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SALT LAKE CITY — Multiple people who attended last weekend’s state wrestling championships were later confirmed to have measles, the Utah Department of Health and Human Services said Friday.

There is concern for any participants at the state championships at Utah Valley University who were not vaccinated, said Amelia Salmanson, the department’s preventable disease manager. She said health officials have been seeing measles cases in division 4A wrestling teams.

In addition to being reported from the state championships, measles transmissions are also being reported from areas throughout the state, particularly among students who are in school or doing extracurricular activities.

“We’re seeing transmission throughout the state, and at this point people who are not vaccinated are at an increased risk of getting measles,” she said.

The spread at the wrestling tournament came in the days after the Salt Lake County Health Department confirmed that a student contagious with the measles attended Highland High School for over a week, and the disease was “actively spreading” in the county.

Salmanson said Utah’s outbreak, which began in June, has been relatively steady compared to other states where cases surged quickly. She said although health officials have seen increases following holidays and extracurricular activities, particularly where students travel and can introduce measles to other areas, she is anticipating cases will continue to hold steady.

“Unfortunately, we’re starting to see transmission in areas that we haven’t before, and so people who are not protected and unvaccinated, it may … work its way through those people before we … start to see a decline,” she said.

The hospitalization rates in Utah for measles is roughly 12% of diagnosed cases, Salmanson said, but there have not been many severe cases. She said there have likely been more cases that weren’t tested or reported because the symptoms were mild.

The state health department, she said, worked with the Utah High School Activities Association to send a letter to each of the participants at the wrestling championship. Local health departments are working more closely with schools and teams to prevent the spread of the disease.

People are contagious for about four days before they see the typical measles rash and until four days after that rash’s onset, according to Salmanson. Some other symptoms can hint that someone has measles, but those look similar to cold and flu symptoms. She said since these symptoms can be common; it is difficult to recognize measles immediately, even though the person is contagious.

She also encouraged those who may have a risk of exposure to call ahead to a health care center before going inside in order to help prevent exposures.

“If people are unvaccinated, especially, and aware that they may have been exposed to someone (with) measles, either at this event or … from family or friends … that they try to stay home if they’re not feeling well and kind of look out for any rash symptoms,” she advised.

Salmanson said the MMR vaccine is “really effective,” even with just one dose. Although health officials do see rare breakthrough cases, those are “a lot more mild” and “less transmissible.” She recommends those who are not vaccinated speak with their medical provider or pharmacist about getting vaccinated.

“People who are unvaccinated are really the most vulnerable,” Salmanson said.

For those with questions about their risk or exposure, Salamanson recommends reaching out to local health departments. The state health department has a list of exposure locations, which includes the state wrestling championships and a 4A division championship a few weeks earlier at Mountain View High School along with other schools, churches and health care facilities.

For those considering vaccination, Salmanson said the vaccine takes two weeks to become fully effective, but it can be helpful within a few days. She said parents can consult with their pediatrician about an extra early dose for children between 6 months and 1 year of age or an early second dose for children who have already had their first dose but have not had their second dose, which is typically given between the ages of 4 and 6.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

Original Content From

Scientists who study chronic pain have long puzzled over a particular type of scenario: A man and woman get into a car accident and sustain the same injuries. But the woman experiences long-lasting pain, while the man recovers more quickly.

Historically, some doctors have dismissed these differences as women exaggerating their pain or being unable to tolerate the same discomfort as men. But studies have repeatedly found that women are more likely to experience chronic pain in general and that their pain lasts longer, on average.

A study published Friday in the journal Science Immunology offers a clue as to why: Men’s immune systems may have a better mechanism for shutting off pain, likely because of their higher testosterone levels.

“What we show is, it’s a real biological mechanism from the immune cells. It’s not in the mind,” said Geoffroy Laumet, one of the study’s authors and an associate professor of physiology at Michigan State University.

Ann Gregus, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech who researches ways to treat chronic pain, said the findings underscore the need to take women’s pain seriously.

“A lot of women are taught to hide their pain, because then, if they don’t, people will perceive that they can’t do their jobs, that they can’t take care of their families,” Gregus, who wasn’t part of the new study, said.

The findings apply to persistent pain after surgery or a physical trauma. However, other chronic pain conditions — like fibromyalgia — don’t follow a traumatic event.

“Does it explain everything? I don’t think so. We don’t have any single, magical pathway,” said Dr. Michele Curatolo, a professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine at the University of Washington, who wasn’t involved in the new research. Curatolo is the chief medical officer at 4E Therapeutics, a neuroscience company developing treatments for pain.

For the new study, the researchers asked 245 people who had experienced traumatic injuries — primarily car accidents — to rate their level of pain. Though men and women had roughly the same pain severity on the day the injury occurred, men saw their pain resolve more quickly over a period of nearly three months.

Blood tests showed that the men had higher levels of a molecule called interleukin-10, which switches off pain signals to the brain. Laumet said testosterone increased the production of interleukin-10 from white blood cells.

The same was true in lab experiments involving mice.

