The hottest Epidemiology Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Health & Wellness Topics

Is Seed Oil Intake Correlated With Bad Health?

Cremieux Recueil • 332 implied HN points • 25 Mar 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Epidemiology
  1. Higher seed oil intake (measured by linoleic acid) is not linked to worse health and is associated with lower long‑term mortality and better markers like lower inflammation and healthier lipids.
  2. Most anti‑seed‑oil arguments rely on mechanistic, animal, or cherry‑picked evidence and are inconsistent; high‑quality human studies and trials don’t support the claim that seed oils are harmful.
  3. Using stronger methods and measurements (plasma biomarkers, propensity matching, doubly‑robust estimation) removes signals of harm and fails to confirm mechanistic worries like raised arachidonic acid, oxidative damage, vitamin E depletion, or clotting—while saturated fat shows worse associations.

Glyphosate: A story of science, risk, and nuance

Your Local Epidemiologist • 1478 implied HN points • 25 Mar 26
🔬 Science Epidemiology
  1. Glyphosate is the world’s most used herbicide, and whether it is harmful depends on the dose and how much someone is actually exposed to.
  2. The science is mixed: very high doses cause cancer in animals, some human studies link heavy occupational exposure to higher risks (including signals for non‑Hodgkin lymphoma), but typical consumer exposures are much lower and the overall population risk remains uncertain.
  3. For everyday life, food residues are generally tiny and not a reason to panic, but farm workers and people living near sprayed fields face higher exposures and should use protective gear and community measures like buffer zones.

Goodbye flu season, hello Spring bugs, like norovirus, polio travel headlines, and breakthrough measles cases.

Your Local Epidemiologist • 1147 implied HN points • 24 Mar 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Epidemiology
  1. Flu season is winding down, but spring brings other bugs like common colds, RSV, and norovirus, so expect more sniffles and stomach bugs; wash hands with soap and water (hand sanitizer may not stop norovirus) and isolate if you’re sick.
  2. Polio headlines were overstated — the CDC’s global polio notice is informational, not a travel ban, and most travelers don’t need a booster; consider one only if you’ll have prolonged close contact in a place with recent detections and check with your doctor.
  3. MMR vaccines are highly effective at preventing severe measles, but breakthrough infections can occur with high exposure and are usually milder; also watch for safety alerts and recalls, including specific lots of children’s ibuprofen and Raw Farm raw cheddar linked to E. coli.

Is It Possible to Be Healthy at Every Size?

Cremieux Recueil • 253 implied HN points • 24 Mar 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Epidemiology
  1. Some people are labeled "metabolically healthy obese," but that category is defined inconsistently and applies to only a small share of people with obesity, mostly those with milder excess weight.
  2. Metabolically healthy obesity is often temporary — many people transition to metabolically unhealthy obesity over years, and even while 'healthy' they still face higher risks of diabetes, heart disease, and death than metabolically healthy lean people.
  3. Excess fat causes many harms beyond the metabolic markers (worse blood sugar control, visceral fat effects, cancer risk, sleep apnea, liver and joint damage, reproductive and inflammatory problems, and social harms), so the idea that people can be healthy at every size is not supported by the evidence.

Covid-19 six years later

Your Local Epidemiologist • 2896 implied HN points • 19 Mar 26
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. Covid-19 is much less deadly than early in the pandemic and now behaves more like seasonal respiratory viruses, with smaller waves and two annual peaks, but it still causes hospitalizations especially in older adults and infants.
  2. Vaccines and treatments still cut the risk of severe illness, but protection wanes, vaccine uptake is falling, and guidance (especially about extra doses for older adults) is unclear, while cost and access barriers limit effective care.
  3. The biggest ongoing problem is eroding trust and a weakened public health system: many key questions remain unanswered (like long Covid and which interventions truly worked), so transparency, better data, and system reforms are urgently needed.
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The Flawed V02 Max Craze

