YCLOAK

NEW YORK — A new study shows that bird flu has silently spread from animals to some veterinarians.

The study published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention echoes two smaller ones that detected evidence of infection in previously undiagnosed farmworkers. In those studies, several of the infected workers remembered having symptoms of H5N1 bird flu, while none of the veterinarians in the new paper recalled any such symptoms.

The new study is more evidence that the official U.S. tally of confirmed human bird flu infections — 68 in the last year — is likely a significant undercount, said Dr. Gregory Gray, an infectious-disease researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

“This means that people are being infected, likely due to their occupational exposures, and not developing signs of illness and therefore not seeking medical care,” Gray said.

He said it shows that officials cannot fully understand bird flu transmission by only tracking people who go to medical clinics with symptoms.

Evidence of antibodies

CDC researchers went to an American Association of Bovine Practitioners veterinary conference in September 2024 in Columbus, Ohio. They recruited 150 vets from 46 states to fill out a questionnaire and agree to have their blood drawn. None said they had suffered red eyes or other symptoms associated with bird flu.

Testing found three of the vets, or 2%, had evidence of antibodies to H5N1 infection. All three worked with dairy cattle, as well as other animals. None had worked with a herd known to be infected, although one had worked with a flock of infected poultry.

Gray and some colleagues did a study last year of 14 dairy farmworkers and found that two, or 14%, had evidence of past infections. Both had experienced symptoms but were never diagnosed.

Another study published last year by the CDC checked 115 dairy workers. The researchers found that eight of them, or 7%, had evidence in their blood of recent infection. Half recalled feeling ill.

The studies were far too small to use as a basis to provide a solid estimate of how many undiagnosed human infections are out there, Gray said. But even just a very small percentage could translate to hundreds or thousands of Americans who were infected while working with animals, he noted.

That’s not necessarily a reason to be alarmed, said Jacqueline Nolting, an Ohio State University researcher who helped CDC with the latest study.

Available studies suggest people who are infected mount antibody responses and may develop natural immunity, which is “good news,” she said.

However, if the virus changes or mutates to start making people very sick, or to start spreading easily from person to person, that would be “a completely different story,” Nolting said.

Caution around sick birds 

The H5N1 bird flu has been spreading widely among wild birds, poultry, cows and other animals. Its escalating presence in the environment increases the chances people will be exposed and potentially catch it, officials have said.

Right now, the risk to the public is low, the CDC says. But officials continue to urge people who have contact with sick or dead birds to take precautions, including wearing respiratory and eye protection and gloves when handling poultry.

“No one’s really questioning that the virus has been moving around the country more than has been reported,” said Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. 

He said he expected to see stepped-up information reminding veterinarians across the country to protect themselves with gloves, masks and other equipment to halt infection.
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as President Donald Trump’s health secretary, putting the prominent vaccine skeptic in control of $1.7 trillion in federal spending, vaccine recommendations and food safety as well as health insurance programs for roughly half the country.

Republicans fell in line behind Trump despite hesitancy over Kennedy’s views on vaccines, voting 52-48 to elevate the scion of one of America’s most storied political — and Democratic — families to secretary of the Health and Human Services Department.

Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, who had polio as a child, was the only “no” vote among Republicans, mirroring his stands against Trump’s picks for the Pentagon chief and director of national intelligence. All Democrats opposed Kennedy.

The GOP has largely embraced Kennedy’s vision to “Make America Healthy Again” by directing the public health agencies to focus on chronic diseases such as obesity.

Kennedy, 71, whose name and family tragedies have put him in the national spotlight since he was a child, has earned a formidable following with his populist and sometimes extreme views on food, chemicals and vaccines.

His audience only grew during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Kennedy devoted much of his time to a nonprofit that sued vaccine makers and harnessed social media campaigns to erode trust in vaccines as well as the government agencies that promote them.

With Trump’s backing, Kennedy insisted he was “uniquely positioned” to revive trust in those public health agencies, which include the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes for Health.

Last week, Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican, said he hoped Kennedy “goes wild” in reining in health care costs and improving Americans’ health. But before agreeing to support Kennedy, potential holdout Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican a doctor who leads the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, required assurances that Kennedy would not make changes to existing vaccine recommendations.

During Senate hearings, Democrats tried to prod Kennedy to deny a long-discredited theory that vaccines cause autism. Some lawmakers also raised alarms about Kennedy financially benefiting from changing vaccine guidelines or weakening federal lawsuit protections against vaccine makers.

Kennedy made more than $850,000 last year from an arrangement referring clients to a law firm that has sued the makers of Gardasil, a human papillomavirus vaccine that protects against cervical cancer. If confirmed as health secretary, he promised to reroute fees collected from the arrangement to his son.

Kennedy will take over the agency amid a massive federal government shakeup, led by billionaire Elon Musk, that has shut off — even if temporarily — billions of taxpayer dollars in public health funding and left thousands of federal workers unsure about their jobs.

On Friday, the NIH announced it would cap billions of dollars for medical research given to universities and hospitals to develop treatments for diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s.

Kennedy, too, has called for a staffing overhaul at the NIH, FDA and CDC. Last year, he promised to fire 600 employees at the NIH, the nation’s largest funder of biomedical research.
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LONDON — Work to give 21st-century London yet another skyscraper has uncovered traces — in fact chunks — of the city’s origins almost 2,000 years ago. 

Archaeologists exploring the site of a planned 32-story office tower announced Thursday that they have unearthed the remains of a Roman basilica that once stood at the heart of the city known as Londinium. 

Excavations in the basement of a building slated to be demolished for the tower at 85 Gracechurch St. uncovered flint, brick and ragstone walls and foundations, up to 1 meter (over 3 feet) wide, 4 meters (13 feet) deep and two millennia old. 

Sophie Jackson of Museum of London Archaeology called it “one of the most significant discoveries” in years in London’s oldest quarter, the City – the square-mile financial district where modern glass high-rises stand atop the remnants of Victorian, medieval and even earlier structures. 

