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Nothing is more chilling to parents of newborns than the possibility of sudden unexpected infant death (SUID), which accounts for about 3,400 newborn deaths annually in the United States. And while campaigns promoting safe sleeping practices have contributed to fewer of these deaths overall, a study published this week in JAMA Network Open found that SUID rates have increased since 2020 for Black babies while they’ve stayed relatively stable for White infants. (Holohan, 9/25)

It’s no secret raising a kid is expensive. Countless diapers, 18 years worth of food, childcare and, for some, the cost of college tuition. But before all that even starts, there’s one big bill many parents will be forced to pay: the hospital bill. Even routine deliveries can cost families a shocking sum, depending on their insurance coverage. When things go wrong, the costs mount even higher. The cost of having a baby in the U.S. is so high, it has become a subject of global fascination, with videos of people recounting their itemized bills going viral. (Martichoux, 9/26)

In February, when 40-year-old Nicole Torres visited her OB-GYN at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to discuss why the recent nine-week ultrasound of her pregnancy had shown no heartbeat, she felt relieved to at least have clear next steps. Her doctor had given her a referral for an infertility specialist. Torres was hopeful about the timing, too. She had learned about a new law requiring insurance companies to cover infertility diagnoses and treatment, specifically in vitro fertilization (IVF). Considered by fertility doctors to be the most effective medical intervention — in which eggs are surgically removed and combined with sperm inside a lab to create embryos that are transferred to the uterus — IVF is also the most expensive. (Richards, 9/27)

The North Carolina state budget passed in July allocates more than $10.7 million to pregnancy resource centers, also known as crisis pregnancy centers, continuing a pattern of state funding that has grown substantially over the past decade. (Crumpler, 9/28)

Should pregnant people in St. Louis eat more pawpaws? If a recent trial study in Ecuador is any indication, perhaps so. Researchers at Washington University observed that when pregnant women in Ecuador consumed healthy proteins, fruits and vegetables and less processed foods, there was significant brain development in fetuses. (Wimbley, 9/25)

Children whose mothers were vaccinated against tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap) during pregnancy saw significantly reduced immunity response to their own early childhood vaccination, although childhood vaccine boosters at age 4 normalized immunity levels, according to a small observational cohort study. (Rudd, 9/25)

Nicolas Rivron, a biologist now based in Austria, spent close to a decade trying to build a model mouse embryo in the lab from scratch. After years of incremental progress and occasional false leads, he and his research team landed on their approach: They would carefully defrost 500,000 embryonic mouse stem cells, mix them with stem cells that could form the placenta, then separate the resulting blend into tiny containers. Eventually, those tiny cells began to attach to one another in the dish, creating aggregates the width of a fine strand of hair. The researchers implanted the cells into the wombs of female mice, where they took hold and began to grow. (Klotz, 9/25)

Kids who have their own smartphones at age 12 are more likely to develop eating disorder symptoms than their peers without the devices, according to a new study. (Schupak, 9/25)

TikTok will pay the state of Alabama at least $100 million and must implement a slew of safety features for teens in the state as part of a settlement agreement reached just before the case was set to go to trial. Alabama sued the social media company in 2025 claiming that the platform had negative effects on the mental well-being of youths. (Huamani, 9/26)

Loneliness and social isolation can cost a person up to six years of healthy life, a new study says. Physical and mental health suffer when people feel lonely and become isolated, even if they largely stick to healthy habits, researchers reported recently in the journal Nature Communications. The two conditions are different. Social isolation refers to having few relationships or limited contact with others, while loneliness is a distressing feeling caused by a lack of meaningful connection, according to the National Council on Aging. (Thompson, 9/25)

Everyday memory lapses, like misplaced keys or forgotten names, are often overinterpreted as early signs of dementia, but neuroscience experts say actual early cognitive changes may be reversible if addressed promptly. Dr. Tommy Wood, a professor of pediatrics and neuroscience at the University of Washington, said minor forgetfulness is often caused by fatigue or stress rather than the beginnings of a neurodegenerative disease. (Quill, 9/27)