Ground Truths • 14084 implied HN points • 23 Feb 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Epidemiology
  1. Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and VO2max are not the same: CRF is estimated in METs from real-world or treadmill tests, while true VO2max requires a lab gas-exchange test and smartwatch VO2 estimates are indirect and often inaccurate.
  2. Nearly all the evidence linking fitness to lower all-cause and cardiovascular mortality is based on CRF/METs, with about a 14–15% reduction in mortality risk per 1-MET improvement, not on wearable or routinely measured VO2max.
  3. For most people, don’t obsess over smartwatch VO2 numbers; prioritize increasing real-world activity, improving METs and muscle strength, and reserve lab VO2max testing for elite athletes or specific clinical cases, since AI and apps can amplify misleading wearable data.

Excess deaths in Australia cannot be explained by any other mechanism other than the COVID shots

Steve Kirsch's newsletter • 4 implied HN points • 13 Mar 26
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. A statistical analysis of several Australian regions found excess deaths began right after COVID vaccine rollouts, and the timing and age patterns are said to not match the official explanations.
  2. Analyses of other national records claim there was no clear mortality or hospitalization benefit from the vaccines, and frailty-matched comparisons reportedly show similar death rates for vaccinated and unvaccinated groups.
  3. Public health authorities and official reports largely avoided treating vaccines as a possible cause or quantifying lives saved or lost, while only a few officials publicly raised these concerns.

What are the Influenza Vaccine Risks?

Who is Robert Malone • 10 implied HN points • 23 Mar 26
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. Vaccine risks and benefits are not the same for everyone — they vary a lot by age, vaccine formulation, whether other shots are given at the same visit, and the type of flu season; older and high‑risk people get clear net benefit while healthy younger adults and some children often see much smaller gains.
  2. Serious adverse events are rare but real: anaphylaxis occurs on the order of 1.35–1.6 cases per million doses, Guillain‑Barré syndrome about 1–2 per million, and febrile seizures are measurably increased in young children, especially when the flu shot is co‑administered with PCV13 and DTaP (these seizures are usually brief and benign).
  3. Policy and communication should reflect the nuance and data limits — NNV versus NNH calculations strongly favor vaccination for older adults but are less decisive for low‑risk groups, surveillance systems have known biases, and one‑size‑fits‑all mandates or generic counseling miss important individual considerations.

Unlocking a Taxpayer-Funded Dataset

Cremieux Recueil • 465 implied HN points • 19 Mar 26
🔬 Science Epidemiology
  1. The National Collaborative Perinatal Project was fully digitized and modernized into a public, searchable dataset with precomputed variables and kinship links, enabling sibling- and cousin-based analyses; the data and code are openly available for researchers to use.
  2. Analyses support a real general intelligence factor (g) that is strongly linked to genetic influences, with little evidence that aggregate gene–environment interactions matter, though shared environment contributes more to verbal and academic subtests.
  3. Within-family tests show breastfeeding has no clear effect on IQ and socioeconomic effects on IQ are much smaller than cross-sectional estimates; the Black–White IQ gap at age seven is estimated to be largely genetic (~65–69% of the common variance) and brain size correlates with IQ but is largely explained by IQ.

BMC Women's Health Publishes a Deeply Flawed Study on Parental Acceptance of HPV Vaccinations. Plus: Three Key Questions Required of Any HPV Vaccine Efficacy Trial

Popular Rationalism • 733 implied HN points • 23 Oct 24
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. The recent study on parental acceptance of HPV vaccinations has major flaws that make its results questionable. Problems include small sample sizes and not enough diversity in participants.
  2. There is growing concern about HPV type replacement, where non-vaccine types may become more common after vaccination. This could lead to an increase in HPV-related cancers despite vaccination efforts.
  3. Future studies on HPV vaccine efficacy need to focus more on long-term effects and should clearly address issues like type replacement and the percentage of cancers caused by non-vaccine-targeted HPV types.