What’s been uncovered are the foundations of a two-story building, almost as big as an Olympic swimming pool. It was constructed between 78 and 84 A.D., about three decades after Roman troops invaded Britain and some 20 years after forces of the Celtic warrior queen Boudicca sacked the fledgling settlement. 

The basilica was part of the forum — the social, political and commercial heart of Roman London — where people went to shop, mingle, seek justice and hear the latest edicts from political leaders. The newly discovered remains are believed to form part of the tribunal, a raised area of the forum where politicians and officials made decisions about the city’s governance. 

It’s the “beating heart of the city,” said Andrew Henderson-Schwartz, head of public impact at Museum of London Archaeology. “It kind of towers above the city. And so it’s a real symbol of Roman power and authority. 

“We’re talking about the early stages of London here, but it’s a real sign of investment in the city, even in its early infancy,” he said. 

Developer Hertshten Properties, which owns the site and has planning permission for a new office tower, has agreed to incorporate the remains into its plans and put them on display in a visitor center. 

Henderson-Schwartz said the extent of the “absolutely massive” foundations discovered in several test pits suggests an “extraordinary” level of preservation. 

Further digging could answer intriguing questions, including why the original forum was only used for 20 years before being replaced by a much larger one, which remained in use until the collapse of Roman rule in Britain three centuries later. Items such as writing tablets, styluses, and even ancient trash could give glimpses into the daily lives of Roman Londoners. 

Property developers in Britain routinely have to consult archaeologists as part of their planning process, a practice that has uncovered finds from Saxon jewelry to medieval ice skates to the skeletons of 14th-century plague victims. 

The latest discovery adds to the scant traces of Roman London that can be seen around the city, including a section of ancient wall, a portion of amphitheater beneath the Guildhall and a temple to the god Mithras which lies incongruously under the modern headquarters of information company Bloomberg. 

“We do have these little windows into Roman London that are all over the city,” Henderson-Schwartz said. “But this is really in some ways the site that connects them all together. This is the heart of Rome in London, where all the decisions were made.” 
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The New York State Department of Health on Tuesday confirmed its first case of the new mpox strain, adding to the global concerns over the spread of the little-known variant.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were three confirmed cases in the country — in California, Georgia and New Hampshire — caused by the clade Ib strain. The agency said the three cases were not linked.

The World Health Organization declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years in August, following an outbreak of the viral infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has spread to neighboring countries.

The New York State Department of Health declined to provide further information on the case.
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FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA — Scientists have long suspected that Mexican long-nosed bats migrate through southeastern Arizona, but without capturing and measuring the night-flying creatures, proof has been elusive. 

Researchers say they now have a way to tell the endangered species apart from other bats by analyzing saliva the nocturnal mammals leave behind when sipping nectar from plants and residential hummingbird feeders. 

Bat Conservation International, a nonprofit group working to end the extinction of bat species worldwide, teamed up with residents from southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico and west Texas for the saliva-swabbing campaign. 

The samples of saliva left along potential migration routes were sent to a lab at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where researchers looked for environmental DNA — or eDNA — to confirm that the bats cycle through Arizona and consider the region their part-time home. 

The Mexican long-nosed bat has been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act since 1988, and is the only one in Arizona with that federal protection. It is an important species for pollinating cactus, agave and other desert plants. 

Officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Arizona Game and Fish Department announced the discovery in late January. While expanding Arizona’s list of bat species to 29 is exciting, wildlife managers say the use of this novel, noninvasive method to nail it down also deserves to be celebrated. 

“If we were trying to identify the species in the absence of eDNA, biologists could spend hours and hours trying to catch one of these bats, and even then, you’re not guaranteed to be successful,” said Angie McIntire, a bat specialist for the Arizona’s Game and Fish Department. “By sampling the environment, eDNA gives us an additional tool for our toolkit.” 

Every spring, Mexican long-nosed bats traverse a lengthy migratory path north from Mexico into the southwestern U.S., following the sweet nectar of their favorite blooming plants like breadcrumbs. They return along the same route in the fall. 

The bat conservation group recruited ordinary citizens for the mission, giving them kits to swab samples from bird feeders throughout the summer and fall. 

Inside the university lab, microbiology major Anna Riley extracted the DNA from hundreds of samples and ran them through machines that ultimately could detect the presence of bats. Part of the work involved a steady hand, with Riley using a syringe of sorts to transfer diluted DNA into tiny vials before popping them into a centrifuge. 

Sample after sample, vial after vial, the meticulous work took months. 

“There’s a big database that has DNA sequences of not every animal but most species, and so we could compare our DNA sequences we got from these samples to what’s in the database,” Riley said. “A little bit like a Google search — you’ve got your question, you’re asking Google, you plug it into the database, and it turns up you’ve got a bat, and you have this kind of bat.” 

Kristen Lear, of the conservation group, said the collection of eDNA has been used successfully for determining the presence of other kinds of wildlife in various environments, so the group proposed trying it with bats. 

“They do apparently leave behind a lot of spit on these plants and hummingbird feeders,” Lear said.
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Fifteen measles cases — mostly in school-aged children — have been confirmed in a small county in West Texas with one of the highest rates of vaccine exemptions in the state.

South Plains Public Health District Director Zach Holbrooks said Monday that his department was first notified in late January about the first two cases in Gaines County, which he said were “two children who had seen a physician in Lubbock.”

Some of the cases appear to be connected to private religious schools in the district, said Holbrooks, who cautioned that the investigation is ongoing.

“I wouldn’t say they’re all connected, but our teams are looking into exposure sites and the background of those cases,” he said.

Local health officials set up a drive-through vaccination clinic last week and are offering screening services to residents.

The U.S. saw a rise in measles cases in 2024, including an outbreak in Chicago that sickened more than 60. This month, health officials in metro Atlanta are working to contain a measles case that spread to two unvaccinated family members.

Texas law allows children to get an exemption from school vaccines for reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs.

The percentage of kids with exemptions has risen over the last decade from .76% in 2014 to 2.32% last year, according to Texas Department of State Health Services data.

Gaines County has one of the highest rates in Texas of school-aged children who opt out of at least one required vaccine: Nearly 14% of children from kindergarten through grade 12 had an exemption in the 2023-24 school year, which is more than five times the state average of 2.32% and beyond the national rate of 3.3%.

