Plague News: COVID, Bird Flu, Measles, Anti-Vaxx BS - 3.26.25

In this issue:

• COVID
• Bird Flu/H5N1/Avian Flu
• Measles
• Anti-Vaxxers Must Be Stopped
• Recommended Listening/Reading

In my miserable experience, this month of March 2025, has been the most fucked up month of science and plague news since COVID started.

Good luck out there, you'll need it. The headlines speak for themselves.

COVID

Beyond long COVID — how reinfections could be causing silent long-term organ damage - CBC 3.20.25

NY Hospital in Covid Exposure Suit Must Disclose Patient Records

A New York man must be given access to medical records likely to show when hospital staff knew or should have known a patient he shared a room with had Covid-19, a state appeals court said.

Bloomberg LawMary Anne Pazanowski Legal Reporter

Long-Term COVID-19 Is Real

Recent research provides more support for the existence of long-term COVID and delves into potential causes and effects of the condition.

Psychology TodayBarbara Koltuska-Haskin, Ph.D.

RFK Jr. claws back $11.4B in CDC funding amid wave of top-level departures

The funding went to state health departments for COVID-19 responses.

Ars TechnicaBeth Mole

Long COVID data are being erased, again - The Sick Times

The lack of comprehensive Long COVID case counts may be considered one of public health’s greatest failures. But as we enter the sixth year of this ongoing pandemic, U.S. institutions are sweeping this mass disabling event under the rug perhaps more than ever before. We can’t let them get away with it.

The Sick Times - Chronicling the Long Covid crisisBetsy Ladyzhets

Bird Flu/H5N1/Avian Flu

Cats Are Getting Bird Flu. Here’s How To Protect Them

Cats seem to be more seriously affected by H5N1 bird flu than many other pets, so cat owners should take steps to protect them.

ForbesJen Reeder

The first case of bird flu in sheep means the virus continues to adapt to new hosts

The detection of bird flu in a sheep is another sign that the H5N1 virus is adapting to hop to new hosts

Scientific AmericanJosh Fischman

H5N1 bird flu spread ‘unprecedented,’ UN agency warns

A United Nations food agency warned that the continued spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus is an unprecedented food security risk that requires a coordinated global response. In a briefing held on Mo…

The HillElizabeth Crisp

Bird flu spreads to mammals, fears of human transmission - (Reuters) 3.24.25

^^^This has a list of all the mammals (not including humans) known to have been infected with H5N1. The number of different species has increased significantly in the past three years - it's a lot of fucking animals!

Measles

JFC I hate this.

Texas is poised to make measles a nationwide epidemic, public health experts say

Public health experts say Texas needs better messaging on vaccinations and quarantining and more people conducting contact tracing to contain the spread.

The Texas TribuneStephen Simpson

Texas public health official predicts the measles outbreak could take a year to contain

The director of public health for the city of Lubbock said Tuesday that uptake of the measles vaccine “has definitely been a struggle,” and that the outbreak will be “large.”

STATHelen Branswell

Massachusetts public health commissioner urges vigilance amidst measles outbreaks in Texas, New Mexico

Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein on Thursday highlighted a March 11 clinical advisory with recommendations for providers, including promoting vaccination schedules and isolating patients with suspected measles infections at

The Berkshire EagleAlison Kuznitz, State House News Service

Compared to other states dealing with rising infections, there have been "no recent measles cases reported in Massachusetts," Department of Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein said Thursday. - The Berkshire Eagle 3.20.25

Not something I thought I'd ever have to worry about but here we are.

Anti-Vaxxers Must Be Stopped

These people are grifters.

Marty Makary and Jay Bhattacharya confirmed by Senate as FDA commissioner and NIH director

Marty Makary, at FDA, and Jay Bhattacharya, at NIH, are assuming leadership of agencies pummeled by workforce cuts and sagging morale.

STATLizzy Lawrence

Fake CDC vaccine site linked to anti-vax nonprofit once headed by RFK

CIDRAPMary Van Beusekom, MS

NIH cuts halt 24-year program to prevent HIV/AIDS in adolescents and young adults

NIH terminated grants for a program studying how to diagnose, treat, and prevent HIV and AIDS in adolescents and young adults.

STATAnil Oza

5 high-level CDC officials are leaving in the latest turmoil for the public health agency

Five high-level officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are leaving. The departures were announced Tuesday at a meeting of agency senior leaders.

AP NewsMIKE STOBBE

Activists have restored the CDC website as it was the day before the 2025 inauguration. https://restoredcdc.org/www.cdc.gov/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

CDCCDC

Further Listening/Reading

Ed Yong on the Pandemic’s Legacy on Science Research and Reporting | KQED

As part of our series looking at the legacy of the pandemic five years on, we talk to Ed Yong about how COVID changed our relationship with health news, reporting and research.

KQEDAlexis Madrigal

What would an adequate COVID response look like?

Ok, COVID is a problem. What can we do about it anyway?

The GauntletJulia Doubleday

Humanity, especially in the U.S., needs to heel turn and focus on public health and the existential threat of anti-vaxx misinformation or we are all fucked. All of us. We're all in this together, like it or not.

If you want to purchase high-quality masks and PPE, I recommend Bona Fide Masks.

I accept tips for this shit! Thanks and I love you.

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Plague News is a round-up of pandemic and infectious disease news focusing on so-called New England and the rest of the so-called United States.