WASHINGTON — North and South Carolina schools with higher vaccination rates fared better during a recent measles outbreak than schools where uptake was lower, researchers reported at IDWeek.
Specifically, the researchers showed that even small percentage-point increases in MMR coverage had a significant impact in reducing the risk for secondary cases.
Between Oct. 2, 2025, and April 26, 2026, South Carolina reported 997 cases of measles, with an additional 24 cases reported mostly in neighboring counties in North Carolina. The vast majority of cases in both states occurred among people who were

LAS VEGAS — Emergency clinicians must familiarize themselves with the various types of peptides and their potential adverse effects, according to a speaker at OMED.
Peptide popularity has boomed in recent years, but for many peptides, little is known about the long-term effects.
Healio spoke with Kenneth L. Frye Jr., DO, a physician at TeamHealth, about which peptides ED clinicians frequently encounter, what to look for in patients who use unapproved peptides and more.
Healio: What are some of the challenges clinicians face when diagnosing peptide-related visits?
Frye: I don’t think physicians

Jennifer A. Shuford, MD, MPH, resigned as the CDC’s deputy director and chief medical officer after spending just 4 months at the agency.
Shuford said she was leaving to spend more time with her family. “I am so thankful to President Trump and Secretary Kennedy for giving me the opportunity to help lead CDC,” she said in a statement provided to Healio. “It has been an amazing experience, and I will be forever grateful for it.”
The Washington Post first reported Shuford’s departure. Two anonymous sources told the Post that disagreements over the Trump administration’s vaccine policies factored

LONDON — A study demonstrated an association between air pollution and a higher risk for glaucoma, cataract and age-related macular degeneration.
“We know that cataract, glaucoma and AMD are age related, but the recent literature shows that the prevalence of these diseases is rising faster than predicted by demographics alone, and they increasingly affect people at younger ages,” Ahmed Alnabihi, MD, said in a presentation at the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons meeting.
This raises the question of whether environmental factors such as air pollution may play a role.
“We know

HHS has updated its National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias, shifting the nation’s strategy toward prevention and earlier detection, federal officials said.
The update seeks to build on momentum in Alzheimer’s disease research to both improve care and reduce dementia risk before symptoms emerge, Emily Hilliard, senior press secretary with HHS, told Healio.
“The 2026 update harnesses these advances through a coordinated, department-wide strategy to protect brain health, accelerate scientific progress, improve dementia care and strengthen support for patients and

Editor’s note: This is a developing news story. Please check back soon for updates.
The FDA has granted orphan drug designation to OCT-980, an oral treatment being developed for rhodopsin-associated autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa, according to a press release from Octant Bio.
The drug is designed to correct the accumulation of misfolded rhodopsin proteins in the retina, which leads to vision loss, according to the company.
“People with [rhodopsin-associated autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa] are living with progressive vision loss and no approved treatment options today,”

A melanoma intervention for survivors and their families improved sun-protection behaviors but did not reduce child sunburn incidence over time, according to a study published in JAMA Dermatology.
The family, lifestyles, actions and risk education intervention, known as FLARE, is a telehealth program that educated melanoma survivors and their children about familial skin cancer risk and sun-protection strategies, according to the study. While the program was successful in one way, it ultimately fell short of its primary outcome — to reduce child sunburn occurrence.
“Sun protection behaviors of

Excessive bloating and gas are prevalent gastrointestinal symptoms in women throughout the menopause trajectory, with 65.6% of participants in a new study scoring above the normal severity range.
The study, conducted by a research team at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, is aimed at better understanding the relationship between GI issues and anxiety for women in premenopause, perimenopause and postmenopause.
“Essentially, [menopausal women] have more severe bloating and gas compared with the normal value that we usually consider,” Sanjana Solomon, the study’s lead

Osimertinib plus savolitinib reduced the risk for progression or death by 45% compared with chemotherapy for certain patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, according to randomized phase 3 trial data.
The findings, presented at European Society for Medical Oncology Congress, also showed individuals with EGFR-mutated NSCLC with MET overexpression and/or amplification who progressed on osimertinib (Tagrisso, AstraZeneca) therapy lived 5 months longer if they received the combination therapy.
“Osimertinib plus savolitinib [Sutent, Pfizer] establishes a new global

Patients older than age 55 years experienced visual improvement after keratorefractive lenticule extraction but did not improve as much as younger patients, according to a study published in Journal of Refractive Surgery.
Lukas Neuhann, MD, of Ludwig-Maximilians-University Hospital, Munich, Germany, and colleagues wrote that differences in outcomes for keratorefractive lenticule extraction (KLEx) could differ because of increased corneal stiffness in older patients.
“To date, only a few isolated studies have investigated the influence of patient age on KLEx outcomes or compared the outcomes in