But the number of unvaccinated kids in the county is likely significantly higher, DSHS spokesperson Lara Anton said, because Gaines County has many children who are homeschooled and whose data would not be reported.

The measles, mumps and rubella vaccines are a two-shot series: The first is recommended at 12 to 15 months old and second between 4 to 6 years old. The vaccine is required to attend most public schools in the U.S.

But vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the COVID-19 pandemic and most states are below the 95% vaccination threshold for kindergartners — the level needed to protect communities against measles outbreaks. Lawmakers across the country have proposed various vaccine requirement changes at a time when anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is awaiting confirmation as the secretary of Health and Human Services.

One of the early Gaines County cases traveled to neighboring New Mexico while they were still infectious, Anton said, but there were no immediate reports of infection. New Mexico Department of Health spokesperson Robert Nott said the agency has been in communication with Texas officials but there was no known exposure to measles in his state.

“We’re going to watch this very closely,” Nott said.

Two cases of measles were reported in early January in the Houston area, but Holbrooks said the West Texas cases don’t appear to be connected.

Measles is a highly contagious virus that can survive in the air for up to two hours. Up to 9 out of 10 people who are susceptible will get the virus if exposed, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Before the vaccine was introduced in 1963, the U.S. saw some 3 million to 4 million cases per year. Now, it’s usually fewer than 200 in a normal year.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA — Europe’s Euclid space telescope has detected a rare halo of bright light around a nearby galaxy, astronomers reported Monday. The halo, known as an Einstein ring, encircles a galaxy 590 million light-years away, considered close by cosmic standards.  

A light-year is 5.8 trillion miles. Astronomers have known about this galaxy for more than a century and so were surprised when Euclid revealed the bright glowing ring, reported in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.  

An Einstein ring is light from a much more distant galaxy that bends in such a way as to perfectly encircle a closer object, in this case a well-known galaxy in the constellation Draco.  

The faraway galaxy creating the ring is more than 4 billion light-years away. Gravity distorted the light from this more distant galaxy, thus the name honoring Albert Einstein. The process is known as gravitational lensing.

“All strong lenses are special, because they’re so rare, and they’re incredibly useful scientifically. This one is particularly special, because it’s so close to Earth and the alignment makes it very beautiful,” lead author Conor O’Riordan of Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics said in a statement.

Euclid rocketed from Florida in 2023. NASA is taking part in its mission to detect dark energy and dark matter in the universe.
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PARIS — Nearly all nations missed a UN deadline Monday to submit new targets for slashing carbon emissions, including major economies under pressure to show leadership following the U.S. retreat on climate change.

Just 10 of nearly 200 countries required under the Paris Agreement to deliver fresh climate plans by Feb. 10 did so on time, according to a UN database tracking the submissions.

Under the climate accord, each country is supposed to provide a steeper headline figure for cutting heat-trapping emissions by 2035, and a detailed blueprint for how to achieve this.

Global emissions have been rising but need to almost halve by the end of the decade to limit global warming to levels agreed under the Paris deal.

UN climate chief Simon Stiell has called this latest round of national pledges “the most important policy documents of this century.”

Yet just a handful of major polluters handed in upgraded targets on time, with China, India and the European Union the biggest names on a lengthy absentee list.

Most G20 economies were missing in action with the United States, Britain and Brazil — which is hosting this year’s UN climate summit — the only exceptions.

The US pledge is largely symbolic, made before President Donald Trump ordered Washington out of the Paris deal.

Accountability measure

There is no penalty for submitting late targets, formally titled nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

They are not legally binding but act as an accountability measure to ensure governments are taking the threat of climate change seriously.

Last week, Stiell said submissions would be needed by September so they could be properly assessed before the UN COP30 climate conference in November.

A spokeswoman for the EU said the 27-nation bloc intended to submit its revised targets “well ahead” of the summit in Belem.

Analysts say China, the world’s biggest polluter and also its largest investor in renewable energy, is also expected to unveil its much-anticipated climate plan in the second half of the year.

The United Arab Emirates, Ecuador, Saint Lucia, New Zealand, Andorra, Switzerland and Uruguay rounded out the list of countries that made Monday’s cut-off.

The sluggish response will not ease fears of a possible backslide on climate action as leaders juggle Trump’s return and other competing priorities from budget and security crises to electoral pressure.

Ebony Holland from the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development said the US retreat was “clearly a setback” but there were many reasons for the tepid turnout.

“It’s clear there are some broad geopolitical shifts underway that are proving to be a challenge when it comes to international cooperation, especially on big issues like climate change,” she said.
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Climate change is rapidly altering the Arctic region, creating environmental danger, economic opportunity and geopolitical tension as the world’s major powers scramble to control newly accessible shipping lanes and resource deposits.
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JAKARTA, INDONESIA — Economists are raising concerns about the viability of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s program launched this year to combat child nutrition.

According to an Indonesian Ministry of Health Nutritional Status Study report, 21.6% of children ages 3 and 4 experienced stunting caused by malnutrition in 2022.

The first stage of the Free Nutritious Meal Program, extending through March, is intended to provide around 20 million Indonesian school children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers meals to improve their health and prevent stunting.

The effort was initially projected to cost $28 billion over five years. However, Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan said on Jan. 9 during a meeting on food security that the $4.4 billion budgeted for this year will run out in June and that $8.5 billion more will be requested to fund the program through December.

China, Japan, the United States and India have expressed support for the program, although it is unclear how much money will be provided or what form that support will take. Japan and India have said their help will be in the form of training.

Officials plan to implement the program in stages, eventually reaching 83 million people — more than a quarter of Indonesia’s 280 million population — by 2029, Muhammad Qodari, deputy chief of the presidential staff told reporters on Feb. 3.

The program is part of a long-term strategy to develop the nation’s youth to achieve a “Golden Indonesia” generation, referring to a plan to make Indonesia a sovereign, advanced and prosperous nation by its 2045 centennial.

The program’s cost could make Prabowo politically vulnerable, according to Dinna Prapto Raharja, a professor of international relations at Jakarta’s Bina Nusantara University and a senior policy adviser at Jakarta consulting firm Synergy Policies.

