Health officials worldwide are keeping tabs on the spread of H5N1 avian flu among mammals — sparking concern about the possibility of animal to human infection.

Receiving a Tdap vaccination during the third trimester of a pregnancy provides protection against whooping cough for the first two months of the baby's life, according to a CDC study published Feb. 6 in JAMA Pediatrics.

The FDA is encouraging people to anonymously report the results of at-home COVID-19 tests to help public health officials better track virus trends.

Carolyn Bridges, MD and Litjen (L.J) Tan, MS, PhD, Immunize.org

An outbreak of measles a few months ago has now been reported to be over, according to Ohio's Columbus City Health Department.

Health officials in Washington state have filed numerous court orders requiring a woman with an active tuberculosis infection to isolate and receive treatment, NBC News reported Jan. 3. 

Up to 56 percent of U.S. adults received inappropriate antibiotics for common bacterial respiratory infections between 2016 and 2018, according to findings from researchers at Washington University in St. Louis. 

Research released Feb. 2 and led by experts from Boston Children's Hospital examined the widespread barrier of vaccine deserts, defined as geographic areas that are "more than a 15-minute drive to the closest active COVID-19 vaccination site."

Just 2 percent of more than 69,000 specimens tested for influenza at clinical laboratories in the U.S. were positive for the week ending Jan. 28, according to the CDC's latest FluView report. During the height of the flu outbreak in early December, the positivity rate surpassed 25 percent. 

The highly infectious mpox virus, formerly called monkeypox, was declared a public health emergency in August and ended Jan. 31 thanks to an aggressive, highly coordinated public response, ABC News reported Feb. 2.

COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to fall nationwide, though several states have seen this trend reverse in recent days. 

Long COVID-19's myriad risk factors and symptoms have been a key focus for study as experts aim to learn more about the effects and duration in humans. Now, emerging research may have narrowed the swath of symptoms to seven prominent conditions.

With the Biden administration's plan to end the COVID-19 emergency declaration this coming May, the coronavirus — in some ways — shows signs of slowing, at least for now. It's likely to become something U.S. health officials treat similarly to the flu, experts say.

The CDC said a brand of over-the-counter eye drops may be linked to a bacterial infection that has killed one, left three blind in at least one eye and sickened eight more, NBC News reported Jan. 31.

The national public health emergency declared over the mpox outbreak, which started last year and infected more than 30,000 Americans, is ending Jan. 31.

Three years into the pandemic and 80 percent of U.S. counties are still without a single infectious disease expert, according to a report from the Infectious Disease Society of America released in September.

Countries are underprepared for the next pandemic, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said Jan. 30. 

Valley fever, or coccidioidomycosis, a fungal infection thought to be endemic in the Southwestern U.S., is spreading outside the region and could become endemic in many parts of the U.S. by 2095, NBC News reported Jan. 31.

On Jan. 27, a National Institutes of Health panel unanimously voted in favor of draft recommendations to boost oversight of pathogen research. It is now up to the White House to decide whether to adopt the recommendations, according to a report from The New York Times. 

The Biden administration aims to expand access to free birth control under the Affordable Care Act through a proposed rule issued Jan. 30.