The team of scientists gave mice injections to stimulate an inflammatory response, and afterward, male mice showed signs of their pain resolving, whereas female mice did not. Male mice also recovered faster from a small surgical incision and from being restrained in a tube for two hours — a scenario designed to mimic the physical and emotional stress of a car accident.

Across the experiments in mice, white blood cells that produce interleukin-10 were far more active in males.

Gregus said the new research likely reflects evolutionary differences between men and women.

“It’s building upon a series of studies that have been done to show that men tend to use their innate immune system more effectively than women,” she said. (The innate immune system is the body’s first line of defense against foreign invaders.)

But Curatolo added that the sex differences aren’t black and white — and men often have long-lasting pain, too.

In the long run, Laumet said, the findings could be used to develop new treatments for chronic pain in women, such as testosterone patches. Topical treatments like that tend to come with fewer side effects than systemic drugs, he said.

As it stands, many of the current options for chronic pain relief have concerning side effects and don’t fully alleviate symptoms. Long-term use of over-the-counter painkillers can lead to kidney damage or stomach ulcers. Opioids, often prescribed as a last resort, can be addictive. Doctors even sometimes prescribe antidepressants or anti-seizure medications off-label for pain, but many patients with chronic pain don’t respond to them. And physical therapy or acupuncture may work for some patients but not others.

“We clearly need alternative options,” Gregus said.

Original Content From

The Virginia Department of Health is investigating two more measles cases in Northern Virginia, the ninth and 10th this year, with potential exposure sites in Manassas, Haymarket and Alexandria.

In a Thursday evening news release, the VDH said both patients are adults who recently traveled together domestically.

To protect privacy, VDH will not provide any additional information about the patients. Health officials are coordinating an effort to identify people who might have been exposed, the VDH said.

Listed below are the dates, times and locations of the potential exposure sites involving the two cases:

• Harris Teeter at 10060 Market Circle in Manassas, between 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13
• Walmart at 9401 Liberia Ave. in Manassas, between 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13
• Marco’s Pizza at 9223 Sudley Road in Manassas, between 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13
• Bull Run Unitarian Universalists at 9350 Main St. in Manassas, between 7:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 14
• Best Buy Outlet at 7665 Sudley Road in Manassas, between 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14
• Mountaintop Church at 9213 Center St. in Manassas, on Saturday, Feb. 14 between 4:30 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 15 between 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Lidl at 9795 Liberia Ave. in Manassas, between 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15
• Target at 9900 Sowder Village Square in Manassas, between 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15
• Medical center at 7051 Heathcote Village Way in Gainesville, between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 16
• Office building at 2800 Eisenhower Ave. in Alexandria, between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17

To date in 2026, Virginia has 10 reported cases of measles, six of those in Northern Virginia. In all of 2025, the VDH reported five measles cases.

What to do if you have been exposed

Most people in Virginia have immunity to measles through vaccination, so the risk to the general public is low, the VDH said. However, anyone who was at the potential exposure sites at the times listed should:

• Report your exposure to VDH by completing this short survey. Public health officials will follow up with respondents if additional actions are needed.
• Find out if you have been vaccinated for measles or have had measles previously. Make sure you are up to date with the recommended number of measles (MMR) vaccinations.
• To check your immunization status, call your healthcare provider or request records through the VDH Record Request Portal.
• If you have received two doses of a measles-containing vaccine, or were born before 1957, you are considered protected and do not need to seek post-exposure treatment at this time.
• People who are not fully vaccinated or otherwise immune to measles should contact their healthcare provider or call their local health department immediately.
• People who are not immune to measles may qualify for post-exposure treatments. There is a small timeframe for these protective post-exposure treatments to be effective.
• Watch for symptoms of measles for 21 days after the potential exposure. Monitoring for symptoms is especially important for people who are not fully vaccinated or otherwise immune to measles.
• If you notice symptoms of measles, immediately isolate yourself by staying home. Contact your healthcare provider right away. If you need to seek healthcare, call ahead before going to your healthcare provider’s office or the emergency room to notify them that you may have been exposed to measles and ask them to call the local health department. This call will help protect other patients and staff.

The most likely time you would become sick would be between Feb. 18 and March 10.

Measles symptoms usually appear in two stages. In the first stage, most people have a fever of greater than 101 degrees, runny nose, watery red eyes, and a cough, the VDH said. Symptoms usually start seven to 14 days after being exposed. The second stage starts three to five days after symptoms start, when a rash begins to appear on the face and spreads to the rest of the body. People with measles are contagious from four days before the rash appears through four days after the rash appeared, the VDH said.

Contact your local health department or email [email protected] to discuss any additional recommendations.

The Virginia Department of Health is investigating another case of measles, the sixth this y…

The Virginia Department of Health is investigating another confirmed case of measles, this t…

The Virginia Department of Health is investigating another case of measles, the eighth this …

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Original Content From

To some extent, Americans are talking about alcohol more than ever. We’re having open conversations about the negative health impacts of drinking. People are consuming less booze overall and examining strategies to moderate, even as each drink packs more punch. There is one aspect of alcohol we’re still not talking about: addiction, and, more precisely, the medical treatments available to combat it. What’s even odder — your doctor may not know much about them, either.

