Hacker News with Generative AI: Public Health

Mass layoffs hit workers at HHS: CDC, NIH, FDA (usatoday.com)
Mass layoffs began Tuesday at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at the Food and Drug Administration, the first steps in a plan to cut 10,000 jobs at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Government, Health, Layoffs, Public Health

8 points by throw0101c 18 hours ago | 0 comments

Where does air pollution come from? (ourworldindata.org)
Millions of people die prematurely from air pollution every year. This problem has existed since humans started burning materials for fuel — first wood and biomass, then fossil fuels.

Air Pollution, Environmental Science, Public Health

229 points by kamaraju 1 day ago | 135 comments

The CDC Has Been Gutted (wired.com)
Thousands of federal employees at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were notified early Tuesday morning that they were subject to a reduction in force, or RIF, sources tell WIRED, shuttering programs that directly serve and inform the American public.

Public Health, Government, United States

17 points by zzzeek 2 days ago | 0 comments

Layoffs begin at US health agencies which research, track disease, regulate food (apnews.com)
Employees across the massive U.S. Health and Human Services Department began receiving notices of dismissal Tuesday in an overhaul ultimately expected to lay off up to 10,000 people.

Health, Government, Layoffs, Public Health

7 points by consumer451 2 days ago | 0 comments

Installing air filters in classrooms has surprisingly large educational benefits (2020) (vox.com)
An emergency situation that turned out to be mostly a false alarm led a lot of schools in Los Angeles to install air filters, and something strange happened: Test scores went up. By a lot. And the gains were sustained in the subsequent year rather than fading away.

Education, Air Quality, Public Health, Research, Los Angeles

307 points by tangjurine 3 days ago | 141 comments

RFK, Jr. Laying Off Entire Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/Aids Policy (forbes.com)
The U.S. is still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic with more and more long COVID cases emerging. Bird flu is a growing threat. Measles outbreaks have been occurring. Antibiotic-resistant organisms continue to spread in healthcare settings. So what do you do next if you are in charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which is supposed to protect the health of humans in the U.S.? How about lay off the entire staff of the U.S.

Public Health, US Politics, COVID-19, Infectious Diseases

31 points by pmags 4 days ago | 1 comments

Utah becomes first US state to ban fluoride in its water (bbc.com)
Utah has become the first US state to ban the use of fluoride in its public water, following concerns raised by health secretary Robert F Kennedy that the mineral poses potential health risks.

Public Health, Water Treatment, Fluoride, Utah, United States

498 points by Jimmc414 5 days ago | 1245 comments

The CDC buried a measles forecast that stressed the need for vaccinations (propublica.org)
Leaders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered staff this week not to release their experts’ assessment that found the risk of catching measles is high in areas near outbreaks where vaccination rates are lagging, according to internal records reviewed by ProPublica.

Public Health, Measles, Vaccination, CDC

35 points by rntn 5 days ago | 2 comments

Aid cuts predicted to cause 2.9M more HIV-related deaths by 2030 (theguardian.com)
Up to 2.9 million more children and adults will die from HIV-related causes before 2030 because of aid cuts by countries including the US and Britain, a new study has found.

HIV/AIDS, Global Health, Public Health, International Development, Science

15 points by perihelions 5 days ago | 1 comments

Texas is poised to make measles a nationwide epidemic (texastribune.org)
With its measles outbreak spreading to two additional states, Texas is on track to becoming the cause of a national epidemic if it doesn’t start vaccinating more people, according to public health experts.

Public Health, Measles, Texas, Vaccination

11 points by geox 10 days ago | 1 comments

CDC Clone Site Hosted by Group Previously Led by HHS Secretary (infoepi.substack.com)
A CDC clone website is filled with false and misleading vaccine claims against a backdrop of false balance. An NGO led by the current HHS Secretary until December 2024 is hosting content for the CDC clone. The domain realcdc[.]org currently redirects to this CDC clone, which is staged on chdstaging[.]org.

Public Health, Misinformation, Government, Health Organizations, Websites

32 points by alwillis 11 days ago | 7 comments

Measles arrives in Kansas, spreads quickly in undervaccinated counties (arstechnica.com)
Measles has arrived in Kansas and is spreading swiftly in communities with very low vaccination rates. Since last week, the state has tallied 10 cases across three counties with more pending.

Public Health, Disease, Kansas, Vaccination

13 points by rntn 12 days ago | 1 comments

Gene drive modified mosquitoes offer new tool for malaria elimination efforts (imperial.ac.uk)
Genetic technology co-developed at Imperial could help to eliminate malaria by making mosquitos resistant to the parasite that spreads the disease.

Genetics, Malaria, Public Health, Disease Elimination

31 points by gmays 13 days ago | 61 comments

We've entered a forever war with bird flu (theverge.com)
Avian influenza is “evolving in ways we haven’t seen before,” says Martha Nelson, a computational biologist and staff scientist researching pathogen evolution at the National Institutes of Health — one of many scientists who have been monitoring the global H5N1 outbreak.

Science, Biology, Public Health

4 points by Brajeshwar 13 days ago | 0 comments

'Don't call it zombie deer disease': infections spread across the US and globe (theguardian.com)
The contagious, fatal illness in deer, elk and moose must be taken seriously, say experts as it takes hold in the US and reaches other countries. While it has not infected humans yet, the risk is growing

Wildlife, Diseases, Public Health, Science, Environmental Issues

9 points by mindracer 13 days ago | 2 comments

Mom of child dead from measles: "Don't do the shots," my other 4 kids were fine (arstechnica.com)
The parents of an unvaccinated 6-year-old girl who died of measles in Texas last month sat down for an interview with Children's Health Defense (CHD), the rabid anti-vaccine organization founded and run until recently by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is now US health secretary under the Trump administration.

