Rotavirus Is Surging Across The US; Health Experts Note Vaccine Hesitancy
In the United States, 73.8% of children are vaccinated against the highly contagious virus, which is still surging late into the season. The Trump administration has tried to remove the rotavirus vaccine from the childhood immunization schedule. Plus, vaccine-preventable measles is still spreading.
It took just 48 hours for Ben Lopman鈥檚 18-month-old son to go from being an energetic toddler to totally listless. Lopman鈥檚 son Ruben was suffering from severe dehydration from rotavirus, one of the most common causes of diarrhea and vomiting in babies and children. He was so sick, he ended up in the hospital, desperately needing intravenous fluids to keep up his strength to battle the infection. (Dunn, 4/15)
On measles, tuberculosis, tetanus, and tick bites 鈥
San Francisco health officials on Wednesday reported the first case of measles in the city since 2019, in an unvaccinated infant who was infected during a recent international trip. The infant, who is less than 1 year old, was exposed while traveling and became infectious after returning, according to the San Francisco Public Health Department, which confirmed the case on Monday. The infant is recovering at home, and other members of the household have been vaccinated. (Ho, 4/15)
Yesterday Utah officials said the state has 602 measles cases in an outbreak that is ongoing and began last year, with 19 new infections. And though cases have been slightly declining in recent weeks, several preschools and elementary schools are now sites of recent exposures.聽(Soucheray, 4/15)
A highly sensitive molecular test for tuberculosis (TB) detected Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in a surprising proportion of hospitalized patients, raising questions about undetected forms of the disease, according to a聽study published yesterday in Nature Communications. (Bergeson, 4/15)
Despite the wide availability of tetanus vaccines, US cases of the life-threatening disease continue to occur among people of all ages, especially those who are unvaccinated or undervaccinated, but at low levels, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers report. The聽study, published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, was based on case data from the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System from 2009 to 2023. (Van Beusekom, 4/15)
Weekly visits to emergency rooms for tick bites are at the highest level since at least 2017, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). During the most recent week, 71 per 100,000 ER visits were due to tick bites, compared to the average of about 30 per 100,000 ER visits for this time of year, more than double from what is typical this time of year. Currently, the Northeast is reporting the most ER visits for tick bites, followed by the Midwest, Southeast, West and South Central regions, respectively, CDC data shows. (Kekatos and Benadjaoud, 4/15)
In vaccine news from Florida 鈥
The Florida governor added two new agenda items to the session: legislation aimed at protecting minors from artificial intelligence and a 鈥渕edical freedom鈥 bill that would provide a new way for students to opt out of certain vaccines. DeSantis asked lawmakers to return for up to four days, from April 28 until May 1. (Mazzei and Salhotra, 4/15)