“In order to finance this program, Prabowo has taken steps to implement major cutbacks in his government budget with some ministries seeing 50% cuts,” Dinna said.

“Now he is forced to seek financial assistance from overseas sources.” she told VOA on Jan. 31.

The Finance Ministry said the spending cuts would amount to $18.7 billion, 8% of this fiscal year’s approved spending.

While other nations said they would support the program, officials from the National Nutrition Agency — which manages the program — said internal talks about the level of foreign aid, type of assistance and technical aspects of its implementation have not begun.

Support from China, Japan, US and India

In November, China committed to supporting free nutritious meals but did not pledge a specific amount.

The Chinese Embassy in Jakarta did not respond to VOA requests for further information on the value and form of the assistance. It remains unclear whether China’s financial assistance will be in the form of a loan or grant.

The United States is providing training to Indonesian dairy farmers to support the program, which has increased the demand for locally produced milk. Indonesia, so far, can provide milk only two to three times a week to school children, according to Deddy Fachrudin Kurniawan, CEO of Dairy Pro Indonesia and project leader of U.S. Dairy Export Council training.

Deddy told VOA on Jan. 8 that Indonesia has had to import 84% of its milk in the past, and that demand will double because of the food program.

In January, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced Japan will support the meal program by helping the Indonesian government increase its ability to combat childhood malnutrition.

Ishiba offered Japan’s support by training Indonesian cooks and sending Japanese chefs to assist. Prabowo added that Japan will also assist in improving the fishery and agriculture sectors, based on Japan’s experience.

More recently, India reaffirmed support for the program through the sharing of knowledge of the government’s Food Corporation of India and other institutions with Indonesian officials.

“India shares its experiences in the fields of health and food security, including the [free] lunch scheme and public [service] distribution system to the Indonesia government,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on his YouTube channel on Jan. 25.

Other support and reaction

Other countries have said they support the program. France and Brazil expressed their support on the sidelines of the recent G20 Leaders Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Prabowo instructed his team to arrange a visit of an Indonesian delegation to Brazil to take notes from the South American country’s similar program. France, which has a similar school feeding program, intends to share its expertise and help Indonesia modernize its agricultural sector.

Teuku Rezasyah, an associate professor of international relations at Bandung’s Universitas Padjajaran, noted that India exported 20,000 metric tons of water buffalo meat to Indonesia last year while Brazil exported 100,000 metric tons of beef to Indonesia.

British Deputy Prime Minister Angela Reynar showed similar interest during her meeting with Prabowo in London in November. However, it remains unclear what type of support the U.K will offer.

Mohammad Faisal, executive director of the Center of Reform on Economics, told VOA in Jakarta on Jan. 31 that countries offering support will have their own interests in mind, as well.

“I believe there’s no free lunch,” Faisal said. “The donations may be partly altruistic, but not entirely. Donor countries consider it as strengthening bilateral ties, but they may also expect to reap the benefits in the future, such as enjoying ease of investing in Indonesia through incentives and getting better penetration of export markets as a reward.”

Rezasyah agreed.

“Donor countries are probably hoping Indonesia will import more products from their countries to support this multibillion-dollar supplemental food program,” he said. “On the other hand, they see Indonesia becoming a middle power that could contribute to finding solutions to global affairs.”
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NEW YORK — All live poultry markets in New York City and some of its suburbs were ordered Friday to close for a week after the detection of seven cases of avian flu, which has also hit farms nationwide.

Governor Kathy Hochul said that there was no immediate threat to public health and that the temporary closure of bird markets in the city and its Westchester County and Long Island suburbs came out of an abundance of caution. No cases of avian flu have been detected among humans in New York, officials said. 

The birds infected with the virus were found during routine inspections of live bird markets in the New York City boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said the virus poses low risk to the general public. The agency said there have been 67 confirmed cases of bird flu in humans in the U.S., with illnesses mild and mostly detected among farmworkers who were exposed to sick poultry or sick dairy cows. 

The first bird flu death in the U.S. was reported last month in Louisiana, with health officials saying the person was older than 65, had underlying medical problems and had been in contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock. 

In New York, live bird markets where the virus was detected have to dispose of all poultry in a sanitary manner, according to the state’s order. Other bird markets that do not have cases will have to sell off remaining poultry within three days, clean and disinfect their operations, and then remain closed for at least five days and be inspected by state officials before reopening. 

Ahead of the mandatory disposal order for markets with no cases, employees at La Granja, a halal-certified poultry market in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood, raced to sell the remaining inventory: around 200 live chickens of different varieties, along with turkeys, quail, ducks, roosters, pigeons and rabbits. 

Any remaining animals would be slaughtered and given to employees and longtime customers, according to Jose Fernandez, the owner. 

“We’re going to lose money, for now,” he said. “But the law is the law. They know what they’re doing.” 

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has been spreading among wild birds, poultry, cows and other animals. Officials have urged people who come into contact with sick or dead birds to wear respiratory and eye protection and gloves when handling poultry. 

More than 156 million birds nationwide have been affected by the outbreak, many at large farming operations that have had to slaughter their entire flocks. 

Despite growing attention on the avian flu, New York City’s poultry markets appeared to be doing brisk business Friday. 

Outside the Wallabout Poultry market in Brooklyn, a line of customers took numbers and picked their chickens, which employees snatched from crowded cages, weighing them upside down, before taking them to a back room to be slaughtered. 

“I’m not worried about any bird flu,” said Stan Tara, 42, of Brooklyn, as he purchased a large chicken for $22.50. “It’s the same as you buy from the supermarket. A little more expensive, but at least it’s fresh.” 

Some animal rights groups, meanwhile, questioned the purpose of a state order that allowed the markets to continue selling fowl, rather than shutting them down immediately. 

“The public is going into markets where no one knows if there are outbreaks of avian flu, then taking home dead birds that may or may not be infected,” said Edita Birnkrant, executive director of NYCLASS, which has long raised alarms about conditions within the city’s roughly 70 live animal markets. “It’s ludicrous.” 