Viruses we don't test for

Force of Infection • 139 implied HN points • 23 Mar 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Epidemiology
  1. Many different respiratory viruses besides flu and COVID cause what people call “a cold,” but they are rarely tested for and so much illness goes unnoticed even though these viruses shape seasonal outbreaks.
  2. Common under-recognized viruses—like adenoviruses, human metapneumovirus, parainfluenza, seasonal coronaviruses, and rhinoviruses/enteroviruses—usually cause mild cold-like symptoms but can cause serious illness in young children, older adults, and immunocompromised people, and some have distinctive complications (e.g., adenovirus conjunctivitis or parainfluenza croup).
  3. Prevention is similar across these pathogens: good ventilation, staying home when sick, hand hygiene, and high-quality masks (like KN95) reduce spread, while vaccines or specific treatments are limited and broader therapies are still under development.

Spotlight on the Shingles Vaccine—Again!

Ground Truths • 14172 implied HN points • 22 Jan 26
🔬 Science Epidemiology
  1. Multiple large natural experiments across countries show shingles vaccination is consistently linked to lower dementia rates, and the newer Shingrix vaccine may offer even greater protection.
  2. Studies tie the vaccine to slower biological aging and shifts in immune and inflammation markers over years, with bigger benefits seen in women, though blood markers of neurodegeneration haven’t changed and the exact mechanism is still unknown.
  3. Other studies suggest cardiovascular benefits too, so getting Shingrix at 50+ may offer broad protection, but more mechanistic research and replications are needed to confirm these effects.

5 Logical fallacies in the era of RFK Jr.

Your Local Epidemiologist • 2161 implied HN points • 04 Mar 26
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. Prebunking—teaching people to recognize common rhetorical tricks—is more effective than trying to debunk every false claim one-by-one. If people learn the patterns, they can spot misinformation themselves.
  2. Many health falsehoods rely on a few common logical fallacies like appeal to nature, false dichotomy, ad hominem, common-sense, and post hoc, which make claims seem plausible but are logically weak. Recognizing these specific errors helps you judge a claim's strength.
  3. Instead of playing whack-a-mole with rumors, empower people to do their own critical thinking by learning these fallacies and how to evaluate evidence. Teaching these skills reduces dependence on experts to debunk every meme and builds resilience to misinformation.

IgG4 Class Switching, Immune Tolerance, and Adverse Event Risk from Repeated mRNA Booster Vaccination

Who is Robert Malone • 12 implied HN points • 22 Mar 26
🔬 Science Epidemiology
  1. Repeated mRNA boosters can drive a progressive shift toward IgG4 antibodies that keep binding the spike protein but weaken Fc effector functions (like ADCC and complement) and have been linked to higher breakthrough infection risk.
  2. The class switch is driven by IL‑10–rich germinal center signals and becomes encoded in long‑lived memory B cells and plasma cells, so it is durable and not detected by standard total anti‑spike IgG tests.
  3. Because this effect is cumulative and immunologically specific, booster policy and surveillance should be risk‑stratified with longer minimum intervals, pediatric reassessment, and prospective monitoring using IgG subclass assays and targeted safety studies.

Outbreak Outlook - National - March 22

Force of Infection • 76 implied HN points • 22 Mar 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Epidemiology
  1. Flu activity is falling quickly and should drop below the seasonal baseline next week, with all age groups reporting fewer outpatient visits and Flu B making up most late-season cases.
  2. Covid-19 is quiet and mostly declining nationwide, with low ED visits and hospitalizations, though Washington, Pennsylvania, and DC show stable activity.
  3. RSV has peaked in most regions but remains high with infant hospitalizations still elevated despite recent improvements; norovirus is very active and rising, and several foodborne outbreaks/recalls (including an E. coli–linked raw cheese), plus ongoing measles spread and a UK meningitis cluster, are current concerns.

The Complex Adaptive Landscape Created by SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines Shows Us Why Evolution Will Not Allow Effective mRNA Vaccines Against mRNA Viruses, Part 1.

