Latest news with #outbreaks
The Independent
2 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Will norovirus surge early again this year? Here's what scientists say
Will the upcoming norovirus season be just as early and active as the past year? While the answer may be anyone's guess right now, federal health officials recently warned that the dominant strain of the contagious virus — the leading cause of vomiting, diarrhea, and foodborne illness in the U.S. — has changed between the 2022-2023 and 2024-2025 seasons. 'GII.17 has caused 75 percent of all norovirus outbreaks during the 2024–25 season so far, thereby replacing GII.4 as the predominant norovirus outbreak strain in the United States,' Centers for Disease Control researchers wrote in an article published this month by the agency's Emerging Infectious Diseases journal. This past season also started at the earlier date of October, as opposed to December. GII.17 also drove a record wave of outbreaks. But, what all of this might mean going forward needs further research. 'Additional sequence analysis of complete GII.17 genomes and identification of cross-protective neutralizing antibodies of GII.17 compared with GII.4 viruses could help clarify whether GII.17 viruses will persist. Continued surveillance is needed to determine if this genotype remains the dominant genotype, as well as whether the norovirus season continues to start earlier than previous years,' they wrote. A spokesperson for the agency told CBS News that there are 'currently insufficient historic data to predict whether norovirus GII.17 will remain the dominant genotype and lead to an earlier onset of the norovirus season later this year.' They pointed to a surge of GII.17 strains in Asia and Europe in 2014 that was followed by no reports of a change to seasonality, and noted that there has been no clear evidence to prove that GII.17's emergence was the cause of a change to the norovirus season last year. Still, this past season reached the worst levels in a decade. There were 91 suspected or confirmed outbreaks during the first week of December, which Yale Medicine said exceeded the number of outbreaks during the same week in any year since 2012. The majority were the GII.7 strain. In years when there is a new strain of the virus, there can be 50 percent more norovirus illness. Cases continued to tick up months into this year. By May 7, there were 2,571 outbreaks. During the same time last year, there were only 1,358. 'The total number of outbreaks reported during the 2024 to 2025 seasonal year is above the range reported during the same period during the 2012 to 2020 and 2021 to 2024 seasonal years,' the CDC said. But, cases in the previous season were lower than normal. Typically, there are about 2,500 reported norovirus outbreaks in the U.S. each year. Cases have fallen markedly since January, and are now at low levels. While the outbreaks occur throughout the year, they are the most common from November to April as people head indoors and it's easier to spread norovirus through infected particles. Anyone who consumes raw shellfish is also at risk of contracting it. Infection can be deadly largely among adults aged 65 and up, but anyone can get sick. Children younger than 5 years old and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to develop severe infections. There are 900 deaths on average each year and between 19 and 21 million illnesses. There's no specific treatment for norovirus, but most people recover with a period of up to three days. 'The norovirus can spread so quickly, but also, as we already talked about, norovirus can be very — it's usually very fast. So yeah, if people are taking care of themselves, we leave them alone,' explained Dr. Joanna Bisgrove, a family physician at Rush University Medical Center. 'But if it keeps going, we're like, maybe this isn't norovirus, and we need to do other things.'