Even as researchers examine the potential for GLP-1s such as Ozempic and Zepbound to reduce alcohol consumption, the most underappreciated story in alcohol use disorder isn’t the promise of new drugs. It’s why the ones we already have are so rarely used. There are three FDA-approved medications to treat AUD in the US: naltrexone, acamprosate, and disulfiram. They’ve existed for decades, are effective for some people in reducing or stopping drinking, and, addiction physicians say, have few drawbacks.

Despite all of this, they are broadly unknown to patients and widely underprescribed. Just 2% of Americans with an alcohol disorder diagnosis receive approved medications for treatment, says Dr. Lorenzo Leggio, a physician and scientist at the National Institutes of Health. By comparison, 85% of people diagnosed with diabetes get approved treatments for it.

These drugs aren’t a panacea — like all medications, some things work for some people and not others. But they’re an important tool in a toolbox to treat a condition that affects millions of Americans and takes thousands of lives each year.

“The challenge here is to really treat addiction the same way we treat diabetes, hypertension, cancer, Parkinson’s, depression, and the list goes on and on,” Leggio says.

At a basic level, the medications used to treat alcohol use disorder do something quite simple: they make drinking less appealing.

The first is naltrexone, which was first developed to treat opioid use disorder. It blocks the warm, buzzy feelings of alcohol — people may still drink, but it doesn’t do much for them. (They’ll still get the impaired effects of alcohol, just not the euphoria.) Some people use naltrexone to undertake what’s called the “Sinclair Method,” where they take the drug an hour before starting drinking so that when the session begins, the pleasurable effects from the alcohol are blunted. The idea is that if the person takes naltrexone every time they drink, the associated reward with alcohol will lessen, reducing cravings over time and thus leading to a significant drop in drinking or even abstinence. Some people may choose to take naltrexone only when they have what could be a potentially heavy drinking event, like a wedding, so they end the night with two drinks instead of 10. Naltrexone is also available through an extended-release one-month injection.

There’s lots of benefits and very few drawbacks.

Another option is acamprosate, which restores brain balance after it’s been thrown off by heavy alcohol use and can help reduce cravings, though it doesn’t reduce alcohol’s effects in the moment. It’s prescribed more commonly in Europe. The final of the trio is disulfiram, which inhibits the body’s ability to break down alcohol — essentially, it makes people sick if they drink. It’s the least commonly prescribed of the three because of high rates of patient noncompliance.

Research shows that naltrexone can help reduce heavy drinking and cravings, and acamprosate can help promote abstinence and prevent a return to drinking.

“I really view medications as being tremendously helpful in turning the volume down on craving, on withdrawal symptoms, on some of the other reasons that people struggle,” says Katie Witkiewitz, a psychologist at the University of New Mexico who specializes in substance use disorders.

Effectiveness can vary among patients and can be modest, as with many medications. The same goes for side effects, which can include headache or nausea (sometimes caused by naltrexone), and lack of appetite or irritability (sometimes caused by acamprosate). Addiction specialists say the medications are generally well-tolerated by most patients.

“There’s lots of benefits and very few drawbacks,” says Sarah Wakeman, the senior medical director for substance use disorder at Mass General Brigham in Boston. “These medications are incredibly safe, and you need very little, if any, lab monitoring.”

The drugs are also hyper affordable — naltrexone, acamprosate, and disulfiram are all generics, and they’re generally covered by insurance. The exception is Vivitrol, the naltrexone injection, which is still under patent.

Given how straightforward these medications are, it’s natural to ask why they aren’t used more often. The answer is complicated, having to do with the stigma around addiction, lack of patient knowledge, and the ways in which our society and the medical establishment treat alcohol.

Alcoholism is a disease of denial — individuals often minimize, rationalize, or lie about their drinking. Even people who drink moderately tend to fudge the numbers when asked about their alcohol habits, either by their doctor or people they know. Our culture writ large is in denial about alcoholism, too. We tend to treat it as a lack of willpower, as a moral failing, and a bad habit people need to knock off. We generally don’t see it as the chronic condition it is.

If doctors don’t want to prescribe it and patients have never heard of it, then a company is not going to develop the next drug for drinking because they’re like, ‘It’s a waste of money.’

Many people may not realize they are engaging in problem drinking, and if they do, they may not go to their doctors about it. Treatment for alcohol use disorder has “largely evolved outside of the mainstream of healthcare,” says Dr. Caleb Alexander, a practicing internist and drug safety expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Historically, it’s been siloed into specialty treatment programs — behavioral therapies, rehabilitation centers, or groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous or SMART Recovery. These work for some people, but not everyone. Alexander adds that many of these settings don’t have prescribers, formularies, or medication management that would provide access to AUD drugs. Some groups may also be opposed to medication intervention.

Those who do seek help through the healthcare system often run into discouraging obstacles, and doctors themselves may be ill-equipped to help. Physicians are often poorly trained in addiction medicine in medical school or residency. They may not be versed in the medications available or have a misperception that they need specialization to prescribe them. Doctors are also people, and they may hold the same biases as anyone else about alcohol.

“A lot of doctors don’t even want to have these conversations at all,” says Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University who specializes in addiction and a former senior policy advisor in the Obama administration.