Popular Rationalism • 574 implied HN points • 16 Oct 24
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. mRNA vaccines face big challenges because of how fast RNA viruses can change. It's unlikely they'll be able to completely eliminate the virus over time.
  2. These vaccines can push viruses to evolve in ways that make them escape detection and survive better. This means the virus can keep changing and might even become more dangerous.
  3. Natural immunity, from getting the virus instead of a vaccine, can be broader and may help prevent newer variants. This shows how different immune responses can affect how the virus evolves.

Hep B vaccine rates declining, RSV is having a late surge, more disease=more economic cost, AI and triage, and the U.S. surgeon general

Your Local Epidemiologist • 956 implied HN points • 03 Mar 26
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. Newborn hepatitis B vaccination rates are falling substantially, and declining childhood immunization (like MMR) threatens more cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and large economic costs.
  2. The respiratory season is unusual: flu activity is plateauing while RSV infections and hospitalizations are surging very late, putting infants at higher risk; vaccines and long-acting monoclonal antibodies can still provide protection.
  3. Consumer AI health tools can help with simple questions but are not yet reliable for triage; they often over-refer low-risk people and can miss early signs of serious emergencies, so don’t rely on them in urgent situations.

A new home for Force of Infection

Force of Infection • 154 implied HN points • 17 Mar 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Epidemiology
  1. The newsletter is moving off Substack to a standalone website, and subscriptions (including paid and regional choices) will transfer automatically; only readers who use the Substack app need to switch to email notifications.
  2. The move is intended to create a more permanent, independent, and stable home so the publication stays reliable despite changes to platform algorithms.
  3. The new site will let the newsletter expand beyond weekly reports into evergreen reference pages, seasonal summaries, and practical tools, with paid subscribers enabling that growth.

Why your flu shot may work differently than you think

Who is Robert Malone • 14 implied HN points • 21 Mar 26
🔬 Science Epidemiology
  1. Your first childhood flu exposure permanently shapes how your immune system responds to later vaccines, so repeated shots or similar antigens can make the body recall old answers instead of making updated protection.
  2. As people age their immune systems lose naive cells, germinal center function declines, and chronic inflammation rises, which makes older adults both the most vulnerable to flu and the least likely to mount a strong vaccine response.
  3. Current one-size-fits-all vaccination policy doesn’t account for imprinting, repeat-vaccination effects, or immunosenescence; we need clearer communication and investment in better vaccine platforms and strategies (non-egg production, adjuvants, or immunomodulation).

Another PRO-MASK Study Debunked

COVID Reason • 733 implied HN points • 07 Oct 24
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. Recent studies show that school mask mandates may not significantly reduce COVID-19 transmission. It's important to look closely at how studies are conducted to understand their true effectiveness.
  2. Researchers highlight that using observational data can lead to misleading conclusions about mask mandates. Different methods could give us clearer answers about their impact.
  3. Future public health decisions about masks should rely on strong evidence from well-designed studies. This will help build trust and ensure that interventions are truly beneficial.

TrumpRx, Super Bowl commercials, flu B is here, and more

Your Local Epidemiologist • 1548 implied HN points • 10 Feb 26
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. Respiratory illnesses are ticking up again — late-winter coughs, sore throats, and fevers are rising due to colds, RSV, and a second wave of flu B, while measles outbreaks (notably in South Carolina) are growing. Flu B often follows flu A and overall season severity is moderate so far, but local impacts vary.
  2. TrumpRx is mostly branding with limited impact — it mainly helps people who pay cash, often won’t count toward insurance deductibles, and can ignore cheaper generics; real, widespread price relief will require stronger policy changes.
  3. Be skeptical of flashy wellness ads — blood-based cancer screening tests can miss cancers and cause false alarms with unclear survival benefits, and shame-based diet messaging backfires; consumers deserve clear tradeoffs and empowering, realistic advice.

Movers and Shakers: Can you sue over Parkinson's?

