HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

April 4, 2024 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Measles makes a comeback: what parents need to know (Cedars-Sinai)
• Bird Flu infects cows, chickens, but risk of spillover to humans is low   (NPR)
• U.S. fully bans asbestos, which kills 40,000 a year (MSN)
• CDC alerts doctors to watch for rare, serious bacterial infection appearing with unusual symptoms (Yahoo)
• "Truly dystopian": Experts worry Trump's school vaccine plan will spark "public health catastrophe" (MSN)
• A diet high in ultra-processed food is linked to a greater risk of many diseases : Shots - Health News  (NPR)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• Google to delete search data of millions who used 'incognito' mode  (NPR)
• Majority of recent CO2 emissions linked to just 57 producers, report says (Reuters)
• FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison (Wired)
• Twisted magnetic field observed around Milky Way's central black hole  (Reuters)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll doiwn.

HEALTH

Measles makes a comeback: what parents need to know (Cedars-Sinai)

Physician Urges Parents to Vaccinate Children as Global Uptick in Deadly Childhood Disease Reaches California. A highly contagious childhood disease once eradicated by vaccination has made a comeback. Globally, measles cases increased by 79% in 2023, according to the World Health Organization. In 2022, WHO estimated that measles killed more than 130,000—most of them children. 

Bird Flu infects cows, chickens, but risk of spillover to humans is low   (NPR)

The recent spread of avian influenza in dairy cattle in the U.S. has startled even some scientists who've tracked a global outbreak of the virus over the last few years….How widespread is the virus in dairy cattle? What could this mean for humans?

U.S. fully bans asbestos, which kills 40,000 a year (MSN)

The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday finalized a ban on chrysotile asbestos, part of a family of toxic minerals linked to lung cancer and other illnesses that the agency estimates is responsible for about 40,000 U.S. deaths each year. / The federal ban comes more than 30 years after the EPA first tried to rid the nation of asbestos but was blocked by a federal judge. While the use of asbestos in manufacturing and construction has declined since, it remains a significant health threat.

CDC alerts doctors to watch for rare, serious bacterial infection appearing with unusual symptoms (Yahoo)

Health officials are alerting doctors to be on the lookout for certain types of rare, serious meningococcal infections that are on the rise in the United States... In the cases identified so far this year, about 1 in 6 people have died, a higher fatality rate than they typically see with meningococcal infections. These cases are also unusual because they are striking middle-aged adults.

"Truly dystopian": Experts worry Trump's school vaccine plan will spark "public health catastrophe" (MSN)

A former lawmaker raised alarms after former President Donald Trump's vow in Virginia to defund public schools that require vaccines. Trump, who has repeatedly vowed not to "give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate," repeated his call during an appearance in Richmond on Saturday, according to former Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va.

A diet high in ultra-processed food is linked to a greater risk of many diseases : Shots - Health News  (NPR)

At a time when Americans consume more than half of their daily calories from ultra-processed foods, there is increasing evidence that eating too many of these foods can make us sick. A study published in the British Medical Journal finds people who consume high amounts of these foods have an increased risk of anxiety, depression, obesity, metabolic syndrome, certain cancers including colorectal cancer and premature death.

SCIENCE AND TECH

Google to delete search data of millions who used 'incognito' mode  (NPR)

Google will destroy the private browsing history of millions of people who used "incognito" mode in its Chrome browser as a part of a settlement filed to federal court on Monday in a case over the company's secret tracking of web activity.

Majority of recent CO2 emissions linked to just 57 producers, report says (Reuters)



The vast majority of planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions since 2016 can be traced to a group of 57 fossil fuel and cement producers, researchers said on Thursday….  The world's top three CO2-emitting companies in the period were state-owned oil firm Saudi Aramco, Russia's state-owned energy giant Gazprom and state-owned producer Coal India, the report said…. most companies had expanded their fossil fuel production since 2015, the year when nearly all countries signed the U.N. Paris Agreement,... Global energy-related CO2 emissions hit a record high last year, the International Energy Agency has said.

FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison (Wired)

A U.S. federal judge in the Southern District of New York has sentenced Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, to 25 years in prison. In addition, Bankman-Fried has been ordered to forfeit $11 billion.

Twisted magnetic field observed around Milky Way's central black hole  (Reuters)

Astronomers on Wednesday announced that they have detected a strong and organized magnetic field twisted in a spiral pattern around the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, revealing previously unknown qualities of the immensely powerful object lurking at the center of our galaxy.