Health officials confirmed a case of measles Monday in a Colorado resident from Pueblo who had recently traveled to an area of Mexico where there’s an ongoing measles outbreak. 

The case was in an unvaccinated adult, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment said in a joint press release. They urged Coloradans to check their vaccination status, monitor for symptoms, and be aware if they were at a pair of possible exposure locations, both in Pueblo, starting Monday, March 17.

Read more at KRCC.

Colorado will lose hundreds of millions in federal funding this year.

The Trump administration is canceling $230 million in federal grants that funded several Colorado health programs, including programs to track COVID-19, provide vaccine outreach, and help Coloradans experiencing behavioral and mental health challenges. The federal government distributed the money to states as part of its COVID-19 response.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the money is being wasted and the administration is taking the funding back.

Read more at Denver 7.

Measles vaccination rates for young children may be far lower than publicly reported, a troubling development that could mean the United States is closer than expected to losing its “elimination status” for the extremely contagious disease.

“We are experiencing an extremely concerning decline in measles vaccination in the very group most vulnerable to the disease,” said Benjamin Rader, a computational epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and the author of a recent study that looked at children’s vaccination rates.  

Read more at NBC.

Doctors treating people hospitalized as part of a measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico have also found themselves facing another problem: vitamin A toxicity.

At Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, near the outbreak’s epicenter, several patients have been found to have abnormal liver function on routine lab tests, a probable sign that they’ve taken too much of the vitamin, according to Dr. Lara Johnson, pediatric hospitalist and chief medical officer for Covenant Health-Lubbock Service Area.

The hospitalized children with the toxicity were all unvaccinated.

Rad more at CNN.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is pulling back $11.4 billion in funds allocated in response to the pandemic to state and community health departments, nongovernment organizations and international recipients, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed Tuesday.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” HHS Director of Communications Andrew Nixon said in a statement. “HHS is prioritizing funding projects that will deliver on President Trump’s mandate to address our chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again.“

Read more at NBC.

The measles outbreak that began in Texas before spreading to at least two other states swelled to 355 confirmed cases on Friday — and officials say there is no sign it’s slowing.

“I’m worried it’s getting worse,” Katherine Wells, director of public health for Lubbock, told NBC News.

Many people aren’t getting tested for measles, and efforts to increase vaccination in the affected areas have gotten a lukewarm response, Wells said during a media briefing by the Big Cities Health Coalition on Tuesday.

Wells said she thought it could be a year until the outbreak is controlled.

Read more at NBC.

The number of measles cases associated with an outbreak in western Texas has grown to 309, with 30 cases reported over the last three days, according to new data released Friday.

This means the total number of Texas cases linked to the outbreak in roughly two months has surpassed the number confirmed for the entirety of last year in the U.S., which saw 285 cases nationwide, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Read more at ABC.

The ongoing measles outbreak has reached three states and serves as a stark reminder of the vital role that herd immunity plays in safeguarding our communities. Originating in Gaines County, Texas, the outbreak has now resulted in 321 reported cases, with 38 hospitalizations and two deaths, including a school-age child who was unvaccinated.

The initial epicenter within a Texas Mennonite community highlights how declining vaccination rates can lead to rapid disease transmission. While some may believe that abstaining from vaccination keeps them healthier or more resistant to diseases, the reality is that their “immunity” has, until now, been borrowed from their vaccinated neighbors. This collective shield, known as herd immunity, is not automatic or enduring; it has been built over decades through high vaccination rates.

Read more at CNN.

March 20 (Reuters) – A panel of immunization experts that advises the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will convene in April after a previous meeting was postponed, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services said in an email on Thursday.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices had been set to meet in February, but the meeting was postponed a week after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services.

HHS said the meeting was delayed to accommodate public comment. The agency’s email said ACIP workgroups have continued to meet and will present at the rescheduled April 15-16 meeting.

Read more at Reuters.

In the battlefield of human history, no enemy has claimed more lives than disease. Wars have reshaped borders and toppled empires, but microscopic invaders have wiped out civilizations.

“Nuclear weapons and war have killed fewer people than disease worldwide,” said William Parker III, Ph.D., an affiliate professor of History at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Parker specializes in molecular biology and microbiology with a focus on epidemiology and has worked at the Pentagon and in combat around the globe. He says vaccines are arguably one of the greatest weapons ever developed to turn the tide in the ongoing fight for human health.

Read more at MSU Denver.