Rory’s Always On Newsletter • 674 implied HN points • 05 Oct 24
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. It's unclear if people with Parkinson's can sue for their condition. A recent case showed the link between Parkinson's and chemicals like TCE isn't proven enough yet.
  2. The case of Holmes v Poeton involved a worker who claimed his Parkinson's was caused by chemical exposure at work. Courts found the evidence too weak to support this claim.
  3. Studies suggest some chemicals might increase the risk of Parkinson's, but proving direct causation is hard because many factors can influence health conditions.

Measles and echo chambers, fresh science, and more

Your Local Epidemiologist • 658 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
🔬 Science Epidemiology
  1. Working with Christian faith-based content creators is a practical way to break echo chambers and better inform faith communities about measles and medical evidence.
  2. New scientific studies are notable, including promising progress for a hard-to-treat breast cancer and an intriguing clue found in the brains of superagers.
  3. A dangerous online trend of making cornstarch fireballs is emerging, creating a fresh public-safety and misinformation concern.

Nipah in India, measles is the first building block to fall, flu increasing again, and US out but CA in on WHO

Your Local Epidemiologist • 1697 implied HN points • 03 Feb 26
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. Measles protection is breaking down as falling vaccination and rising misinformation have already cost several countries (and possibly soon the U.S.) their elimination status, fueling large outbreaks that mostly affect unvaccinated people.
  2. The Nipah outbreak in India is serious but currently small and controlled; the virus doesn’t spread easily between people, lives mainly in bats, and poses a very low risk of becoming a global pandemic.
  3. The U.S. has left the WHO, which reduces U.S. influence and support for global outbreak response, while states like California are linking into WHO networks to try to stay informed and protect their populations.

Immune Imprinting, Immunosenescence, and the Limits of Universal Seasonal Influenza Vaccination

Who is Robert Malone • 8 implied HN points • 21 Mar 26
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. Childhood immune imprinting and repeated annual vaccination can bias and weaken vaccine-induced protection, especially against influenza A(H3N2). Prior exposures tend to recall outdated immune memory and can suppress the generation of new, strain-specific neutralizing responses.
  2. Age-related immune decline makes standard-dose vaccines less effective in adults aged 65 and older, and while enhanced formulations (high-dose, adjuvanted, recombinant) improve responses, randomized trial evidence on reducing severe outcomes is mixed.
  3. A one-size-fits-all annual vaccination policy is misaligned with this immune heterogeneity, so risk- and platform-stratified strategies, evaluation of next-generation vaccines and immunomodulatory approaches, and clearer public communication about conditional vaccine benefits are warranted.

CDC Data Reveals Extremely Low Efficacy For This Year’s Flu Vaccine As The Experts Fail Again

Unmasked • 29 implied HN points • 19 Mar 26
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. New leaders are running major public health agencies now, with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya in an interim leadership role and Dr. Marty Makary taking a lead at the FDA.
  2. Public health experts have strongly pushed getting both the flu and COVID shots—often at the same visit—and the public health establishment continues to promote those recommendations.
  3. CDC’s latest estimates show this year’s flu vaccine had extremely low effectiveness against the dominant strain.

Is Omitting Data from a COVID-19 Study Conclusion a Lie?

Who is Robert Malone • 15 implied HN points • 19 Mar 26
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. Severe COVID outcomes in children were already very rare, and vaccination provided only modest, short‑lived protection; with widespread prior infection and milder variants today, the marginal benefit is likely smaller.
  2. Cardiac inflammation (myocarditis/pericarditis) appeared only in vaccinated children in the data; these events are rare but measurable, and follow‑up imaging shows persistent abnormalities in a notable fraction.
  3. Study framing and conclusions can emphasize small benefits while softening harms, so important safety signals may be buried in tables rather than highlighted; risk–benefit assessments should be re‑evaluated transparently as baseline risk changes.