Support from the American Medical Association (AMA) to classify myopia, or nearsightedness, as a disease created momentum to increase access to evidence-based treatment and stave off a public health crisis, according to the nation's largest ophthalmology group. At its annual meeting in June 2026, the AMA House of Delegates approved a resolution to "recognize that myopia is a significant and increasing public health concern warranting public health outreach, improved screening in children, and prevention efforts." (Bankhead, 9/25)

Despite decades of research, Alzheimer’s remains one of medicine’s most difficult diseases to treat. Now, a newly identified naturally occurring peptide could provide a new approach to combating it and other neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine discovered the small protein fragment called catestatin, or CST, which they believe could counter many of the key processes that cause neurodegeneration, or the loss of brain cells. This gradual loss can lead to symptoms such as memory loss, confusion, poor judgment, and in later stages, difficulty walking, talking and swallowing. (Sitz, 9/25)

Stanford medical professor Bryant Lin founded the school's Center for Asian Health Research and Education, advocating for better lung cancer screening in particular. Then two years ago Lin became a Stage IV patient of the very disease he long crusaded against. "Super ironic that I would be co-leading the center that supports research and education in this disease, and I get diagnosed myself," he says. (Noguchi, 9/27)

The United States on Friday rejected a declaration by member countries of the United Nations that pledged international collaboration and solidarity in preparing for and responding to pandemics. The European Union also expressed strong objections to parts of the statement. The declaration, the product of a high-level U.N. meeting on pandemic preparedness, is largely ceremonial. It is not legally binding, and does not set rules for what countries should do during pandemics. But its universal endorsement would have signaled a powerful expression of global political commitment to the issue. (Mandavilli, 9/25)

In a wine bar near OpenAI’s office in San Francisco, biotech entrepreneurs Hannu Rajaniemi and Nikolai Eroshenko were worried—and excited. Fast advances in artificial intelligence were threatening to make it possible for terrorists or rogue states to develop deadly new bioweapons. The pair brainstormed an idea they would later pitch to OpenAI: using AI to design remedies against AI-enabled bioweapons, and cure other scourges along the way, too. (Wells, 9/27)

The World Health Organization (WHO) today announced the composition of flu shots for the 2027 influenza season in the southern hemisphere. The composition of the vaccines is decided by a group of experts the WHO convenes twice a year in February and September. At these meetings, the group reviews data on circulating flu viruses generated through the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) and makes recommendations for upcoming flu seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres. (Dall, 9/25)

As the Ebola virus spreads to two new health zones in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and cases and deaths mount, G20+ leaders have pledged $2.9 billion to help fight the outbreak. Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the Bundibugyo Ebola virus has infiltrated two more health zones, Bulu in Sud Ubangi and Dunghu in Haut Uele province, raising the total number of affected health zones to 63 in seven provinces. (Van Beusekom, 9/25)

The US measles count has climbed to 3,659 confirmed cases, with 171 new cases added this week, according to today’s update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Of the 3,659 confirmed cases, 18% are in children age 5 and under, 43% in children and teens aged 5 to 19, and 38% are in adults 20 and older. Nine percent of case-patients have been hospitalized. Ninety-five percent of case-patients are unvaccinated or have unknown vaccination status. (Dall, 9/25)

An outbreak of measles in east central Illinois has grown to 16 confirmed cases, state officials said Friday. The cases – in Douglas and Moultrie counties – have been among people who are not vaccinated against measles or whose vaccination status is unknown, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. (Schencker, 9/25)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: Food Safety Finds A Place Among ‘Kitchen-Table’ Political Issues

The run-up to the midterm elections is turning into a food fight — literally. The summer was marred by a massive foodborne outbreak that sickened scores of people and the recall of tens of thousands of pounds of imported meat, turning the safety of the U.S. food supply into a topic of national conversation and a political cause. (Armour, 9/28)

For decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was the undisputed global leader in public health. Its scientists helped train health officials worldwide. In the United States, it was the primary source of guidance for prevention and treatment of diseases, including diabetes, H.I.V. and the seasonal flu. But after a year and a half in the cross hairs of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s drive to remake public health policy, the agency is a skeleton of the powerhouse it was. (Mandavilli, 9/26)