U.S. egg prices are likely to remain high past Easter and well into 2025, largely because of avian flu, according to CoBank, a Denver-based provider of loans and other financial services to the agriculture sector. 

The highly contagious virus has affected nearly 100 million egg-laying hens in the U.S. since 2022. 

But CoBank said other factors are also causing supply constraints and driving up prices, such as skyrocketing consumer demand for eggs in recent years. Fast-growing breakfast and brunch chains are also eating up supplies. 
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NEW YORK — The U.S. winter virus season is in full force, and by one measure is the most intense in 15 years.

One indicator of flu activity is the percentage of doctor’s office visits driven by flu-like symptoms. Last week, that number was clearly higher than the peak of any winter flu season since 2009-10, according to data posted Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of course, other viral infections can be mistaken for flu. But COVID-19 appears to be on the decline, according to hospital data and CDC modeling projections. Available data also suggests another respiratory illness, RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, has been fading nationally.

The flu has forced schools to shut down in some states. The Godley Independent School District, a 3,200-student system near Fort Worth, Texas, last week closed for three days after 650 students and 60 staff were out Tuesday.

Jeff Meador, a district spokesman, said most illnesses there have been flu, plus some strep throat. He called it the worst flu season he could remember.

So far this season, the CDC estimates, there have been at least 24 million flu illnesses, 310,000 hospitalizations and 13,000 deaths — including at least 57 children.

Traditionally, flu season peaks around February.

Overall, 43 states reported high or very high flu activity last week. Flu was most intense in the South, Southwest and Western states.

In Rochester, New York, the flu season has been intense but not necessarily worse than at the peak of other years, said Dr. Elizabeth Murray, a pediatric emergency medicine doctor at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

She said there is a lot of flu, but there is also still a lot of RSV and a surprising number of babies with COVID-19.

“All of the respiratory illnesses are around, with a vengeance,” Murray added.

The CDC declined to let an Associated Press reporter speak to an agency flu expert about recent trends. The Trump administration ordered a temporary “pause” on health agency communications and has continued to refuse interview requests that were routinely granted in the past.

U.S. health officials recommend that everyone 6 months and older get an annual flu vaccination.

About 44% of adults got flu shots this winter, the same as last winter. But coverage of children is down, at about 45% this winter. It’s usually around 50%, according to CDC data.

About 23% of U.S. adults were up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations as of late January, up from about 20% at the same point in time the year before. COVID-19 vaccination rates for kids were about the same, at around 12%.

The government has not yet reported its estimates of how well this season’s flu vaccine is working.

Testing results from patients indicate that two strains of seasonal flu are causing the most illnesses: type A H1N1 and H3N2. Health officials are closely watching a third strain — H5N1 bird flu — that has sickened tens of millions of animals and is known to have infected 67 people in the U.S.

To avoid seasonal viruses, doctors say you should avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth because germs can spread that way. You should also wash your hands with soap and water, clean frequently touched surfaces, and avoid close contact with people who are sick.
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JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — Some South African organizations that assist people with HIV are in limbo, after the United States put a 90-day freeze on most foreign aid. The U.S. State Department later added a waiver for “lifesaving” aid, but NGOs that have already shut their doors say the next steps aren’t clear, and they are worried this could set back years of progress.

South Africa has the highest number of HIV-positive people in the world — about 8 million — but has also been a huge success story in terms of treatment and preventing new infections.

That’s largely due to the money poured into expert HIV care here, 17% of which comes from a U.S. program called the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, also known as PEPFAR.

But, a 90-day foreign aid funding freeze is in effect, following an executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump last month to check if U.S.-funded programs overseas are aligned with U.S. policies. This has caused some confusion in South Africa with health care organizations and their patients.

Thamsanqa Siyo, an HIV-positive transgender woman in South Africa, is anxious.

“People are frustrated, they’re living in fear, they don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Siyo. “They don’t know if it’s stopped temporarily or not temporarily.”

The Cape Town clinic that Siyo used to go to has now been closed for two weeks.

While the State Department has issued a waiver to continue paying for “lifesaving” services, what that includes remains unclear to many South African organizations that receive funding from PEPFAR.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that the waiver was clear.

“If it saves lives, if it’s emergency lifesaving aid — food, medicine, whatever — they have a waiver,” said Rubio. “I don’t know how much clearer we can be.”

The State Department also issued written clarification and guidance on February 1 regarding which activities are and are not covered by the waiver for PEPFAR programs.

The South African government said it was blindsided by the U.S. aid freeze, according to Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, who convened a meeting about PEPFAR on Wednesday.

Motsoaledi also said he has sought clarity on the waiver.

“If you say American money cannot be used for LGBTQWI+ and we do the counseling and testing and somebody who falls within that category, transgender, tests positive, can they not be helped?” he asked. “Even if it’s lifesaving?”

Linda-Gail Bekker is a doctor and scientist who heads the Desmond Tutu HIV Center in South Africa.

“This is not one homogenous picture,” said Bekker. “In some places, it’s parts of services that have been stopped. In other places, the whole clinic, if it was supplied by PEPFAR, has been closed down.”

She also said that some transgender health services have been completely closed, and in other areas, counselors haven’t been able to come in.

In addition, she said some services and drugs are no longer available, such as community-based testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis, a medicine that prevents people at high risk from contracting HIV.

Ling Sheperd, who works for Triangle Project, an nongovernmental organization that provides services for the queer community, said there’s a risk of “undoing decades of progress.”

“The impact is devastating,” said Sheperd. “The PEPFAR funding has been a lifeline for millions and it ensures access to HIV treatment, prevention services, and of course community-based health care. And without it we are seeing interruptions in medication supply, clinics are scaling back services, and community health workers have literally been losing their livelihoods.”

About 5.5 million South Africans are on anti-retroviral medication for HIV. Motsoaledi noted that most of that is funded by the government here.

However, he said, a PEPFAR shortfall will affect training, facilities and service delivery. The government said it is working on contingency plans that would reduce dependence on foreign aid in the HIV sector.