Measles is off to an ugly start, EPA removes lives lost, ICE and hospitals, and lots of good news

Your Local Epidemiologist • 1639 implied HN points • 20 Jan 26
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. Measles is surging unusually early, with large outbreaks in low-vaccination pockets causing many cases, quarantines, and spread to other states. If you’re fully vaccinated you’re very well protected, and parents of babies under 12 months should talk to their pediatrician about early vaccination.
  2. The EPA will stop counting the dollar value of lives saved in cost-benefit analyses for major air pollutants, a change that makes pollution rules look more costly and makes it easier to weaken protections. This will likely harm communities near highways and industrial sites, especially low-income and marginalized groups.
  3. Increased ICE enforcement is creating fear that keeps people from seeking medical care, which can worsen health for families and communities. Schools and clinical teams can play key roles in supporting affected families and connecting them to local resources.

Fast Fact Check: Does Hep B Vaccination Cause Autism?

Cremieux Recueil • 199 implied HN points • 05 Mar 26
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. A single study claiming that hepatitis B vaccination in early infancy causes autism is statistically fragile, underpowered, and its positive finding disappears after proper multiple-comparison corrections.
  2. The study’s result depended on questionable analytic choices—like excluding girls, omitting important control variables, and running inappropriate specificity tests—which made the finding misleading.
  3. Reanalyses produce inconsistent and biologically implausible associations with other conditions, indicating confounding rather than causation, and there is no credible evidence that hepatitis B vaccination causes autism.

Six Years After '15 Days To Slow The Spread,' Data Continues To Prove COVID Policies Were A Historic Failure

Unmasked • 62 implied HN points • 14 Mar 26
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. Research shows lockdowns, mask mandates, and similar policies had little to no effect on COVID deaths, so those measures failed to change the main outcome they targeted.
  2. Early fatality estimates were vastly overstated and highly age-dependent, with true infection fatality rates nearer 0.25–0.35% rather than the initial 3.4% figure, which helped trigger panic responses.
  3. A brief “15 days” plan morphed into years of rolling restrictions and intrusive mandates, producing widespread social and economic fallout while officials saw little accountability for those choices.

Institutional blind spots, 5 fascinating studies fresh of the press, and more

Your Local Epidemiologist • 1065 implied HN points • 30 Jan 26
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. Trust in government and institutions is fragile, and doing things the old way isn't enough. Institutions often miss what they don't know, so listening to people on the ground is essential.
  2. Good policy can fail if planners don't anticipate on-the-ground confusion — nothing changes if nothing changes. The corn masa flour folate fortification shows how well-intended rules can go sideways without prior listening and clear communication.
  3. Tracking new science and providing practical resources helps trusted messengers respond better. Recent studies (like therapies for damaged neurons and vaccines) and downloadable guides for clinicians and educators show the value of pairing evidence with usable tools.

Heritability of human life span is about 50% when heritability is redefined to be something different

DYNOMIGHT INTERNET NEWSLETTER • 703 implied HN points • 05 Feb 26
🔬 Science Epidemiology
  1. If you measure lifespan heritability in a simulated world with no non‑aging deaths (accidents, murder, overdoses, infectious disease), the apparent heritability rises to roughly 46–57%, about 50%.
  2. Heritability is an observational ratio that depends on societal and environmental factors, so lowering extrinsic mortality naturally increases the fraction of lifespan variation attributed to genetics.
  3. The simulation is a useful exercise and matches historical twin estimates, but its strong assumptions and vague reporting mean the ~50% figure shouldn’t be taken as the true modern heritability; a more cautious read of the results suggests something closer to 35–45% (around 40%).

One of CDC’s final blows. And what it means for you.

Your Local Epidemiologist • 4162 implied HN points • 21 Nov 25
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. The CDC has been facing major challenges due to political interference, leading to a loss of trust in its information. People need to be careful about relying on it for accurate health data.
  2. It's recommended to avoid certain topics on the CDC website, especially vaccines and reproductive health, and instead seek information from trusted outside sources like medical organizations.
  3. Despite the struggles at the CDC, there is a strong effort from health professionals and communities to provide reliable health information and support to the public.