The result: the medications that are at doctors’ fingertips go woefully under-discussed and under-prescribed. People lie to their doctors about their drinking instead of having open, honest talks. Because these drugs are generics and don’t lead to a huge payday for manufacturers, there’s no marketing money behind them, and they have no champions. This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy: Since there is such a small market now, potential innovations for alcohol addiction are stunted.

“If doctors don’t want to prescribe it and patients have never heard of it, then a company is not going to develop the next drug for drinking because they’re like, ‘It’s a waste of money,'” Humphreys says.

There are some online providers to fill the void, such as telehealth company Oar Health and Ria Health, which focus on medication-assisted alcohol treatment. They can be options for people who may be too embarrassed to go to their doctors or whose doctors are resistant to trying medications, but they’re also costlier and may not come with the same level of supervision.

There are some signs that this neglect may not be a permanent state of affairs.

Researchers are studying whether GLP-1s such as semaglutide and tirzepatide might help reduce alcohol consumption. While some early evidence is promising, experts say it’s too early to tell just how effective they might ultimately be. If GLP-1s do prove useful in helping to treat alcohol use disorder, they have some advantages other medications do not: there’s a lot of money and momentum behind them.

“They’re already part of the cultural milieu,” Witkiewitz says. “People are using them, people are wanting them, and that’s not something we typically see with medications.”

GLP-1 makers were initially hesitant to investigate the effectiveness of their drugs on alcohol use because they were concerned it might damage their brands, Humphreys says, in another example of just how pervasive the addiction stigma is. Now, “the companies have decided they’re going to go for it.”

At the moment, GLP-1s are merely a hope in helping people manage problem alcohol use. The reality is that there are options out there, they’re just often ignored. The overarching barrier has more to do with lack of will than lack of way. Ideally, there would be multiple other drugs under development for the treatment of AUD, and more patients and doctors would know about what’s already out there.

The real test is whether we finally treat alcohol addiction like a disease rather than a character flaw.

“All these tools that we have, from 12 steps to AAs to behavior treatment to medications, they’re not mutually exclusive,” Leggio says.

The way we talk about and approach drinking can and should evolve. The FDA recently formally recognized a reduction in drinking as a valid endpoint in alcohol-related clinical trials, meaning the goal of medications under development doesn’t need to be total abstinence — it can also be helping people to slow down. It’s a “paradigm shift,” Witkiewitz says, and may lead to more drugs to help curb drinking and more doctors aware of the health benefits of cutting back.

The real test is whether we finally treat alcohol addiction like a disease rather than a character flaw. We’ve done it with other conditions before. While there’s still a stigma around obesity, that is changing, thanks in part to GLP-1s, as more people accept the idea that weight loss is about more than willpower.

“There’s this idea that medications are a crutch or making it an easy way out,” Wakeman says.

Perhaps a better parallel is depression. For years, it, too, was swept under the rug. People were told to shake it off. Today, it’s widely understood as a treatable condition. There are a variety of medications available, and many patients try different formulations and dosages until they find the right fit. For some people, medication isn’t the answer, and they use other strategies to combat and mitigate it. People aren’t expected to be free of depressive episodes forever, even with treatment, and in many circles, it’s quite commonplace to discuss, whether at the doctor’s office or over lunch.

“Prior to Prozac becoming now a completely banal thing that you can talk about at a dinner party, depression was, ‘You need a kick in the butt, pick yourself up, what’s the matter with you?'” Humphreys says.

Alcohol use disorder could now be reaching a similar inflection point. The science behind treatments has existed for years, but the culture has lagged behind. GLP-1 drugs may help to accelerate a shift in how we think about medication to curb drinking. And if we’re talking so much about the dangers of drinking, shouldn’t we be giving people as much help as possible to slow down and stop?

Emily Stewart is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.

Original Content From

Michael Pollan is the author of A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness.

Christopher Michel/Penguin Random House

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Christopher Michel/Penguin Random House

What is consciousness?

After writing a book about how using psychedelics in a therapeutic setting can change your consciousness, that’s the question journalist Michael Pollan found himself struggling to answer.

“There’s nothing any of us know with more certainty than the fact that we are conscious. It’s immediately available to us. It’s the voice in our head,” he says. And yet, Pollan adds: “How does three pounds of this tofu-like substance between your ears generate subjective experience? Nobody knows the answer to that question.”

His new book, A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness, explores consciousness on both a personal and technological level. Pollan, who lives close to Silicon Valley, says some believe that Artificial Intelligence is capable of consciousness.

“They base this on a premise … that basically the brain is a computer, and that consciousness is software,” he says. “And if you can run it on the brain, which is essentially, in their view, a ‘meat-based computer,’ you should be able to run it on other kinds of machines.”

Pollan disagrees with this assessment. He acknowledges that computers can simulate thought — but he adds that “real thought” is based on feeling.

“If you think about it, your feelings are very tied to your vulnerability, to your having a body that can be hurt, to the ability to suffer and perhaps your mortality,” he says. “So I think that any feelings that a chatbot reports will be weightless, meaningless, because they don’t have bodies. They can’t suffer.”

