Weekly Health Digest: Measles Outbreaks, Antibiotic Resistance, Testing Drugs During Pregnancy

More Than 100 Cases of Measles Reported in Utah and Arizona

          By Teddy Rosenbluth, The New York Times

A measles outbreak in Utah and Arizona has infected over 100 people, making it the second largest incidence this year in the United States. The outbreak follows the trend of outbreaks in the southwest with Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma having more than 880 cases. These cases are different because in the past, the majority of cases were confined to rural areas where many children are not vaccinated for measles, mumps, and rubella.

The current outbreak in Utah and Arizona is breaking patterns as the virus is not staying contained and is spreading to other communities. Epidemiologists suspect that anti-vaccination sentiments are one key issue in newer outbreaks. These sentiments lead to lower vaccination rates and more frequent and sustained outbreaks. 

— by Laniah Bowdery

Resistant Bacteria Are Advancing Faster Than Antibiotics

By Fernanda González, WIRED

Bacteria are evolving faster than scientists can develop effective antibiotics. According to a report by the World Health Organization, antibiotic resistance is increasing at a rate of about 10% per year. This report also noted pathogens like E. coli and K. pneumoniae are becoming increasingly difficult to treat with common antibiotics. 

According to the Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance, this problem is one of the top 10 threats to humanity. Addressing antibiotic resistance requires more responsible antibiotic use, better geographic coverage, and greater cooperation in sharing surveillance data to track progress. In addition, scientists need to have better systems of preventing, diagnosing, and treating infections. 

Next-generation antibiotics and more efficient molecular tests are potential solutions to this problem. Unfortunately, antimicrobial resistance is a global problem that requires more than just a single scientific innovation. Ultimately, getting ahead of bacterial evolution requires a unified global effort. 

— by Harrison Luba

According to the WHO’s Global Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance Report, antibiotic resistance has increased by 40 percent between 2018 and 2023, creating a global health threat. WHO collected data from over 100 countries that revealed one in six bacterial infections in 2023 resisted antibiotic treatment.

The report examined eight major pathogens which shared a similar membrane structure that made them resistant to drugs, presenting these strains as the biggest threats. These bacteria are resistant to drugs that treat urinary tract infections, bloodstream infections, and gastrointestinal conditions. Other bacteria are developing resistance to “last-resort” antibiotics which limits treatments options and disproportionately affects low and middle income countries.

Antimicrobial resistance is outpacing medical research, which causes antibiotic treatment to rely mostly on proper antibiotic use and expanding access to effective medicines and vaccines. This data has shown that an urgent call to action is needed globally, especially in Southeast Asia, Mediterranean, and African countries where the resistance rates are at its highest. Without global intervention, the InterAgency Coordination group predicts that drug-resistant infections could cause over 10 million deaths annually by 2050, so it is important for innovation in antibiotics and diagnostic tools.

— by Victoria Charles

Why We Know So Little About What Medications Are Safe for Pregnancy

By Tanya Lewis, Scientific American

Experts and FDA task forces have recently emphasized the necessity to perform observational trials among 90 percent of women, who already take one or more drugs, and to also include pregnant women.

In the case of recent claims about Tylenol and SSRI’s, these drugs have actually been studied extensively with enough evidence for committee guidelines to uphold their safety. However, this is not the case for the majority of commonly taken drugs in pregnancy nor for drugs currently in development. In reality, less than 1 percent of drug trials between 2008 and 2023 intentionally included the pregnant population. Researchers say that this needs to change.

This lack of representation in research is largely due to the historical precedent set after the thalidomide tragedy in the mid 1900s. Since then, pregnant people have been essentially barred from drug trials. The problem is that, often, these drugs can benefit this population to a far greater extent than the harm that could be done in a drug trial.

Picture a theoretical drug that prevents infection from the flu. Drug developers decide to not include a small cohort of pregnant women in trials despite lack of a known mechanism of harm from the drug and preclinical data showing its safety in pregnant animals. Without inclusion in the trial, millions of pregnant people are unable to take the drug to prevent flu during pregnancy. The net effect, then, is that thousands of women per year suffer preventable pregnancy-terminating fever.

Thankfully, common scientific understanding is shifting by “thinking less about protecting pregnant women from research and instead [thinking] about the benefits of protecting people through research.”

— by Jackson Bartelt

Items summarized by: Laniah Bowdery, Harrison Luba, Jackson Bartelt, Victoria Charles