Tweet
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/all-news
With Cassidy's support, RFK Jr's HHS nomination moves forward
News brief
Today at 3:51 p.m.
Stephanie Soucheray, MA
Topics
Public Health
Senator Bill Cassidy, MD (R-LA), voted “yes” today to advance Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination to be Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from the Senate Finance Committee to a vote on the Senate floor.
Cassidy's vote was a tie-breaker, and closely watched after RFK Jr.'s testimony in front of two senate committees last week on which Cassidy serves. During appearances in front of both the Finance Committee and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Cassidy engaged Kennedy in contentious and lengthy debate about Kennedy’s support of childhood immunizations in the United States.
RFK Jr., a lawyer with no medical or public health training, is a longtime vaccine critic who has said vaccines cause autism and has suggested Black Americans should adhere to a different vaccine schedule than white peers.
Cassidy claims Kennedy made several promises, commitments
During last week’s testimony, Cassidy pushed Kennedy on the topic of vaccines several times, asking, “Does a 70-year-old man, who spent decades criticizing vaccines and was financially vested in finding fault with vaccines - can he change his attitudes and approach now that he'll have the most important position influencing vaccine policy in the United States?”
Today Cassidy took to the Senate floor to explain his vote, saying he and Kennedy spoke at length over the weekend and that Kennedy had made several promises to him, including a promise to alert the Senate with a 30-day advance notice before changing vaccine safety monitoring programs.
Cassidy, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said he will also meet with Kennedy regularly if he is elected head of HHS. A final confirmation vote for Kennedy is scheduled next week. If senators vote on party lines, four Republican senators would need to vote “no” for his confirmation to fail.
H5N1 strikes more poultry flocks in 3 states
News brief
Today at 3:49 p.m.
Lisa Schnirring
Topics
Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)
Federal officials today confirmed more H5N1 avian flu outbreaks in poultry in three states, with commercial farms in Missouri especially hard hit.
According to the latest updates from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the virus was confirmed at five farms in Missouri, all of them commercial facilities.
Affected premises include a layer farm in Newton County that has nearly 1.15 million birds. Other producers include a turkey farm in Newton County, a broiler breeder farm in McDonald County, and three turkey farms in three different counties.
Over the past 30 days, the virus has led to the loss of nearly 4.3 million poultry in Missouri.
Outbreaks in California, Oregon
In other poultry developments, APHIS confirmed the virus on a commercial turkey farm in California's San Joaquin County that has 22,200 birds and in a backyard flock of 8 birds in Oregon's Klamath County.
APHIS testing also confirmed H5N1 in one more dairy cow herd, another in California, raising the national total to 957 and California's total to 736.
UK reports 9th clade 1b mpox case
News brief
Today at 3:22 p.m.
Lisa Schnirring
Topics
Mpox
The UK Health Security Agency (HSA) today reported another clade 1b mpox case, marking the country's ninth since October 2024.
In an update, the HSA noted few details, other than that the patient had a history of travel to Uganda, one of the current mpox hot spots in Africa's outbreaks.
The United Kingdom has reported four such cases since January 20, all in people who had traveled to Uganda.
Shift to weekly updates
Officials added that they will no longer report new clade 1b infections on a case-by-case basis and that the HKA will shift to providing updates on Thursdays.
Merav Kliner, MBChB, MPH, the HAS's mpox incident director, said on X today, "The risk to the UK population remains low. Close contacts have been identified and offered appropriate advice in order to reduce the chance of further spread."
The novel 1b clade, which is different from the clade 2 virus circulating globally, was first identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2024 and has fueled large outbreaks in parts of Africa, with sporadic travel-related cases and a few instances of secondary household spread in countries outside of Africa.
Meta-analysis finds high rates of non-vaccine, high-risk HPV cervical infections, even in vaccinated women
News brief
Today at 1:59 p.m.
Mary Van Beusekom, MS
Topics
Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
A meta-analysis of 31 studies suggests high rates of cervical infections with non-vaccine, high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) in women, regardless of vaccination status.
For the analysis, published last week in BMC Infectious Diseases, researchers in Brazil included observational studies that assessed the prevalence of cervical infection by HR-HPV type among vaccinated and unvaccinated women and were published up to July 14, 2023.
Worldwide, HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection of the lower genital tract and the main cause of cervical cancer, the authors noted. It is also the fourth most common disease in women globally and the leading cause of death in 42 countries.
Three HPV vaccines have been licensed: bivalent (two-strain [2vHPV]), which targets HPV types 16/18 (Cervarix); quadrivalent (four-strain [4vHPV]), which targets types 6/11/16/18 (Gardasil); and nonavalent (nine-strain), which targets types 6/11/16/18/31/33/45/52/58 (Gardasil-9).
Rates for some types lower in vaccinated women
Among the 59,035 women included in the analysis, 42% had received at least one dose of HPV vaccine. Of the 31 studies, 64.5% used 4vHPV, 32.3% used 2vHPV, and 3.2% used both.
Further studies with vaccinated women are needed to understand the effects of vaccines on the distribution of non-vaccine HR-HPV types.
There was a high prevalence of non-vaccine HR-HPV types 31/33/45 (prevalence ratio [PR], 0.60), 31 (PR, 0.47), and 45 (PR, 0.38). While prevalence was high regardless of vaccination status, the rates of types 31/33/45, 47, and 45 were lower in vaccinated women, which the authors said suggests that the vaccines offer some cross-protection against these types.
"Further studies with vaccinated women are needed to understand the effects of vaccines on the distribution of non-vaccine HR-HPV types," the study authors concluded.