On Wednesday, a group of health organizations sent a letter to the South African government saying at least 900,000 patients with HIV were directly affected by the U.S. stop-work orders.
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U.S. dairy cattle tested positive for a strain of bird flu that previously had not been seen in cows, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday, ramping up concerns about the persistent spread of the virus. 

The H5N1 virus has reduced milk output in cattle, pushed up egg prices by wiping out millions of hens, and infected nearly 70 people since April as it has spread across the country. 

Genome sequencing of milk from Nevada identified the different strain, known as the D1.1 genotype, in dairy cows for the first time, the USDA said. Previously, all 957 bird flu infections among dairy herds reported since last March had been caused by another strain, the B3.13 genotype, according to the agency. 

Reuters reported news of the detection of the second strain on Wednesday ahead of USDA’s announcement. 

The second strain was the predominant genotype among wild birds this past fall and winter and has also been found in poultry, the USDA said. It was identified in dairy cattle through an agency program that began testing milk for bird flu in December. 

“We’re seeing the H5N1 virus itself be smarter than all of us,” said Beth Thompson, South Dakota’s state veterinarian.  

“It’s modifying itself so it’s not just staying in the poultry and the wild waterfowl. It’s picking up a home in the mammals.”  

Wild birds likely transmitted the second strain to cattle in Nevada, said J.J. Goicoechea, Nevada’s agriculture director. Farmers need to ramp up safety and security measures to protect their animals, he said. 

“We obviously aren’t doing everything we can and everything we should or the virus wouldn’t be getting in,” he said. 

The Nevada Department of Agriculture said on Jan. 31 that herds in two counties had been placed under quarantine because of bird flu detections.  

It is important for the USDA to contain the outbreak in the state quickly, so the strain does not spread to dairy cattle elsewhere, said Gail Hansen, a veterinary and public health consultant. 

Last year, bird flu spread across the country as infected cattle were shipped from Texas after the virus first leapt to cows from wild birds. 

“We didn’t get a hold on it before,” Hansen said. “We want to avoid that same scenario from happening in Nevada.” 

Dairy herds that were formerly infected may be at risk again from the second strain, experts said. 

“Now it looks like we have new strains of virus that may escape some of the immunity associated with the other strains of viruses that could exacerbate the epidemics among animals and wildlife,” said Gregory Gray, a University of Texas Medical Branch professor studying cattle diseases.  

“It’s alarming.”
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BUENOS AIRES — President Javier Milei has ordered Argentina’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization due to profound differences with the U.N. agency, a presidential spokesperson said Wednesday.

Milei’s action echoes that of his ally, U.S. President Donald Trump, who began the process of pulling the United States out of the WHO with an executive order on his first day back in office on Jan. 21.

Argentina’s decision is based on “profound differences in health management, especially during the [COVID19] pandemic,” spokesperson Manuel Adorni said at a news conference in Buenos Aires. He said that WHO guidelines at the time had led to the largest shutdown “in the history of mankind.”

He also said that the WHO lacked independence because of the political influence of some countries, without elaborating which countries.

Argentina will not allow an international organization to intervene in its sovereignty “and much less in our health,” Adorni said.

The WHO is the United Nations’ specialized health agency and is the only organization mandated to coordinate global responses to acute health crises, particularly outbreaks of new diseases and persistent threats such as Ebola, AIDS and mpox.
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Scientists are testing a novel technique to deter poachers targeting endangered rhinoceroses for their prized horns. As part of a pilot study in South Africa, researchers have injected small, radioactive pellets into the horns of live rhinos. The goal is to make the horns radioactive so there is less demand for them on the black market. Marize de Klerk reports from the UNESCO Waterberg Biosphere Reserve.
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A male nurse in Uganda has died of Ebola, the first recorded death by the disease in the East African country since an outbreak ended in 2023, health officials said.

The 32-year-old nurse worked at Mulago National Specialised Hospital in Kampala, Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of Uganda’s health ministry, said Thursday.

The nurse died Wednesday of the Sudan strain of Ebola, Atwine said.

He sought treatment at several hospitals and had also consulted with a traditional healer before tests confirmed an Ebola diagnosis, health officials said.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X that his organization was supporting Uganda’s efforts to contain an Ebola outbreak in Uganda with a $1 million allocation from WHO’s Contingency Fund for Emergencies.

Atwine said on her X social media account that “rapid response teams are fully deployed, contact tracing is underway, and all necessary measures are in place to contain the situation. We assure the public that we are in full control.”

Contact tracing, however, could be challenging in Kampala, with its population of 4 million people.

The health ministry, however, reported that it had identified 44 contacts of the late nurse, which included 30 other health care workers.

The symptoms of Ebola, an often fatal disease, include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain, and at times internal and external bleeding.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health care workers and family members caring for someone with Ebola are at high risk for contracting the disease.

WHO said Ebola “is transmitted to people from wild animals (such as fruit bats, porcupines and non-human primates) and then spreads in the human population through direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g., bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.”

Ebola’s fatality rate is around 50%, WHO said on its website, but it also said that fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90% in some outbreaks.
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WASHINGTON — Federal officials on Thursday approved a new type of pain pill designed to eliminate the risks of addiction and overdose associated with opioid medications like Vicodin and OxyContin.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it approved Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Journavx for short-term pain that often follows surgery or injuries.

It’s the first new pharmaceutical approach to treating pain in more than 20 years, offering an alternative to both opioids and over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen and acetaminophen. But the medication’s modest effectiveness and lengthy development process underscore the challenges of finding new ways to manage pain.

Studies in more than 870 patients with acute pain because of foot and abdominal surgeries showed Vertex’s drug provided more relief than a dummy pill but didn’t outperform a common opioid-acetaminophen combination pill.

“It’s not a slam dunk on effectiveness,” said Michael Schuh of the Mayo Clinic, a pharmacist and pain medicine expert who was not involved in the research. “But it is a slam dunk in that it’s a very different pathway and mechanism of action. So, I think that shows a lot of promise.”

The new drug will carry a list price of $15.50 per pill, making it many times more expensive than comparable opioids, which are often available as generics for $1 or less.

