“I’m late! I’m late! For a very important newsletter!” I thought to myself as life decided I had other plans this week. Many deadlines have snuck up on me right as one of my cats suddenly needed two dental surgeries in two weeks. Here she is after surgery #2 (she’s doing great in her recovery, thankfully!):
Tootsie Roll slack-jawed from sedation showing off her new lack of bottom canine.
My personal chaos aside, let’s get into the public health news I’ve been following this week!
Infectious disease
Bird Flu
There has been a confirmed case of a new bird flu strain in humans in Washington. Previous bird flu infections in humans has been from the H5N1 strain, while this new case is strain H5N5. I’ve seen people getting twitchy on social media, harking back to the early days of COVID-19 and criticizing the language being used around the risk to the general public (i.e., that it’s low risk). Poultry workers and people raising their own personal poultry face the highest exposure to possibly infected birds, so they continue to face the most risk.
People worried about bird flu can do something! You can wear a high quality mask when around others or in crowded spaces! The bonus is that you are protected from a variety of infectious diseases while masking, so get to it!
Measles
Canada has officially lost its measles elimination status. This is a blow to the entire American region, even as some countries remain measles-free. The MMR vaccine is truly suffering from success; vaccinated parents all over shrug off vaccinating their children, believing that an illness they never contended with is no big deal. It’s frustrating, angering, saddening, just overall upsetting. But we could eliminate measles the first time, so we can do it again!
Infant botulism
Since August, there’s been an ongoing recall of infant formula due to botulism contamination. The company, ByHeart Inc., has now issued a full recall of all of its infant formula out of an abundance of caution. The CDC’s webpage on the recall has information for parents on what to do if they have any of this formula:
All of 23 of the confirmed cases have required hospitalization, but so far there haven’t been any deaths, thankfully.
Education
There’s trouble on the horizon for current and future students pursuing some graduate or doctorate programs, thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) passed earlier this year. At the start of the month, the Department of Education announced plans to change federal student loans, including eliminating some loan programs entirely. Additionally, they want to reduce the number of degrees considered “professional degrees.” Public health and nursing degrees are not included in the new, shorter list of professional degrees, meaning students in these fields would no longer qualify for the maximum possible federal loans. But not to worry! Students can still get those loans for a doctor of chiropratic degree! You know, the field of alternative medicine founded on messages from a ghost!
Daniel David Palmer, the “father” of chiropractic who performed the first chiropractic adjustment in 1895, was an avid spiritualist. He maintained that the notion and basic principles of chiropractic treatment were passed along to him during a seance by a long-dead doctor.
“The knowledge and philosophy given me by Dr. Jim Atkinson, an intelligent spiritual being ... appealed to my reason,” Palmer wrote in his memoir “The Chiropractor,” which was published in 1914 after his death in Los Angeles. Atkinson had died 50 years prior to Palmer’s epiphany.
Thankfully, these changes aren’t immediate. The Department of Education is going to solicit comments next year before implementing any changes. I’ve already read statements from nursing and public health organizations calling out how these changes can really harm healthcare in this country, which is already essentially on life-support. Here are those statements, if you’d like to read them yourself:
Government reopening and SNAP
Well… The government is open again, I guess. It has been a struggle for me to determine if SNAP recipients have received their funds for November, as reporting has moved on to more scandalous stories (IYKYK, I may end up talking about that story from a public health perspective, but I would likely write A Tome, so it has to wait).
Turns out the “deals” struck to actually get the dang government opened suck. Here’s some of the suckage, just be warned that quotes from the Trump admin on SNAP are mostly lies and misinformation geared to put Americans against SNAP recipients:
Good news
I was really happy to see some positive fibromyalgia news, this week! Fibro falls under the umbrella of conditions in medicine called “we don’t really understand where this comes from or how to effectively treat it.” I hate this umbrella a lot. I’m hoping these new fibro insights can help speed up research, yielding much better medicine surrounding the condition. Check the news out for yourself, if you’re interested:
Thanks for waiting on my late delivery. I couldn’t even get to the back and forth around hormonal treatment of menopause or what madness is going on with MAHA! Consider that last one a gift, and we can call it even.
May the cat- and deadline-gods favor my usual newsletter time for the next one.
Professor Batty