The Independent
2 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Measles vaccination rates drop after COVID-19 pandemic in counties across the US
Childhood vaccination rates against measles fell in the years after the COVID-19 pandemic in nearly 80% of the more than 2,000 U.S. counties with available data — including in states that are battling outbreaks this year. A Johns Hopkins University study, published in JAMA this week, illustrates where more vulnerable communities are located. The results mirror trends established at state and national levels: Routine childhood vaccination rates are dropping. 'When you look at the state level or national level ... you really don't see those drastic drops. Those are there. They're real and they're really problematic,' said Lauren Gardner, an expert in infectious disease modeling at Johns Hopkins University who is the paper's senior author. Gardner also built the university's COVID-19 database. Most of the measles cases in the U.S. this year — 1,088 nationally as of Friday — are in unvaccinated people. It has been spreading among communities due to international and domestic travel. Three people have died from measles during this year's outbreaks, and 2025 is inching closer to becoming the worst for measles in more than three decades. Measles was eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, and the vaccine is safe and highly effective. Public schools nationwide require two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine before kindergarten, but the number of children with non-medical exemptions from those requirements hit an all-time high in the 2023-2024 school year. Health experts say community-level vaccination needs to be at 95% or higher to prevent outbreaks. The Johns Hopkins study looked at 2,066 counties across 33 states, comparing kindergarten vaccination rates averaged over school years from 2017-2020 to averages from 2022-2024. Where kindergarten data wasn't available, the researchers used a comparable rate. Here's what it looks like in counties where there have been outbreaks this year, including in Texas counties that are the epicenter of measles. Texas Texas has logged 742 measles cases since late January, most in West Texas. Gaines County has 411 cases, the most in the state. Almost 2% of its population got measles. While the county saw a two percentage-point increase in vaccination rates after the pandemic, its 82.4% rate remains below herd immunity. Terry County (60 cases) and Yoakum County (20 cases) dropped below the 95% threshold for herd immunity after the pandemic, to 93.7% and 91.8% respectively. Lubbock County — which has seen 53 cases and is the closest metro area to Gaines County — was just below 95% before the pandemic, but dropped three percentage points after to 91.8%. El Paso County on the border of Mexico has had the third-most measles cases in Texas this year with 57. Its vaccination rate is higher than 95% but saw a 2.1 percentage-point decline to 96.5%. Kansas Counties with outbreaks in Kansas include Gray with 25 cases, Haskell with 11 and and Stevens with seven. Vaccination rates in Gray County dropped 23 percentage points after the pandemic, from 94% to 71%. Haskell County dropped 18 percentage points to 65%. And Stevens County dropped 0.5 percentage points to 90.5%. Colorado Colorado's outbreak, which is linked to an international flight that landed at the Denver airport in mid-May, involves six cases: five in state residents and one out-of-state traveler. Two people who got measles live in Arapahoe County in the Denver metro, where the vaccination rate dropped 3.5 percentage points to 88.4%. Three others live in El Paso County, home to Colorado Springs, where the vaccination rate dropped 3.8 percentage points to 80% post-pandemic. North Dakota Pre-pandemic data in North Dakota wasn't available to Johns Hopkins researchers, but they looked at rates from school years ending in 2022, 2023 and 2024. North Dakota's first outbreak started in Williams County, which now has 16 measles cases. In the timeframe researchers looked at, vaccination rates in Williams rose from 84.6% in 2022 to 87.7% in 2023, only to drop back to 83.5% in 2024. Cass County has seven cases, and its rate has stayed steady at about 92.7%, while Grand Forks County, which has 10 measles cases, dropped from 95.4% to 93.4%. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Associated Press
2 days ago
- General
- Associated Press
Measles vaccination rates drop after COVID-19 pandemic in counties across the US
Childhood vaccination rates against measles fell in the years after the COVID-19 pandemic in nearly 80% of the more than 2,000 U.S. counties with available data — including in states that are battling outbreaks this year. A Johns Hopkins University study, published in JAMA this week, illustrates where more vulnerable communities are located. The results mirror trends established at state and national levels: Routine childhood vaccination rates are dropping. 'When you look at the state level or national level ... you really don't see those drastic drops. Those are there. They're real and they're really problematic,' said Lauren Gardner, an expert in infectious disease modeling at Johns Hopkins University who is the paper's senior author. Gardner also built the university's COVID-19 database. Most of the measles cases in the U.S. this year — 1,088 nationally as of Friday — are in unvaccinated people. It has been spreading among communities due to international and domestic travel. Three people have died from measles during this year's outbreaks, and 2025 is inching closer to becoming the worst for measles in more than three decades. Measles was eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, and the vaccine is safe and highly effective. Public schools nationwide require two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine before kindergarten, but the number of children with non-medical exemptions from those requirements hit an all-time high in the 2023-2024 school year. Health experts say community-level vaccination needs to be at 95% or higher to prevent outbreaks. The Johns Hopkins study looked at 2,066 counties across 33 states, comparing kindergarten vaccination rates averaged over school years from 