The Food and Drug Administration recently approved a new flu vaccine that tested well in older adults. But the federal agency responsible for telling doctors and the general public how to use it has made no recommendation on it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s inaction on the mFlusiva vaccine marks a break in longstanding practice. It’s also an example of how the agency’s vaccine review-and-recommendation process has been blown up in the past year, grinding decision-making to a halt. (Stobbe, 9/25)

At an August press conference, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stood beside him when he described the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine as “quite lethal.” (Szabo, 9/25)

A group of Senate Democrats questioned whether Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. potentially concealed an agreement to collect money from a settlement with a vaccine manufacturer despite pledging to divest from the lawsuit. At the time of his confirmation process last year, Kennedy was still involved in a lawsuit carried out by the law firm Wisner Baum against Merck over its HPV vaccine Gardasil, alleging that it caused neurological and autoimmune injuries. (Choi, 9/25)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: �������ýҕ�l Health News’ ‘On Air’: Journalists Discuss What RFK Jr. Recently Told The Anti-Vaccine Group He Founded

�������ýҕ�l Health News senior correspondent Stephanie Armour discussed health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s comments to an anti-vaccine group that he founded and the surgeon general nominee’s contradictory comments in her confirmation hearing on WBUR’s Here & Now on Sept. 18. (9/26)

Earlier this year, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. seemed poised to challenge the powerful food industry. The Department of Health and Human Services had concluded that food companies should produce “any detailed safety studies” showing that certain ingredients common in ultra-processed foods are generally safe and aren’t contributing to chronic health conditions, according to a March draft of a letter that the secretary sent to the White House for review, and that was obtained by The Washington Post. (Roubein, 9/25)

A new study warns that eliminating ultra-processed foods from California school cafeterias under the Real Foods, Healthy Kids Act will be costly and complex, requiring major investments in scratch cooking, kitchen equipment, healthier ingredients and trained staff to meet 2029–2035 deadlines. (Thompson, 9/28)

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) once led by trillionaire Elon Musk encouraged the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to scrap hundreds of contracts last year totaling approximately $1.1 billion, according to a new government watchdog report. The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) report issued Tuesday was described by the watchdog as a review of contracts "terminated for convenience," or contracts that the government ended "because it was in its best interest." (Mordowanec, 9/26)

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has reopened a food hub as part of its pilot program it is running to combat food insecurity among the veteran population. The VA Memphis Healthcare System reopened its hub, Lt. Col. Luke Wathers Jr. VA Medical Center, last week through a partnership with Mid-South Food Bank, allowing veterans to access groceries and other supportive resources in Tennessee. It had initially opened in May as part of a soft opening before the recent full launch. (Plummer, 9/28)

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, called on the Trump administration to spend more than $1 billion of global health funding that Congress has already appropriated before it expires Wednesday. In a letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought and Eric Ueland — the Trump aide in charge of the remnants of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) — Collins warned that $1.3 billion appropriated in fiscal 2025 must be spent as intended. (Weixel, 9/25)

House Democrats’ health policy wishlist, should the party have a majority next year, includes winning over Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s followers, alongside rolling back what Republicans have done to reduce government health care funding. It also includes the traditional Democratic priorities like expanding health insurance coverage and protecting abortion access. But the 84-page agenda obtained by POLITICO acknowledges there’s no consensus on “Medicare for All.” (Levien, 9/25)

�������ýҕ�l Health News: Republicans And Democrats Find A Unifying Target: Pharmacy Benefit Managers

Amye Joseph says America’s political polarization has made it an “interesting time” in her Tennessee household. She and her husband, Charlie, have been married 35 years. She’s a Republican. He’s a Democrat. But their shared disenchantment with profit-driven healthcare has provided a unifying target: pharmacy benefit managers, known as PBMs. The Josephs’ frustration is focused on CVS Health. The conglomerate, which reported $400 billion in revenue last year, includes a major health insurer (Aetna), one of the country’s dominant PBMs (CVS Caremark), and America’s largest retail pharmacy chain. (Farmer, 9/28)

