Update on Infectious Disease Threats: What You Need to Know
Information about various infectious diseases is constantly evolving. I am hoping to summarize some of that in these newsletters. New information will be in BOLD.
COVID-19
General Information
The CDC released data showing that "COVID vaccine administered last fall sharply decreased the risk of emergency department and urgent care visits in children." (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report). The risk decreased by 76% in kinds under age 4, and by 56% for kids aged 5 to 17.
I know that it sometimes seems that the COVID-19 vaccines don't work, as we seem to get infected despite being vaccinated! Well, a new study (Open Forum Infectious Diseases) found that being vaccinated decreased your likelihood of ending up in urgent care or in the emergency department. This data is from September, 2024 to April, 2025. Similarly, an article in JAMA Network Open showed that vaccines protected you against severe outcomes of COVID-19, especially in seniors. Vaccinated people were 73% less likely to end up on a ventilator for infection with the virus if they had been vaccinated.
Covid-19 is certainly much less of a killer than it was in 2020 or 2021. Thank goodness for that! At the same time, in the 2023-2024 period, 879,000 people were hospitalized with the infection and more than 100,000 people died. More than 80% of the people who died and 67% of the people who were hospitalized were 65 or older. (Jama Internal Medicine).
Other Infectious Diseases:
FLU:
Although the current flu vaccines was not formulated to include the new strain H3N2, it should still lessen the severity of influenza if you do get it.
Unfortunately, the number of kids dying of influenza has steadily doubled each week in recent past. At this time, 52 kids were reported to the CDC as having died of influenza this season. Overall, 9,300 people have died of influenza overall and 230,000 people have been hospitalized, according to the CDC. On many measures, this is the worst flu season we have seen in 15 years.
RSV:
A recent study found that Pfizer's RSV vaccine is more than 90% effective in older adults in preventing the disease (Clinical Infectious Diseases).
MEASLES:
Before the measles vaccine became available in 1963, 3 to 4 million people in the U.S. were infected with measles each year, 48,000 ended up in the hospital, 400-500 died.
There is NO scientific evidence that measles vaccines lead to autism, cancer, or heart disease.
We are continuing to see more measles in the U.S. There were over 2000 recorded cases in 2025, which is the highest level in over 30 years. In 2024, the U.S. had only 285 cases. Of those who were sickened by the disease, 93% were unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status. California had only 25 cases overall.
South Carolina currently has one of the worst outbreaks in the nation and has sickened over 973 people. This is more people than those who were found to have measles in the recent outbreak in Texas. Of those infected, the vast majority were not fully vaccinated or had unknown vaccination status.
26 other states are seeing measles cases also.
Sadly, California also has an outbreak of measles: a number of different counties are involved (including San Mateo). At this time, there have been 17 cases since the beginning of the year (2 months!). As a comparison, in 2023 there were 4 cases; in 2024, 15 cases; in 2025: 25 cases....
OTHER MEDICAL NEWS:
Good news! The U.S. life expectancy is now higher than ever in the past at 79 years! This is especially wonderful, as it had dropped to 76.5 during the pandemic. We're back! (The bad news: the U.S. still rank lower than dozens of other countries...).
A new study shows that gout medications can help also decrease your likelihood of heart attacks and strokes - in addition to reducing gout-related joint damage (JAMA Internal Medicine).
OK, so BEWARE!: a recent article (JAMA Network Open) looked at online health information videos produced by "health professionals" and found that fewer than 20% had high quality back up of their medical claims. That's sad. Even worse, there are plenty of social media posts seemingly by respected doctors that are fake and generated by AI! Who can you trust these days? I recommend you stick with the information from nerds who may not be flashy but can substantiate their opinions.
A recent article in Nature Medicine looked at the health advice rendered by A.I. chatbots. It seems the chatbots were no better than Google, which is known to have flawed health information. So, please!, feel free to contact me with questions. Chatbots are NOT ready for prime time medical care!
I was happy to see that small changes in lifestyle can have a big impact on health (eClinical Medicine): even 5 extra minutes of exercise a day can increase your lifespan...and even more so if we incorporate positive changes in sleep and nutrition.
Finally, a study published in Neurology found that lifelong learning (writing, reading, going to museums) can decrease your likelihood of developing Alzheimer's in your later years.
About Dr. Sujansky's Life in These Times
All is well on the home front. I finished a new knitting project (see below) and I'm now starting a shawl for my sister. For me, learning how to knit was one of the best things that came out of the pandemic.
I spent the President's Day weekend in Florida, enjoying some quality time with my sister and mother...and watching a lot of Olympics! That was fun! I have so much appreciation for the athletes, every one of who has put so much time and effort and pain in perfecting their craft. Can you just imagine how many sacrifices they had to make to get as far as they did? I tip my hat to them!
