an Inuit way, and it is unbelievably successful. This is not rocket science. We also understand that translators are as key as any doctor or nurse. Right now, you have French-speaking nurses and doctors that come into our community, and English is often the lingua franca because most Inuit in Nunavik still speak Inuktitut. When you're translating, for example, with a term like tuberculosis, you have to be very careful to make the difference between tuberculosis, which is a disease that can kill you, and something like bronchitis. You can't just say it's a lung problem. I understand that we have to collaborate with the Ministry of Health in Quebec, but at the same time, they have to understand we are not just another region within Quebec. We are distinct and we have needs that have not been met for decades. It's also an example of systemic racism because Inuit in Nunavik have been ignored, have been left behind, have been left to die for decades, and this is unacceptable. It was unacceptable after the first TB case. It was unacceptable after the first death. It's unacceptable now when our numbers are record high. We have nurses who are burnt out. And if this were anywhere else in Quebec, there would be an outcry and the government would be immediately addressing this, so we are expecting the same.

U.S.-born Asian Americans no longer the healthiest group among older adults
U.S.-born Asian Americans no longer the healthiest group among older adults

Yahoo

time12 hours ago

  • Yahoo

U.S.-born Asian Americans no longer the healthiest group among older adults

For the first time in two decades, older Asian Americans are no longer the healthiest U.S.-born aging racial group with the lowest rates of disability, according to a study published last month in the Journals of Gerontology. The report focused on adults aged 50 and older, and used disability prevalence as an indicator for overall health. The paper shows that while disability rates have decreased among aging adults in every racial group, it's remained unchanged among U.S.-born Asian Americans. The findings suggest that one contributor to the stagnating disability rate is income inequality, which has impacted Asian Americans more than any other group in recent years. Previous research had shown that both foreign-born and U.S.-born Asian older adults had lower mortality and disability rates than their counterparts in other racial groups. According to the new report, non-Hispanic white Americans have overtaken Asians Americans as the healthiest U.S.-born population, with the lowest disability prevalence. 'This study shows that the 'model minority' stereotype is wrong about the overall experience of U.S.-born older Asians in terms of health,' said lead author Leafia Ye, an assistant sociology professor at the University of Toronto. The report is the first to focus solely on the health of U.S.-born Asians, a group that experts say has been understudied due to its limited population size. The study drew on data from the American Community Survey, which has a sample size of more than 18 million U.S.-born adults aged 50 and older. The sample size for U.S.-born Asians is roughly 116,000, Ye said. The study authors defined disability as any chronic physical or mental health condition that limits an older adult's self-care or independent living capacity, which includes carrying out tasks like eating, bathing and grocery-shopping without assistance. Two decades ago, just 5.5% of U.S.-born Asian elders had trouble living independently — compared with 7% of white and 14% of Black elders. From 2005 to 2022, the report found, disability rates fell by at least 2% among U.S.-born non-Hispanic white, Black, Hispanic and Indigenous populations, as well as all foreign-born groups. (Black older adults experienced the largest drop from 14% to 10%.) Among native-born older Asian Americans, however, the rate has stayed at 5.5%. Ye said the trends preceded the Covid-19 pandemic, so it's unlikely that rising anti-Asian racism was a key risk factor. 'What's striking about this study is that U.S.-born Asians are the only group that hasn't experienced improved outcomes,' said Mansha Mirza, principal investigator at the Aging Services Inclusive of Asian American Networks, a national technical assistance and resource development center focused on Asian Americans older adults. Mirza was not involved with the new study. The trend could be attributed to the fact that U.S.-born Asians 'are more assimilated into the American way of life,' Mirza said, while foreign-born Asians were more likely to 'retain practices from their home countries related to nutrition and diet.' Disability prevalence varies across the racial group. Cognitive disability is more prevalent in Vietnamese, Filipino and Japanese older adults, according to a 2024 paper in Innovation in Aging. For self-care disability, on the other hand, Vietnamese, Chinese, Filipino and Indian older adults have a higher prevalence. In the past, older Asian Americans have had better health outcomes than other groups because the large majority were foreign-born, Ye said. People with poorer health and lower socioeconomic status were less likely to resettle in another country, she said, so Asian immigrants became a 'very positively selected' group that's 'healthier and more successful economically compared with both the source and the destination populations.' By contrast, Ye said, U.S.-born Asians were immediately exposed to the country's cultural and political realities. Socioeconomic status has a particularly strong influence on health outcomes, as college-educated older Asian Americans saw a slight decline in disability, while those without a degree saw an increase. While the data didn't contain mental health measures, like loneliness and anxiety, Ye said it's possible that these conditions could have also contributed to stagnating health outcomes. 'In a way,' Ye said, 'U.S.-born Asians are both less selected and more exposed throughout their lifetime.' Mirza said a point of further study could be desegregated research on the impact of migration history on health outcomes. First-generation Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees, for example, survived war, famine and genocide. Research has shown that exposure to these adverse conditions could contribute to 'altered diets and physiological capacity' in their U.S.-born children, who are now advancing in age, Mirza said. Mirza also emphasized a need to study the impact of social isolation on Asian seniors, which she said is gradually emerging as a social determinant of health as much as smoking and alcohol use. 'We need to see what social isolation looks like for foreign-born Asians Americans and U.S.-born Asians Americans,' she said, 'and the extent to which social ties are preserved within these groups.' This article was originally published on

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store