About 4,000 registered nurses at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) in Boston voted "overwhelmingly" on Thursday to authorize an open-ended strike. The Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), which represents the nurses, said this could be the largest open-ended registered nurse (RN) strike in state history. No strike date has been set yet. Before it occurs, the nurses will be legally required to give 10 days' notice. If the strike is held, it would continue until the nurses reach a contract agreement with the hospital. (Kekatos, 9/25)

Cheshire Medical Center took steps this week to eliminate its inpatient rehabilitation center and cut 12 positions to balance its operating budget. In a statement Friday, Dr. Joseph Perras, CEO and president of the Keene hospital, said the Farnum Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit will stop taking new patients. (Engel, 9/27)

UConn Health’s proposed acquisitions of Bristol and Day Kimball hospitals have been delayed. Farmington, Connecticut-based UConn said Friday it is committed to the deal but needs more time for due diligence and planning to ensure the facilities’ long-term financial sustainability. (Hudson, 9/25)

A handful of recipients accounted for a substantial share of the first round of federal awards to boost rural health in Mississippi, according to an analysis of funding conducted by Mississippi Today. Memorial Health System, based in Gulfport, received the largest share of funds — more than $15 million for 12 projects, while a consortium of hospitals in south central Mississippi received more than $13 million for seven projects. Together, the hospitals accounted for over a quarter of $104 million in grants announced by Gov. Tate Reeves on Sept. 14. (Dilworth, 9/25)

Penn Medicine, Independence Blue Cross and Regent Surgical are forming a company and plan to build and operate at least 18 ambulatory surgery centers. The facilities will be located in Penn Medicine’s service area of Pennsyvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The first one is expected to open next year, a spokesperson said Friday. A timeline for when all facilities will be complete has not been announced. (DeSilva, 9/25)

Wellstar Health System wants to be more than an Atlanta-area provider. Since President and CEO Ketul Patel took the reins last October, Wellstar has restructured operations and set its sights on expansion, first in Georgia and then possibly beyond. Despite laying off more than 750 people in July, the roughly $8 billion system is rapidly adding to its footprint, including a hospital in Columbia County that opened last month. It also acquired Clayton-based Mountain Lakes Medical Center in August and reached an agreement a few weeks ago to acquire Stephens County Hospital in Toccoa by the end of the year. (Hudson, 9/25)

A new report from a conservative think tank is accusing 340B hospitals of providing less charity care than other nonprofit hospitals, despite receiving discounted drugs. Hospitals participating in the 340B drug discount program spent 2.16% of their operating expenses on free or discounted care for low-income patients, called charity care, compared with 2.82% at non-340B hospitals, according to a Thursday analysis from the Pioneer Institute and CancerCare. (Hughes, 9/25)

In most of the LASIK procedures he performs, Dr. Edward Manche, a Stanford Medicine ophthalmologist, uses one laser to cut a paper-thin flap in a patient’s cornea, then another to precisely remove tiny amounts of tissue and reshape the eye. The procedure leaves almost no room for error, demanding precision measured in microns. So in the earthquake-prone Bay Area, what happens when the ground starts to shake? It’s a common question, eye surgeons say, but the scenario is far less dramatic than people may imagine. (Park, 9/26)

Health and fitness ring-maker Oura Inc.’s initial public offering raising as much as $2.2 billion has drawn about four times as many orders as there are shares available, according to people familiar with the matter. Banks working on the share sale by the company and some of its backers expect to stop taking investor orders on Monday afternoon, one of the people said. Oura and the selling shareholders are offering 50 million shares for $40 to $44 each, its filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission show. (Lipschultz and Hughes, 9/25)

Have a gun? You’re going to need to take another safety class after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of bills Saturday that are a boon to gun control advocates and anathema to Second Amendment groups. (Zinshteyn, 9/27)

A proposal to tax California’s billionaires has fractured Democratic politics, repelled some of the state’s richest residents and exploded into a costly battle that’s overshadowing even the gubernatorial election. Known as Proposition 40, the ballot measure is also dividing the very industry it’s supposed to help. The healthcare-workers union behind the initiative, which would authorize a wealth tax on billionaires, says the levy would raise sorely needed funds to shore up health coverage. (Clanton, 9/25)