Vertex began researching the drug in the 2000s, when overdoses were rocketing upward, principally driven by mass prescribing of opioid painkillers for common ailments like arthritis and back pain. Prescriptions have fallen sharply in the last decade and the current wave of the opioid epidemic is mainly due to illicit fentanyl, not pharmaceutical medicines.

Opioids reduce pain by binding to receptors in the brain that receive nerve signals from different parts of the body. Those chemical interactions also give rise to opioids’ addictive effects.

Vertex’s drug works differently, blocking proteins that trigger pain signals that are later sent to the brain.

“In trying to develop medicines that don’t have the addictive risks of opioid medicines, a key factor is working to block pain signaling before it gets to the brain,” Vertex’s Dr. David Altshuler, told The Associated Press last year.

Commonly reported side effects with the drug were nausea, constipation, itching, rash and headache.

“The new medication has side effect profiles that are inherently, not only different, but don’t involve the risk of substance abuse and other key side effects associated with opioids,” said Dr. Charles Argoff of the Albany Medical Center, who consulted for Vertex on the drug’s development.

The initial concept to focus on pain-signaling proteins came out of research involving people with a rare hereditary condition that causes insensitivity to pain.
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WASHINGTON — A key Republican senator on Thursday said he was struggling with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination by President Donald Trump to run the top U.S. health agency, saying he had reservations about the nominee’s “misleading arguments” on vaccines.   

“Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,” Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician from Louisiana, told Kennedy. 

“I have been struggling with the nomination,” he said at the end of Thursday’s Senate health committee hearing to consider Kennedy to run the massive Department of Health and Human Services. 

“Does a 70-year-old man … who spent decades criticizing vaccines and who’s 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?” Cassidy said. 

The hearing was the second in two days for Kennedy during which he squared off with Democrats and some Republicans over his past comments on vaccines, abortion and COVID-19 among other topics. 

The Finance Committee, which Kennedy appeared before on Wednesday, has not yet said if it will send Kennedy’s nomination to the full Republican-controlled Senate, which has not rejected any of Trump’s nominees so far. 

A spokesperson for the Finance Committee said a vote could potentially take place next week, but that one had not yet been scheduled.   

Cassidy, who sits on both committees, told Kennedy at the end of Thursday’s hearing that Kennedy would be hearing from him over the weekend, presumably regarding questions he has over the nomination.   

Kennedy’s nomination could fail to move to the Senate for consideration if all Democrats on the Finance Committee voted against him and were joined by Cassidy.   

During wide-ranging questioning on Thursday, Kennedy spoke more confidently than the day prior, adjusting the characterization of previous statements, and saying he would support the U.S. children’s vaccination schedule, research and development for bird flu, and scientific data on vaccine safety. 

Kennedy also said he would address rapidly increasing rates of chronic disease. 

“Our country is not going to be destroyed because we get the marginal tax rate wrong. It is going to be destroyed if we get this issue wrong,” he said of chronic diseases. “And I am in a unique position to be able to stop this epidemic.” 

He was asked about comments he has made over decades, including that it was “highly likely” that Lyme disease was a military bioweapon. He said he never said that it was definitively created in a biolab.   

He would not answer a question from Senator Bernie Sanders about whether he agreed that vaccines do not cause autism. He also said he did not know if the coronavirus vaccine saved millions of lives. 

“If you come out unequivocally, ‘vaccines are safe, it does not cause autism’ that would have an incredible impact,” Cassidy said.   

Kennedy has said vaccines are linked to autism, and he opposed state and federal restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The causes of autism are unclear, though theories that childhood vaccines cause autism have been widely debunked and are contrary to scientific evidence.   

Kennedy, who founded the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, argued during both hearings that he was not against vaccines. The group has sued in state and federal courts over vaccines. 

“News reports and many in the hearing yesterday have claimed that I’m anti-vaccine and anti-industry. Well, I’m neither,” Kennedy said, repeating that his children are vaccinated.   

Thursday’s hearing in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is a courtesy hearing with no vote involved. However, Republican Senators Cassidy, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins sit on the committee, all of whom are seen as potential swing votes against Kennedy. 

Supporters of Kennedy wearing “Make America Healthy Again” hats crowded around the committee hearing room on Thursday, while some opposing his confirmation wore “Reject RFK Jr” stickers on their shirts. 

‘Catastrophic’ impacts   

If confirmed, Kennedy would run HHS, which oversees more than $3 trillion in healthcare spending, including at the Food and Drug Administration and the agency in charge of the Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs covering nearly half of all Americans.   

He said he would follow Trump’s direction on abortion and would hire for his department those who are against abortion rights.   

Kennedy also said gender-affirming care for children has “catastrophic” impacts and that children are not equipped to make judgments about receiving such care. He said he would rescind a Biden-era rule that requires medical providers who receive federal funding to offer gender-affirming care.   

Kennedy said farmers should be offered an off-ramp from chemically intensive agriculture, and that illness in farm communities is “undoubtedly” related to the use of pesticides. Some farm and food groups have expressed concern about Kennedy’s positions on pesticides and food additives.   

Opposition groups have ramped up their efforts to persuade Republican senators to vote against Kennedy. Caroline Kennedy, another member of the storied American political family, on Tuesday urged senators to vote against her cousin’s nomination, calling him a predator with dangerous views on health care. 

Kennedy has also faced scrutiny over his ties to Wisner Baum, a law firm specializing in pharmaceutical drug injury cases. He has an arrangement to earn 10% of fees awarded in contingency cases he refers to the firm, according to a letter Kennedy wrote to an HHS ethics official released last week. 

If confirmed, Kennedy would retain that financial interest in cases that do not directly impact the U.S. government, the letter said.   

If his nomination goes to the full Senate, Kennedy would need the support of at least 50 senators, which would allow Vice President JD Vance to cast another tie-breaking vote to confirm his nomination. 
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Kampala, Uganda — Uganda has confirmed an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in the capital Kampala, with the first confirmed patient dying from the disease on Wednesday, the health ministry said on Thursday.

The patient, a nurse at the Mulago referral hospital in the capital, had initially sought treatment at various facilities, including Mulago after developing fever-like symptoms.