Interview highlights

On the notion that people have moral obligations to chatbots 

That’s a very active conversation here, which is if they are conscious, we then have moral obligations to them, and have to think about granting them personhood, for example, the way we’ve granted corporations personhood. I think that would be insane. We would lose control of them completely by giving them rights. But I find this whole tender care for the possible consciousness of chatbots really odd, because we have not extended moral consideration to billions of people, not to mention the animals that we eat that we know are conscious. So we’re gonna start worrying about the computers? That seems like our priorities are screwed up.

On the sentience of plants

Plants can see, which is a weird idea. There’s a certain vine that can actually change its leaf form to mimic the plant it’s twining around. How does it know what that leaf form is? Plants can hear. If you play the sound of chomping caterpillars on a leaf, they will produce chemicals to repel those caterpillars and to convey, to alert other plants in the vicinity. Plants have memory. You can teach them something and they’ll remember it for 28 days.

And plants can be anesthetized. I thought this was particularly mind blowing. So I’m thinking of a plant like the sensitive plant, Mimosa pudica, that if you touch it, it collapses its leaves, or a carnivorous plant that eats bugs that cross its threshold. You can anesthetize them and they won’t do anything. So the fact that they have two states of being is very suggestive of something like consciousness.

On losing time to let our mind wander 

I worry, too, that with media, with our technologies, we are shrinking the space in which spontaneous thought can occur. And that this space of … spontaneous thought is something precious that we’re giving away to these corporations that essentially want to monetize our attention, and in the case of chatbots, want to monetize our attachments, our deep human attachments. So consciousness is, I think — and this is what to me is the urgency of the issue — consciousness is under siege. I think that it’s the last frontier for some of these companies that want to sell our time.

On our paradoxical ideas about the self 

What’s interesting and paradoxical about the self is that we preach the values of self-assurance and self-confidence and having a strong sense of self. We want our kids to have that. On the other hand, we spend a lot of time trying to escape the self, to transcend it, whether it’s through sports or experiences of art, going to the movies or psychedelics or meditation. So we have very mixed feelings about the self. I think because the self separates us. The ego is a defensive structure. It builds walls. And when those walls come down or even just [are] lowered, we can connect to other people, to art, to nature, to the divine in some cases.

On writing a book that grapples with unanswerable questions

There were many moments of despair in the process of reporting and writing this book. It took me five years, and there were many times where [I told my wife] “I’ve dug a hole here, and I don’t know how I’m ever going to get out of it.” And some of it had to do with mounting frustration with the science, and some of it had to do with the fact that I had this classic male problem/solution Western frame — that there was a problem and I was going to find the solution.

It took my wife, in part, and [Zen Buddhist teacher] Joan Halifax and some other people, who got me to question that and [they] said, “Yeah, there is the problem of consciousness, but there’s also the fact of it, and the fact is wondrous. The fact is miraculous. And you’ve put all this energy into this narrow beam of attention. Why don’t you open that beam up further and just explore the phenomenon that is going on in your head, which is so precious and so beautiful.” And that’s kind of where I came out — and it’s certainly not where I expected to come out.

Anna Bauman and Susan Nyakundi produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the web.

Original Content From

NORTHAMPTON, Pa. – Northampton Borough closed Canal Street Park on Thursday after multiple dead geese were reported there the day before.

The closure affects the entire park, including the D&L Trail, playground, basketball and tennis courts, pavilion, walking paths, river access, and all grassy areas.

Officials say the Pennsylvania Game Commission arrived Thursday morning after being notified of the situation. The commission recommended shutting down the park and brought in a biologist to run tests on the geese.

“We first heard about just a few. Yesterday there were about five or six. So that’s when we reached out to the Game Commission. And then today it was a lot more,” Northampton Borough Manager Brian Welsko says.

Officials estimate roughly 150 dead geese were in the Lehigh River alone, with more along the shoreline and park. While tests are still pending, borough leaders say bird flu is suspected.

“All signs kind of point that way. They did start culling the geese population in the area,” Welsko says. “They said there was about 150 in the river at the time, give or take. That’s an estimate.”

As of 1:30 p.m., officials were actively culling geese in the park as a precaution.

Following the borough’s release, the Borough of Walnutport posted on Facebook requesting their citizens and visitors stay vigilant in the area of the Lehigh Canal and Lehigh River due to the potential bird flu outbreak in Northampton.

Last year, a similar situation occurred at another location in Northampton County. Hundreds of snow geese were found dead in a quarry in Lower Nazareth Township and several other locations in the Lehigh Valley; with bird flu being the cause.

Dozens of dead birds seen in Lehigh Valley. Crews clean up animals to prevent bird flu from spreading | Lehigh Valley Regional News | wfmz.com

“Speaking with the Game Commission, they say this is a very frequent thing that happens at this time of year when the frost breaks,” Welsko added.

Residents are urged to avoid any dead or sick geese and report sightings to the Northampton Borough Office at 610‑262‑2576 or the Pennsylvania Game Commission at 833‑742‑4868.

If you live in the Walnutport area, contact the borough at 610-437-5252.