Work requirements for some Medicaid beneficiaries begin across the U.S. in January, the result of President Donald Trump’s big 2025 tax cut and policy law, and a handful of Republican-led states are imposing tougher rules than the law requires. At issue is how someone can prove they are too medically frail to work. While federal regulations say the state can take the recipient’s word for it for the first year, at least six states are requiring documentation immediately. There is a continuing push in other states to follow suit eventually. (Mulvihill, 9/26)

Marylanders who buy individual health insurance through the state marketplace will face a second consecutive year of double-digit premium increases after regulators approved an average 14.6% increase for 2027. (Brown, 9/27)

School district employee health clinics have grown steadily as they turn to on-site or dedicated direct primary care models to combat surging healthcare and self-funded insurance claims. And rural Hendry County is about to join the fold. Employees on the district's self-funded insurance plan could have little to no out-of-pocket expenses for medical care and prescriptions as of Oct. 1. (Kelley, 9/27)

This past weekend marked the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene, which claimed more than 250 lives — 108 in North Carolina — and left hundreds of thousands of people without power for days to weeks. In Asheville, the largest city in the western part of the state, the storm left residents without drinking water for 53 days. (Larson, 9/28)

Many Illinois residents have likely never heard of 7-OH, even though a federal official has warned that the substance — often sold in tablet, liquid and gummy form in vape shops and convenience stores — could drive the next wave of the opioid epidemic. (Schencker, 9/27)

A Colorado manufacturer of a popular brand of marijuana vapes warned dispensaries last week that it is recalling products due to contamination by methylene chloride, a chemical the Environmental Protection Agency has sought to ban for most uses because it can cause cancer. The recall comes amid a protracted delay in state implementation of expanded testing procedures that would have detected methylene chloride and other solvents that pose health risks. (Osher, 9/25)

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has spent millions of dollars to address “excessive moisture and heat buildup” in its facilities, noting that “great care must be taken to maintain a comfortable environment.” For chickens. (Lartey, 9/26)

Finn Vester, who has autism and Down syndrome, tried a martial arts class but it proved unsuitable because he learns differently, his mother said. Then he joined Dance Abilities, a program at Academy of Dance Arts in the Indianapolis suburb of Fishers for people with physical or intellectual disabilities. Now dance has become his way to communicate and connect with others, his mom, Nicole Vester, said. (Lamy and Gruver, 9/28)

On Thursday, the Senate health committee met with Heidi Overton, nominee for commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. When asked about her views on mifepristone, a key abortion medication, Overton danced around the issue. As the CEO of Reproductive Futures, a legal organization advocating for reproductive rights, I am deeply concerned. Overton’s anti-abortion views are crystal clear. As FDA commissioner, she would have a chance to implement them and do serious harm. (Julie F. Kay, 9/25)

Twenty-five years ago, as the country still reeled from Sept. 11, the first of two batches of anthrax-laden envelopes were mailed from New Jersey to news media and congressional offices. All told, the letters caused 22 cases of anthrax disease, leading to five deaths; prompted considerable fear in the U.S.; and cost billions of dollars in response and recovery. (Daniel Jernigan, 9/26)

For more than a century, medicine has behaved as though we understood everything about the anatomy of the heart. As medical students, we memorize its chambers, valves, and vessels. As surgeons, we operate within its well-known boundaries. As cardiologists, we interpret heart images so familiar that they’re nearly invisible. (Subramaniam C. Krishnan, 9/28)

As the biotechnology industry pours billions of dollars into artificial intelligence–driven drug discovery and development, a foundational problem remains unsolved. A 2024 survey of biomedical researchers found that nearly three in four believe their field is gripped by a reproducibility crisis — the widespread inability of researchers to replicate study findings even when similar methods are used. (Jonathan Jacobs and Patrick Boyle, 9/25)

Earlier this month, Anthropic reported five cases in which people used its models for work that could support biological weapons development. The cases included help preparing a proposal for gain-of-function research on a mosquito-borne virus at a military institute and planning experiments intended to help bird flu get better at infecting mammals. Anthropic had no way to determine the intent behind this work but blocked it anyway. (Ashish K. Jha, 9/28)