Measles, Vaccines, Public Health, Anti-vaccine Movement, Children's Health

21 points by duxup 14 days ago | 13 comments

Bird flu continues to spread as pandemic experts are MIA (arstechnica.com)
As bird flu continues to rampage in dairy farms and poultry facilities around the country, the office tasked with coordinating the federal government's response to pandemic threats, including bird flu, has been sidelined by President Trump and sits nearly empty, according to CNN.

Bird Flu, Pandemic, Public Health, Government Response

15 points by rbanffy 14 days ago | 4 comments

RFK Jr. Wants to Let Bird Flu Spread on Poultry Farms. Why Experts Are Concerned (scientificamerican.com)
With H5N1 avian influenza spreading in poultry flocks, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is pushing a new plan: let the virus rip.

Public Health, Avian Influenza, Science, Controversial Ideas

25 points by voxadam 14 days ago | 16 comments

H5N1 influenza viral lineages beginning to evade human immunological defenses (medicalxpress.com)
New computational modeling of avian influenza variants' immunoprotein interactions—developed by a research team at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte—reveals the H5N1 influenza virus is evolving to escape immunological defenses raised by previous infection or vaccination in mammals.

Influenza, Virology, Immunology, Public Health, Computational Modeling

7 points by bikenaga 15 days ago | 0 comments

Florida lawmakers looking to ban fluoride statewide (tampabay.com)
Two sweeping bills are moving through Florida’s capitol that would prohibit local governments from adding fluoride to drinking water.

Politics, Public Health, Water Treatment, Florida

4 points by howard941 15 days ago | 0 comments

Philly's street fentanyl contains a chemical called BTMPS used in plastic (theconversation.com)
As much as half of the fentanyl sold on Philly’s streets contains an industrial chemical used in plastics manufacturing. That’s according to our November 2024 testing of fentanyl samples collected in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood, regarded as the largest open-air drug market on the East Coast.

Drugs, Public Health, Philadelphia, Chemistry

21 points by PaulHoule 16 days ago | 9 comments

Study finds 46 percent of U.S. counties have pharmacy deserts (ncpa.org)
A study published in JAMA Network Open found that pharmacy deserts are significantly more common in counties where patients are experiencing high social vulnerability. They said 46 percent of all counties studied had at least one pharmacy desert, and that 15.8 million people in the U.S. live in pharmacy deserts.

Healthcare, Social Vulnerability, Rural Health, Public Health, Geography

44 points by toomuchtodo 17 days ago | 125 comments

Atul Gawande: Hundreds of Thousands Will Die (newyorker.com)
The internal estimates are that more than a hundred and sixty thousand people will die from malaria per year, from the abandonment of these programs, if they’re not restored. We’re talking about twenty million people dependent on H.I.V. medicines—and you have to calculate how many you think will get back on, and how many will die in a year. But you’re talking hundreds of thousands in Year One at a minimum.

Health, Public Health, Malaria, HIV, Global Health

22 points by mitchbob 18 days ago | 1 comments

US measles cases reach 5-year high; 15 states report cases, Texas outbreak grows (arstechnica.com)
The US has now recorded over 300 measles cases just three months into 2025, exceeding the yearly case counts for all years after 2019.

Public Health, Measles, Texas, Outbreaks, United States

16 points by rntn 19 days ago | 2 comments

Finland's National Allergy Program Successfully Reduces Allergic Diseases (ersnet.org)

Finland, Allergies, Healthcare, Public Health

185 points by Thomvis 19 days ago | 95 comments

HHS Secretary: It Would Be Better If 'Everybody Got Measles' (thedailybeast.com)
“The measles gave you lifetime protection against measles infection,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Sean Hannity on Fox News.

Public Health, Measles, Vaccination, Misinformation

27 points by purple_ferret 22 days ago | 18 comments

60% of adults will be overweight or obese by 2050, study says (japantimes.co.jp)
Nearly 60% of all adults and a third of all children in the world will be overweight or obese by 2050 unless governments take action, a large new study said Tuesday.

Health, Obesity, Public Health, Statistics

4 points by PaulHoule 23 days ago | 1 comments

"It has been determined" that infected dairy herd serology can be disclosed (hogvet51.substack.com)
Opaqueness in decision-making was an eye-opener for me 22 years ago when I moved to federal service from the private sector. Controversial or unpopular decisions came down from above with no fingerprints, just a third-party attribution, e.g. “it has been determined…” I came to quickly realize that not personally owning a tough to-defend decision is a form of professional survival in the chain of command of the regulatory environment.

Government, Transparency, Decision Making, Public Health, Animal Health

61 points by ctoth 23 days ago | 39 comments

America's Real Criminal Element Is Lead (2013) (motherjones.com)
When Rudy Giuliani ran for mayor of New York City in 1993, he campaigned on a platform of bringing down crime and making the city safe again.

Politics, Crime, Social Issues, Public Health

8 points by scarface_74 23 days ago | 6 comments

A modest proposal for destigmatizing America's favorite bad decisions (mleverything.substack.com)
Decriminalization and destigmatization are practical approaches that aim to reduce the real-world harms of drug use by removing penalties and social barriers that prevent people from seeking help.

Drug Policy, Social Issues, Public Health, Policy

5 points by bko 24 days ago | 6 comments