Outbreak Outlook - National - March 15

Force of Infection • 62 implied HN points • 15 Mar 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Epidemiology
  1. RSV season came on much later than usual and now appears to be reaching or passing its peak, with test positivity easing and hospitalizations — especially in babies — starting to fall.
  2. Flu activity is declining and more areas have moved out of high activity, but overall visits remain above baseline and this season has been unusually severe for children.
  3. Norovirus has hit a new seasonal peak with very high test positivity and spreads easily, so careful handwashing and staying home for a few days after symptoms end are important to prevent onward transmission.

Flu is up, up, and away. SNAP restrictions, measles milestone, and good news!

Your Local Epidemiologist • 1679 implied HN points • 07 Jan 26
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. Flu is surging across the U.S., with influenza‑like illness at its highest level in six years; a mutated H3N2 strain plus falling vaccination rates are driving many hospitalizations and deaths, and vaccination plus early antivirals still help reduce severe outcomes.
  2. Eighteen states are piloting SNAP purchase restrictions, but the research is limited and mixed — restrictions can cut purchases of targeted items yet may not improve overall diet or health, and they raise concerns about cost, autonomy, and stigma; pairing restrictions with incentives looks more promising.
  3. Measles cases topped 2,000 in 2025, mostly in unvaccinated people, which risks the U.S. losing its WHO measles elimination status and could allow measles to become endemic.

20 public health wins in 2025

Your Local Epidemiologist • 1767 implied HN points • 30 Dec 25
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. Public health teams delivered measurable, lifesaving results by preventing and containing outbreaks and reducing harms like heat-related deaths.
  2. Policy and clinical advances expanded access to prevention and care at home and abroad, from broader vaccine coverage and affordable HIV prevention to new treatments and programs like free child care and adult vaccines.
  3. The public health community showed resilience and civic engagement by forming coalitions, defending evidence in courts and politics, and putting scientists into public office to protect science-based policy.

A brutal flu season, new dietary guidelines, and why cancer screenings are at risk

Your Local Epidemiologist • 1287 implied HN points • 13 Jan 26
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. We’re in a very bad flu season with influenza-like illness at its highest levels since the late 1990s, driven by an H3N2 subclade that partly evades this year’s shot. Getting a flu vaccine now, using antivirals early if sick, masking in crowded indoor spaces, and staying home when ill can reduce severe illness and spread.
  2. The new U.S. Dietary Guidelines are radically shorter and replace MyPlate with an inverted food pyramid, emphasizing whole foods, more protein, and some animal fats while softening alcohol advice. They diverged from the independent advisory report and removed health equity from evidence considerations, which could change federal nutrition programs and clinical guidance.
  3. New Medicaid work and renewal rules are expected to cause millions to lose coverage, leading to over a million missed cancer screenings and preventable deaths in the next two years. HRSA’s endorsement of at-home HPV self-collection tests may expand cervical screening access but isn’t a full substitute for clinician care and follow-up.

Relax, Microplastics Aren’t Killing You

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 741 implied HN points • 22 Jan 26
🔬 Science Epidemiology
  1. Microplastics are everywhere and do pose real ecological risks. But alarmist claims that they are immediately causing major human diseases aren’t supported.
  2. A high‑profile study claiming plastic in human brains used a detection method that can’t reliably distinguish plastic from ordinary fats, so its results are likely false.
  3. Experts have criticized and reversed those dramatic claims, showing we need better methods and more careful interpretation before linking microplastics to serious human health effects.

H5N1: Much More Than You Wanted To Know

Astral Codex Ten • 27324 implied HN points • 01 Jan 25
🏥 Health Politics Epidemiology
  1. H5N1 bird flu started in birds but can spread to other animals and possibly humans. There are concerns about it becoming a bigger threat as it mutates.
  2. Currently, experts estimate a 5% chance of H5N1 causing a human pandemic in the next year, but it could rise to 50% over the next 20 years.
  3. If H5N1 does become a pandemic, most forecasts suggest it won't be as deadly as the Spanish flu, with risks ranging from normal flu severity to several times worse.