Original Content From

Potential measles exposure reported at Costco, Upstate college, more churches

Updated: 5:15 PM EST Feb 20, 2026

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Health officials in South Carolina are reporting possible measles exposure at Costco, Spartanburg Community College, as well as additional churches. The South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) is reporting  11 new cases of measles  in the state since Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases in South Carolina related to the Upstate outbreak to 973.(Video above: Greenville woman vaccinated at birth receives negative measles immunity test, SCDPH responds) There are currently 105 people in quarantine and seven in isolation. The latest end of quarantine for these is March 15.Based on the new cases, DPH has identified public exposures at Mabry Middle School (number of individuals in quarantine to be determined). Additionally, individuals remain in quarantine from Libertas Academy (17 individuals in quarantine) and Inman Intermediate (fewer than 5 individuals in quarantine).DPH has identified multiple locations where exposures to infectious measles have occurred. DPH has defined the times of potential exposure at the following locations: Spartanburg Community College – Giles Campus at 107 Community College Drive, Spartanburg, S.C. on Tuesday, Feb. 17 from 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Costco – Spartanburg at 211 W Blackstock Road, Spartanburg, S.C. on Tuesday, Feb. 17 from 12 to 3 p.m. Tabernacle of Salvation Slavic Church at 150 Outlet Road, Spartanburg, S.C. on Sunday, Feb. 15 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Westgate Baptist Church at 1990 Old Reidville Road, Spartanburg, S.C. on Wednesday, Feb. 11 from 6:30 to 10 p.m.The risk of exposure in the locations is limited to the specific dates and times announced. Once that time frame has passed, the location is not an ongoing risk for measles exposure. Exposures occurred only when an infectious person was present during the defined time. These locations are not a source of ongoing exposure, and businesses and locations identified are not responsible for a person with measles having been present.People who were exposed at Spartanburg Community College and Costco, especially those without immunity through vaccination or previous disease, should monitor for symptoms through March 10. Those exposed at Tabernacle of Salvation should monitor for symptoms through March 8, and those exposed at Westgate Baptist Church should monitor for symptoms through March 4.Vaccination continues to be the best way to prevent measles and stop this outbreak. Vaccines are available at many primary care provider offices and pharmacies, as well as DPH Health Departments.In response to the ongoing measles outbreak in the Upstate, DPH will activate its Mobile Health Unit to offer measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination to the public at no cost on Friday, March 3 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Grace Community Church, 570 Magnolia Street, Spartanburg.To stay up-to-date on the latest measles outbreak information, visit our dedicated webpage here. For additional data related to the outbreak, visit our Measles Dashboard.

GREENVILLE, S.C. —

Health officials in South Carolina are reporting possible measles exposure at Costco, Spartanburg Community College, as well as additional churches.

The South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) is reporting  11 new cases of measles  in the state since Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases in South Carolina related to the Upstate outbreak to 973.

(Video above: Greenville woman vaccinated at birth receives negative measles immunity test, SCDPH responds)

There are currently 105 people in quarantine and seven in isolation. The latest end of quarantine for these is March 15.

Based on the new cases, DPH has identified public exposures at Mabry Middle School (number of individuals in quarantine to be determined). Additionally, individuals remain in quarantine from Libertas Academy (17 individuals in quarantine) and Inman Intermediate (fewer than 5 individuals in quarantine).

DPH has identified multiple locations where exposures to infectious measles have occurred. DPH has defined the times of potential exposure at the following locations:

• Spartanburg Community College – Giles Campus at 107 Community College Drive, Spartanburg, S.C. on Tuesday, Feb. 17 from 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
• Costco – Spartanburg at 211 W Blackstock Road, Spartanburg, S.C. on Tuesday, Feb. 17 from 12 to 3 p.m.
• Tabernacle of Salvation Slavic Church at 150 Outlet Road, Spartanburg, S.C. on Sunday, Feb. 15 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Westgate Baptist Church at 1990 Old Reidville Road, Spartanburg, S.C. on Wednesday, Feb. 11 from 6:30 to 10 p.m.

The risk of exposure in the locations is limited to the specific dates and times announced. Once that time frame has passed, the location is not an ongoing risk for measles exposure. Exposures occurred only when an infectious person was present during the defined time. These locations are not a source of ongoing exposure, and businesses and locations identified are not responsible for a person with measles having been present.

People who were exposed at Spartanburg Community College and Costco, especially those without immunity through vaccination or previous disease, should monitor for symptoms through March 10. Those exposed at Tabernacle of Salvation should monitor for symptoms through March 8, and those exposed at Westgate Baptist Church should monitor for symptoms through March 4.

Vaccination continues to be the best way to prevent measles and stop this outbreak. Vaccines are available at many primary care provider offices and pharmacies, as well as DPH Health Departments.

In response to the ongoing measles outbreak in the Upstate, DPH will activate its Mobile Health Unit to offer measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination to the public at no cost on Friday, March 3 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Grace Community Church, 570 Magnolia Street, Spartanburg.

To stay up-to-date on the latest measles outbreak information, visit our dedicated webpage here. For additional data related to the outbreak, visit our Measles Dashboard.