2017-2020 to averages from 2022-2024. Where kindergarten data wasn't available, the researchers used a comparable rate. Here's what it looks like in counties where there have been outbreaks this year, including in Texas counties that are the epicenter of measles. Texas Texas has logged 742 measles cases since late January, most in West Texas. Gaines County has 411 cases, the most in the state. Almost 2% of its population got measles. While the county saw a two percentage-point increase in vaccination rates after the pandemic, its 82.4% rate remains below herd immunity. Terry County (60 cases) and Yoakum County (20 cases) dropped below the 95% threshold for herd immunity after the pandemic, to 93.7% and 91.8% respectively. Lubbock County — which has seen 53 cases and is the closest metro area to Gaines County — was just below 95% before the pandemic, but dropped three percentage points after to 91.8%. El Paso County on the border of Mexico has had the third-most measles cases in Texas this year with 57. Its vaccination rate is higher than 95% but saw a 2.1 percentage-point decline to 96.5%. Kansas Counties with outbreaks in Kansas include Gray with 25 cases, Haskell with 11 and and Stevens with seven. Vaccination rates in Gray County dropped 23 percentage points after the pandemic, from 94% to 71%. Haskell County dropped 18 percentage points to 65%. And Stevens County dropped 0.5 percentage points to 90.5%. Colorado Colorado's outbreak, which is linked to an international flight that landed at the Denver airport in mid-May, involves six cases: five in state residents and one out-of-state traveler. Two people who got measles live in Arapahoe County in the Denver metro, where the vaccination rate dropped 3.5 percentage points to 88.4%. Three others live in El Paso County, home to Colorado Springs, where the vaccination rate dropped 3.8 percentage points to 80% post-pandemic. North Dakota Pre-pandemic data in North Dakota wasn't available to Johns Hopkins researchers, but they looked at rates from school years ending in 2022, 2023 and 2024. North Dakota's first outbreak started in Williams County, which now has 16 measles cases. In the timeframe researchers looked at, vaccination rates in Williams rose from 84.6% in 2022 to 87.7% in 2023, only to drop back to 83.5% in 2024. Cass County has seven cases, and its rate has stayed steady at about 92.7%, while Grand Forks County, which has 10 measles cases, dropped from 95.4% to 93.4%. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
CBS News
3 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Will norovirus surge early again this year? CDC urges tracking of new strain.
After years of largely predictable norovirus waves, the emergence of a new strain might have disrupted the seasonal pattern of outbreaks from this notorious stomach bug, suggests a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In previous years, the U.S. usually saw norovirus outbreaks increase around December. That marked the start of the season for the virus. But last year's season started in October, as a new norovirus strain called GII.17 drove a record wave of outbreaks. "Continued surveillance is needed to determine if this genotype remains the dominant genotype, as well as whether the norovirus season continues to start earlier than previous years," wrote two of CDC's top norovirus researchers, in an article published this month by the agency's Emerging Infectious Diseases journal. Outbreaks have since slowed to usual levels. But with GII.17 now identified in more than 3 in 4 outbreaks in the U.S., its displacement of the GII.4 strain that had previously been dominant is raising questions about whether norovirus season could arrive early again. "GII.4 viruses are the main driver for norovirus seasonality. With the decrease of GII.4 outbreaks since 2024, whether GII.17 viruses will continue to cause an earlier onset of the norovirus season cannot yet be determined," the CDC researchers wrote. Several other countries also saw unusually large or shifted waves of norovirus this past year, after GII.17 surged to dominance. In England, norovirus reports reached levels more than double recent seasons. GII.17 was the most frequently reported genotype of norovirus through April, far above GII.4. In Japan, where GII.17 previously drove a wave of infections a decade ago, local health authorities in Tokyo reported a steep wave of infectious gastroenteritis — most from norovirus — that peaked weeks later than previous seasons and remains above recent years. Miranda de Graaf, a scientist at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands coordinating the global NoroNet network of norovirus researchers, said the Dutch nation did not see an earlier start to its norovirus season. But the country did see higher numbers of norovirus outbreaks, including a few large outbreaks in between when the usual seasonal surges occurred. GII.4 was still being detected around the world, meaning it was possible that GII.17's dominance could be short-lived, de Graaf said. Researchers had previously wondered if GII.17 could permanently take over, only to see GII.4 cases continue to remain dominant. "GII.17 only replaced GII.4 last year, and there has not been another seasonal peak after that. Therefore it is not clear if these shifts will last, or if GII.17 will be the predominant strain next winter season," de Graaf said in an email. Benjamin Lopman, an epidemiology professor at Emory University who previously worked for the CDC's viral diseases division, said shifts in norovirus strains happen "when new variants find ways around the immunity that people have built up" to previous strains. He said that new strains usually trigger more frequent outbreaks earlier in the season. "I expect we'll see outbreak patterns return to more typical levels and seasonal patterns in the coming years, though it's always challenging to predict how these viruses will behave," Lopman said in an email.
CTV News
15-05-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Possible new measles exposures at Manitoba school, church
Low immunization rates are fuelling measles outbreaks across Canada as known cases ballooned in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario. Allison Bamford reports.