ALL BRIEFS
With Cassidy's support, RFK Jr's HHS nomination moves forward
News brief
Today at 3:51 p.m.
Stephanie Soucheray, MA
Topics
Public Health
Senator Bill Cassidy, MD (R-LA), voted “yes” today to advance Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination to be Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from the Senate Finance Committee to a vote on the Senate floor.
Cassidy's vote was a tie-breaker, and closely watched after RFK Jr.'s testimony in front of two senate committees last week on which Cassidy serves. During appearances in front of both the Finance Committee and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Cassidy engaged Kennedy in contentious and lengthy debate about Kennedy’s support of childhood immunizations in the United States.
RFK Jr., a lawyer with no medical or public health training, is a longtime vaccine critic who has said vaccines cause autism and has suggested Black Americans should adhere to a different vaccine schedule than white peers.
Cassidy claims Kennedy made several promises, commitments
During last week’s testimony, Cassidy pushed Kennedy on the topic of vaccines several times, asking, “Does a 70-year-old man, who spent decades criticizing vaccines and was financially vested in finding fault with vaccines - can he change his attitudes and approach now that he'll have the most important position influencing vaccine policy in the United States?”
Today Cassidy took to the Senate floor to explain his vote, saying he and Kennedy spoke at length over the weekend and that Kennedy had made several promises to him, including a promise to alert the Senate with a 30-day advance notice before changing vaccine safety monitoring programs.
Cassidy, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said he will also meet with Kennedy regularly if he is elected head of HHS. A final confirmation vote for Kennedy is scheduled next week. If senators vote on party lines, four Republican senators would need to vote “no” for his confirmation to fail.
H5N1 strikes more poultry flocks in 3 states
News brief
Today at 3:49 p.m.
Lisa Schnirring
Topics
Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)
Federal officials today confirmed more H5N1 avian flu outbreaks in poultry in three states, with commercial farms in Missouri especially hard hit.
According to the latest updates from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the virus was confirmed at five farms in Missouri, all of them commercial facilities.
Affected premises include a layer farm in Newton County that has nearly 1.15 million birds. Other producers include a turkey farm in Newton County, a broiler breeder farm in McDonald County, and three turkey farms in three different counties.
Over the past 30 days, the virus has led to the loss of nearly 4.3 million poultry in Missouri.
Outbreaks in California, Oregon
In other poultry developments, APHIS confirmed the virus on a commercial turkey farm in California's San Joaquin County that has 22,200 birds and in a backyard flock of 8 birds in Oregon's Klamath County.
APHIS testing also confirmed H5N1 in one more dairy cow herd, another in California, raising the national total to 957 and California's total to 736.
UK reports 9th clade 1b mpox case
News brief
Today at 3:22 p.m.
Lisa Schnirring
Topics
Mpox
The UK Health Security Agency (HSA) today reported another clade 1b mpox case, marking the country's ninth since October 2024.
In an update, the HSA noted few details, other than that the patient had a history of travel to Uganda, one of the current mpox hot spots in Africa's outbreaks.
The United Kingdom has reported four such cases since January 20, all in people who had traveled to Uganda.
Shift to weekly updates
Officials added that they will no longer report new clade 1b infections on a case-by-case basis and that the HKA will shift to providing updates on Thursdays.
Merav Kliner, MBChB, MPH, the HAS's mpox incident director, said on X today, "The risk to the UK population remains low. Close contacts have been identified and offered appropriate advice in order to reduce the chance of further spread."
The novel 1b clade, which is different from the clade 2 virus circulating globally, was first identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2024 and has fueled large outbreaks in parts of Africa, with sporadic travel-related cases and a few instances of secondary household spread in countries outside of Africa.
Meta-analysis finds high rates of non-vaccine, high-risk HPV cervical infections, even in vaccinated women
News brief
Today at 1:59 p.m.
Mary Van Beusekom, MS
Topics
Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
A meta-analysis of 31 studies suggests high rates of cervical infections with non-vaccine, high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) in women, regardless of vaccination status.
For the analysis, published last week in BMC Infectious Diseases, researchers in Brazil included observational studies that assessed the prevalence of cervical infection by HR-HPV type among vaccinated and unvaccinated women and were published up to July 14, 2023.
Worldwide, HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection of the lower genital tract and the main cause of cervical cancer, the authors noted. It is also the fourth most common disease in women globally and the leading cause of death in 42 countries.
Three HPV vaccines have been licensed: bivalent (two-strain [2vHPV]), which targets HPV types 16/18 (Cervarix); quadrivalent (four-strain [4vHPV]), which targets types 6/11/16/18 (Gardasil); and nonavalent (nine-strain), which targets types 6/11/16/18/31/33/45/52/58 (Gardasil-9).
Rates for some types lower in vaccinated women
Among the 59,035 women included in the analysis, 42% had received at least one dose of HPV vaccine. Of the 31 studies, 64.5% used 4vHPV, 32.3% used 2vHPV, and 3.2% used both.
Further studies with vaccinated women are needed to understand the effects of vaccines on the distribution of non-vaccine HR-HPV types.
There was a high prevalence of non-vaccine HR-HPV types 31/33/45 (prevalence ratio [PR], 0.60), 31 (PR, 0.47), and 45 (PR, 0.38). While prevalence was high regardless of vaccination status, the rates of types 31/33/45, 47, and 45 were lower in vaccinated women, which the authors said suggests that the vaccines offer some cross-protection against these types.
"Further studies with vaccinated women are needed to understand the effects of vaccines on the distribution of non-vaccine HR-HPV types," the study authors concluded.
ALL BRIEFS