Original Content From

An outbreak of the deadly Nipah virus in India has put many countries in Asia on high alert, given the fatality rate in humans can be between 40% and 75%.

Several countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, have introduced new screening and testing measures, after at least two people died of Nipah virus in the Indian state of West Bengal this month.

But what is Nipah virus, and how concerned should we be?

Related: Virus Discovery Among Bats in China Fruit Orchards Draws Exposure Concerns

Here’s what you need to know.

What is Nipah virus?

Like Hendra virus, Nipah is in a category of viruses called henipaviruses. It is zoonotic, meaning it can spread from animals to humans.

As I explained in a previous Conversation article, outbreaks happen in Asia from time to time. The first outbreak was reported in 1998 in Malaysia.

There are three major ways it’s transmitted.

The first is via exposure to bats, and in particular via contact with the saliva, urine, or faeces of an infected bat. Infections can also occur from contact with other infected animals, such as pigs in the original outbreak in Malaysia.

The second way it can be transferred is by contaminated foods, particularly date palm products. This means consuming date palm juice or sap that is contaminated with the bodily fluids of infected bats.

The third is human-to-human transmission. Nipah transmission between humans has been reported via close contact such as caring for a sick person.

This can mean, for instance, being infected with bodily secretions contaminated with the virus in households or hospitals. This is thought to be less common than the other transmission pathways.

What are the symptoms?

Nipah virus infections happen quickly. The time from infection to symptoms appearing is generally from four days to three weeks.

It’s a terrible disease. Around half the people who get severe Nipah virus infection die of it.

The symptoms can vary in severity. It can cause pneumonia, just as COVID could.

But the illness we worry most about is neurological symptoms; Nipah can cause encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain.

These effects on the brain are why the fatality rate is so high.

Symptoms might include:

• fever
• seizures
• difficulty breathing
• falling unconscious
• severe headaches
• being unable to move a limb
• jerky movements
• personality changes, such as suddenly behaving oddly or psychosis.

Unusually, some patients who survive the acute phase of a Nipah infection can get relapsed encephalitis many years later, even more than a decade later.

Is there any treatment or vaccine?

Not yet, but in Australia development of a treatment called m102.4 is underway.

There was a phase 1 trial of this treatment published in 2020, which is where researchers give it to healthy people to see how it goes and if there are any side effects.

The trial found that a single dose of the treatment was well tolerated by patients.

So it is still quite a way off being actually available to help people infected with Nipah virus, but there’s hope.

There is currently no vaccine for Nipah virus. In theory, m102.4 it could be a preventative but it’s too early to say; at this point it is being trialled as a treatment.

How worried should I be?

This Nipah outbreak in India is worrying because there’s currently no prevention and no treatment available, and it’s a severe disease. While it is an important disease, it isn’t likely to be a public health issue on the same scale as COVID.

This is because it doesn’t transmit efficiently from person to person, and the main way it is transmitted is from food and infected animals.

For people living outside of areas where cases are currently being reported, the risk is low. Even in the affected areas, the number of cases is small at this stage, but public health authorities are taking appropriate control measures.

If you become unwell after travelling to areas where cases have been reported, you should let your doctor know where and when you travelled.

If someone gets a fever after travelling to affected areas, we would probably be much more worried it was caused by other infections such as malaria or typhoid than Nipah, at this stage.

Overall, though, everything needs to be put in context. We hear about new viruses and incidents all the time. Nipah is important for affected countries, but outside of those countries, it is just something we closely monitor and be alert for.

Allen Cheng, Professor of Infectious Diseases, Monash University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Luise Easton has continued competing in triathlons into her 80s despite having issues with her heart.

Shawn Green/Cleveland Clinic

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Shawn Green/Cleveland Clinic

With the Winter Olympics starting this week, the attention on world-class athletes may motivate some of us to get off the couch and move more ourselves.

And if you think you’re too out of shape, or too told to accomplish any physical feat, take it from Luise Easton, 87: You may be capable of more than you think.

Easton has competed in triathlons near and far to her home in Cleveland, and she’s still at it. “When I was 80 I won in Denmark,” she says. She also won a medal in Ibiza in 2023. “It feels good,” she says with a girlish laugh.

“There’s not much competition in my age category,” she acknowledges, so it’s a bit easier to come in first, but it’s just as thrilling. “You still get on the podium and everybody claps,” she says.

Staying athletic as you age presents its challenges, of course. Like most Americans over the age of 60, Easton has chronic health conditions — including some issues with her heart — that require treatment and monitoring. But she’s tackled them proactively.

Want the latest stories on the science of healthy living? Subscribe to NPR’s Health newsletter.

And her story shows the payoff of focusing on early diagnosis and treatment, combined with smart choices, and an awareness of evidence-backed lifestyle habits that can slow down or prevent chronic heart conditions. These steps can help improve your health at any age. (We have tips to guide you below.)

A wake-up call

Easton has always been active. In high school she attended a school that stood up girls basketball and field hockey. But five years ago, she feared her athletic days were behind her when she started feeling short of breath during workouts. She made an appointment with a sports cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic.

Easton got checked out by Dr. Singh at the Cleveland Clinic.

