Healthcare & Laboratory News

Healio (5/9, Monostra) reported, “Air pollution could lead to changes in certain metabolites that may be partially responsible for bone mineral density loss in postmenopausal women, according to” research. The research “included 192 postmenopausal women who enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative between 1993 and 1998 and had BMD and air pollution levels available.” The findings were published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

HealthDay (5/9, Thompson) reported, “Blood tests could catch as many as half of cancers at an earlier, more treatable stage, a new study says.” Investigators found that, “if conducted every year or every other year, the multi-cancer early detection...blood test could help more people survive cancer.” The findings (5/8) were published in BMJ Open.

The AP (5/9, Shastri) reports, “The U.S. surpassed 1,000 measles cases Friday, even as Texas posted one of its lowest counts of newly confirmed cases since its large outbreak began three months ago.” Most cases – 709 – are in Texas, where the outbreak has “spread measles to New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas. ... Other states with active outbreaks — which the CDC defines as three or more related cases — include Indiana, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.”

The New York Times (5/9, Baumgaertner Nunn) reports Los Angeles County health officials “have declared an outbreak of hepatitis A, a highly contagious liver infection driven by a virus that can, in rare cases, cause severe illness.” While the county typically sees fewer than 50 cases per year, there were at least 138 people infected in 2024 “and cases have remained unusually high so far in 2025. Officials say that levels of the virus in local wastewater suggest these figures are an undercount.”

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Reuters (5/8, Lapid) reports authors of an analysis published a research letter in JAMA Thursday stating that “between February 28 and April 8, the NIH canceled 694 grants” worth $1.81 billion in medical research funding “in response to the Trump administration’s policy shifts and its efforts to shrink the federal budget.” The figure “included 128 grants administered by the National Institute of Mental Health and 77 administered by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.” Overall, cuts at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities “accounted for nearly one-third of its previously active funding.” Meanwhile, the “terminated funding was highest for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at nearly $506 million.” The report also found that “across 210 recipient institutions, Columbia University saw the highest number of terminated grants, at 157.”

CNN (5/7, McPhillips) reported data from the CDC and state health departments show that at least 1,002 measles cases have been reported in the US this year. This marks “only the second year cases have been this high since the disease was declared eliminated in the US a quarter-century ago.” Across the country, at least 12 outbreaks, defined as three or more related cases, have contributed to the surge. More than 800 cases “are associated with an outbreak centered in West Texas that has expanded to New Mexico, Oklahoma and possibly Kansas.” As of May 2, the CDC “was reporting 935 measles cases nationwide,” but the agency “publishes data on measles cases each Friday.” The last year there were more than 1,000 annual measles cases was 2019, when 1,274 cases were reported, “driven by large outbreaks in New York City and a nearby suburb.”

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