“The patient experienced multi-organ failure and succumbed to the illness at Mulago National Referral Hospital on Jan 29. Post-mortem samples confirmed Sudan Ebola Virus Disease (strain),” the ministry said.

The highly infectious hemorrhagic fever is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids and tissue. Symptoms include headache, vomiting blood, muscle pains and bleeding.

Uganda last suffered an outbreak in late 2022 and that outbreak was declared over on Jan. 11, 2023, after nearly four months in which it struggled to contain the viral infection.

The last outbreak killed 55 of the 143 people infected and the dead included six health workers.
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as the nation’s top health official, faced tough questions from senators Wednesday about his views on vaccinations, COVID-19 and the nation’s health care system. A member of one of America’s most famous political families, Kennedy could face a tough road to confirmation. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.
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WASHINGTON — In a contentious confirmation hearing on his nomination to become the nation’s top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. struggled to answer questions about how he would reform Medicaid or Medicare, the government health care programs used by millions of disabled, poor and older Americans.

Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician and key vote Kennedy needs to win, repeatedly pressed the nominee on Wednesday to share ways he plans to reform Medicaid, a multibillion-dollar taxpayer-funded program that covers health care for about 80 million people, including children. Republicans have said they might need to make deep cuts to Medicaid to fund President Donald Trump’s proposals.

“I don’t have a broad proposal for dismantling the program,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy also inaccurately claimed that Medicaid is fully paid for by the federal government. It’s not; states and federal taxpayers fund it. He also said most Americans have purchased a Medicare Advantage plan, when only about 1 in 10 Americans have.

His misstatements about the program were peppered in between suggestions that he would seek to push privatization of the programs, repeatedly saying that most Americans like private insurance and that they dislike the government-run versions of the programs.

Kennedy is seeking to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, an agency with a $1.7 trillion budget that oversees, among other things, vaccine recommendations, food inspections, hospital oversight, and funding for hundreds of community health clinics.

In sometimes heated exchanges Wednesday, Kennedy denied that he is anti-vaccine. But Kennedy, who pointed out that his children are vaccinated, acknowledged he has asked “uncomfortable questions” about vaccinations. 

“I believe that vaccines play a critical role in health care,” Kennedy told the Senate Finance Committee.

Republicans did not ask Kennedy about his vaccine views during the first hour of the hearing.

But Democrats did, with Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon pointing out that Kennedy has previously claimed there’s “no safe” vaccine, initiating a back-and-forth between him and Kennedy. Wyden also quoted from Kennedy’s books, which say that parents have been “misled” on the measles vaccine.

“You have spent years pushing conflicting stories about vaccines,” Wyden said. 

Over many years, Kennedy has expressed his beliefs about vaccines in dozens of interviews, podcasts and social media posts.

He’s led a nonprofit that has sued the government over its authorizations of vaccines. He has said there is “no vaccine that is safe and effective” and repeatedly has called for further study of routine childhood vaccinations, despite decades of research and real-world use that prove they’ve safely prevented disease.

Republicans focused on questions about agriculture, food and the abortion pill, which many women access via telemedicine systems.

Kennedy tried to assure senators that he would not seek widespread bans on vaccines or food, saying he wants to provide more information to people.

“I don’t want to take food away from anybody,” he said. “If you like a cheeseburger – a McDonald’s cheeseburger and a Diet Coke, like my boss — you should be able to get them.” 

Kennedy hails from one of the nation’s most storied political families and is the son of the late Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy.  

He first challenged President Joe Biden for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination. He then ran as an independent but abandoned his bid over the summer after striking a deal to endorse Trump, a Republican, in exchange for a promise to serve in a health policy role during a second Trump administration.

Trump selected Kennedy in November, shortly after he won the presidential election, saying Kennedy would “end the Chronic Disease epidemic” and “Make America Great and Healthy Again!” With Kennedy being one of the most prominent anti-vaccine activists in the world, his nomination immediately alarmed some public health officials.
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ISLAMABAD — A senior World Health Organization official cautioned Wednesday that the eradication of polio in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the only countries where the paralytic virus persists, is threatened by the suspension of funding from the United States.

In an online news conference, Hanan Balkhy, regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, emphasized the crucial role of U.S. financial contribution to the organization’s surveillance efforts for polio and all other communicable diseases, particularly within her region.

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered an unprecedented 90-day suspension of almost all foreign aid to give his administration the time to evaluate whether to continue funding the numerous humanitarian, development and security programs that receive U.S. assistance.

On his first day back in the White House, Trump announced he was withdrawing the United States from WHO.

His executive order accused the United Nations agency of mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic and other global health crises, as well as failing “to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states.”

Balkhy referred to Trump’s announcement to withdraw from WHO as “very unfortunate” and highlighted that the U.S. has been a “major” supporter of her organization’s work in the Eastern Mediterranean region for decades.

“The U.S. funding was indeed decisive in fighting polio, eradicating polio. Currently, we are in the last round of eradicating polio in the last two countries in the world: Afghanistan and Pakistan,” the Saudi physician said through an interpreter.

“We hope that our collaboration with our partners will enable us to achieve our goal of fully eradicating polio in these countries during this final stage,” she added.

Balkhy emphasized WHO’s dedication to safeguarding the world against the resurgence of polio.

In 2024, Pakistan reported 73 cases of the paralytic poliovirus, while Afghanistan reported 25 cases. Although there have been no additional polio cases in Afghanistan so far, Pakistani officials confirmed the first poliovirus infection of 2025 last week.

Balkhy attributed efforts led by WHO to contain what she described as the “inevitable” spread of polio in Gaza due to the destruction of its sewage and sanitation services.

She stated they are prepared to discuss the reforms the United States plans to propose and carry out necessary internal assessments to help advance the organization’s work.

“Funding shortfalls in 2024 have already led to devastating cuts to lifesaving health operations. We ask for your support in amplifying our message — help us save lives, restore health systems and bring hope to millions,” Balkhy said.
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Russian disinformation narratives about illicit organ harvesting and biological experiments in Ukraine have no basis in fact. Russia intentionally distorts Ukrainian law intended to support vital medical procedures.   
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