Lisa DeJong/Cleveland Clinic

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Lisa DeJong/Cleveland Clinic

“They did all kinds of tests and found out that my heart isn’t as strong as it’s supposed to be,” Easton says. Doctors measured her ejection fraction, or EF, which is an estimate of the amount of blood a person’s heart pumps out with each heartbeat.

Hers was below normal, a sign the heart is not pumping efficiently enough to keep up with the body’s oxygen demands. She also had some abnormal rhythms.

There are several medications that can help, including beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers which also help lower blood pressure. Easton takes some medications that help regulate her heart beat and keep the muscle working as efficiently as possible.

But her doctors also wanted to help her stay active.

“We know exercise helps the heart,” says Dr. Tamanna Singh, a sports cardiologist who treated Easton.

She helped her switch up Easton’s training regime, “incorporating more recovery time,” and fine-tuning intensity and exercise volume. “I think all of those things have helped her be able to continue to race,” Singh says.

Easton’s shortness of breath was a wake-up call. Rather than assume it would go away — or assume her racing days were over — she got the medical attention that’s helped keep her in the game. And Easton says she focuses on a healthy diet and prioritizing rest.

There’s a lesson here for all of us would-be weekend warriors wondering how much our bodies can handle.

“It’s really a reminder of our innate capacity to do things that we are passionate about,” says Dr. Victoria Maizes, an integrative medicine expert, and the author of a new book, Heal Faster. “We have this intrinsic recovery system that supports us in recovering from a wide range of conditions.”

Preventable problems

Though heart disease is the top cause of death for both men and women in the U.S., a new Cleveland Clinic survey finds 1 in 4 adults don’t realize they are at risk for it, even though the vast majority have risk factors, such as high blood pressure.

But if you choose to address it, Maizes says here’s the good news.

“Close to 80% of heart disease is preventable through lifestyle changes,” she says. “Many people don’t recognize how much agency they actually have to reduce their risks.”

Everything from not smoking to tweaks to daily habits that can make a difference. “What you eat, when you eat, how much exercise or movement you’re getting, and managing your stress,” she says.

Maizes pointed to a study that found heart-health benefits of time-restricted eating, which means limiting the number of hours you eat each day to about 10 hours a day.

Maizes’ approach with patients combines conventional medicine, using all of the tools of medications and traditional therapies, with lifestyle-related interventions and complementary therapies, such as acupuncture and stress-reduction techniques.

Luise Easton says she’s under no illusion that she can run, bike and swim forever. “I’m 87 now, so as I age, everything I do is a little bit harder,” she says.

But she’s not giving up. When it comes to competing she has adjusted her expectations. “Now, instead of running, I walk. But there’s no rules that say you can’t walk,” she says, her sprightly tone intact.

She may be slower, but she’s still in the race.

Luise Easton poses with some of her triathlon medals at her home. Despite issues with her heart, she’s still planning to keep up with her training.

Lisa DeJong/Cleveland Clinic

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Lisa DeJong/Cleveland Clinic

6 tips to stay active and healthy

If you want to emulate Easton, here are tips to stay active and healthy as you age:

Find a workout buddy: “I don’t like to workout alone,” Easton says. Over the years, depending on the activity, she has participated in group training, or found a friend to train with. She’s also hired trainers to help her compete. If that’s not in your budget, find a local cycling or running group. Training with other people can help you stick with it.

Set a specific movement goal: Easton was motivated by the allure of competing in Ibiza. It’s easier to get through a winter training in Cleveland, if you’re imagining the dreamy blue waters of the Mediterranean, rolling hills with scents of pine and olive groves. Having a specific date and event helps you organize around that goal.

Maintain a flexible approach: It’s important to stay positive and optimistic. “A lot of it is mindset, discipline, self-motivation and drive,” despite the inevitable challenges of aging, says Singh. Older athletes can be successful she says, in part because they bring more life experience in overcoming obstacles. Just as Eaton now walks instead of running, it’s important to pivot and adjust when you can no longer compete at the same level.

Use wearables to track progress: From Apple Watch to Oura Rings, there’s lots of ways to peer inside your body, to track measures such as sleep, exercise and heart rate variability, which is a window into how well you’re handling stress. “Wearables give you personal feedback about how you’re sleeping, how you’re moving, what your heart rate variability is,” says Maizes. “These can be really useful tools.”

Keep up with preventive screenings: Many people ignore warning signs because they lack access to quality health care or are hesitant to see doctors. The fragmented U.S. health care system is often called “disease care” since the model has been predicated on providers being paid to make sick people better, rather than keep them well.

But there are many preventive tests that the Affordable Care Act mandates for coverage, typically with no out-of-pocket costs. And it’s worth staying up to date on these, says Maizes. They include cancer screenings, blood-pressure, cholesterol and mental health screenings, as well as counseling for people with diet-related diseases.

Consider more specialized testing: Maizes recommends that people at risk of heart disease consider options for more comprehensive cardiac screening, including tests, taken from blood samples, that measure apoB and lipoprotein(a), which can provide a more detailed assessment of cardiovascular risk, inflammation, and metabolic health. These tests will require out-of-pocket payment, typically beyond what insurance may cover.

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