15 hours agoShareSaveStewart Whittingham & Ewan GawneBBC News, LiverpoolShareSaveGetty ImagesA child has died at Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital after contracting measles, the BBC understands.The hospital said the highly contagious virus was on the rise among young people in the region and it had seen a surge in “seriously unwell” children being admitted.Alder Hey said it would not officially comment on individual cases to respect patient confidentiality but the death has been confirmed to the BBC.No official details have been released about whether the child was being treated for other health problems or their vaccination status.The Sunday Times has reported the child was ill with measles and other health issues.Seventeen children have been treated at Alder Hey for measles since June.The child, whose age and sex is unknown, is believed to be the second child in England to die in the past five years after contracting measles.Renae Archer, of Salford, Greater Manchester, died aged 10 in 2023 after complications from having measles as a baby.Her mother Rebecca, who has four other children, has been campaigning for parents to have their children vaccinated.She told BBC News: “If other people were vaccinated, Renae might not have got the measles in the first place. She was only five months old.”It’s really scary, until it happens to your family, you don’t realise the significance of getting vaccinated.”PA MediaAn Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said: “To respect patient confidentiality, we can’t comment on individual cases.”We are concerned about the increasing number of children and young people who are contracting measles. “Measles is a highly contagious viral illness which can cause children to be seriously unwell, requiring hospital treatment, and in rare cases, death.”Patients at the site include those with compromised immunity due to other health issues “making them more susceptible to infections, including measles”, the spokesperson added.’Spreads rapidly’The hospital warned parents earlier this week that a fall in measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine uptake was behind the spike in cases in the region.Chief nurse Nathan Askew said he felt misunderstandings around the vaccine were to blame.”This vaccine’s been in use for well over 50 years. It’s very safe, tried and tested,” he said.There have been 500 cases of measles this year in England, with the rise blamed on the falling uptake of the MMR vaccine.The World Health Organization (WHO) wants 95% of children fully vaccinated by their fifth birthday.In the north-west of England the figure is 85%, with lower rates of 73% per cent in Liverpool and 75% Manchester, according to NHS data.Consultant epidemiologist Dr Vanessa Saliba from the UK Health Security Agency said: “Measles is one of the most highly infectious diseases and spreads rapidly among those who are unvaccinated. “It is a particularly nasty disease for any child and sadly for some children can be serious, leading to complications especially in young infants and those with a weakened immune system, and on rare occasions can tragically cause death.”Measles infections usually start with cold-like symptoms such as a runny nose and coughing and sneezing, according to the NHS.This is followed within days by a distinctive blotchy rash, which usually starts on the face and spreads to the rest of the body.A joint report by the WHO and the UN children’s fund, Unicef, recently found that the number of measles cases in Europe has reached its highest level in 25 years.Professor Matthew Ashton, Liverpool director of public health, said one person with measles can infect 15 others.He said there was “no link whatsoever” between the MMR vaccine and autism and this claim had been disproved several times.More on the storyRelated links

Research often points to exercise as a good way to boost mental health, but a recent study from the University of Georgia suggests that it’s not just physical movement that affects mental health.
It’s how, where and why you exercise that makes the difference.
“Historically, physical activity research has focused on how long someone exercises for or how many calories were burned,” said Patrick O’Connor, co-author of the study and a professor in the Mary Frances Early College of Education’s Department of Kinesiology. “The ‘dose’ of exercise has been the dominant way researchers have tried to understand how physical activity might influence mental health, while often ignoring whether those minutes were spent exercising with a friend or as part of a game.”
While research shows that leisure-time physical activity — like going for a run, taking a yoga class or biking for fun — correlates with better mental health outcomes, these benefits may vary significantly depending on the environment and circumstances surrounding the activity, according to the researchers.
To analyze these factors, the researchers reviewed three types of studies. These included large-scale epidemiological studies that examined health patterns in populations, randomized controlled trials where some groups received exercise treatments and others did not, and a much smaller but growing set of investigations into contextual factors.
Exercise and mental health
Multiple studies found that people who engage in regular leisure-time physical activity tend to report lower levels of depression and anxiety. But it’s less clear for other forms of activity like cleaning the house or working for a lawn care company. The context may matter as much as the intensity or amount of physical activity.

“For example, if a soccer player runs down the field and kicks the game-winning ball, their mental health is fantastic,” O’Connor said. “In contrast, if you do the exact same exercise but miss the goal and people are blaming you, you likely feel very differently. Anecdotes such as these show how context matters even when people are performing a similar exercise dose.”
Numerous randomized controlled trials also showed that adopting regular exercise routines boosted mental health, especially for individuals with existing mental health disorders. However, these studies were typically based on small, short-term and homogenous samples, so the results likely aren’t generalizable to larger, more diverse groups.
“The average effects on mental health are small across all the randomized controlled studies of exercise, and that’s partly because most of the studies focused on people who were not depressed or anxious — you do get bigger effects in those studies,” added O’Connor. “We’re communicating to scientists that larger- and longer-term controlled studies are needed to make a compelling case whether exercise does, or does not, truly impact mental health.”
Why context matters
Where the evidence is thinnest — but potentially most important — is in understanding contextual factors. The same physical activity can feel very different depending on who the activity was done with, as well as where, when and how.
Context can range from peer dynamics and instructor style to external conditions like weather or time of day. “If you’re outside and it’s hot, and you’re having to walk to work, that’s part of the context,” he added. “Or if you go and take a group exercise class — some instructors you really like, and some you don’t. So, that’s also part of the context.
“If we’re trying to help people’s mental health with exercise, then not only do we need to think about the dose and the mode, we also need to ask: What is the context?” O’Connor said.
For O’Connor, the takeaway is clear. It’s not just movement that matters. It’s the meaning, the setting and the experience surrounding the activity that determines the impact of exercise on mental health.
Co-authors of the study include Eduardo Bustamante of the University of Illinois Chicago; Angelique Brellenthin of Iowa State University; and David Brown, who recently retired from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Using tirzepatide and menopause hormone therapy at the same time leads to increased weight loss in postmenopausal women with overweight or obesity compared to use of tirzepatide treatment alone, according to a study presented at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif.
“These data are the first to show the combined use of tirzepatide and menopause hormone therapy significantly increases treatment effectiveness in postmenopausal women,” said Regina Castaneda, M.D., research fellow for the Division of Endocrinology at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. “Previous studies of the medication semaglutide found similar results. Achieving these outcomes with a second obesity medication may indicate a broader efficacy trend for pairing these two classes of medications.”
Menopause-related hormonal changes often result in increased abdominal fat, decreased muscle mass and altered energy expenditure that leads to weight gain and puts millions of women at risk for developing heart disease and other serious health issues.
To confirm the hypothesis that concurrent menopause hormone therapy enhances the effectiveness of tirzepatide for weight loss in postmenopausal women, researchers conducted a real-world study using the electronic medical records of 120 postmenopausal women over a median duration of 18 months. The study included two cohorts: 40 women using menopause hormone therapy concurrently with tirzepatide and 80 women using tirzepatide alone.
The results showed superior total body weight loss percentage for women using tirzepatide plus menopause hormone therapy (17%) compared to those using tirzepatide alone (14%). In addition, a higher percentage of menopause hormone therapy users (45%) also achieved at least 20% total body weight loss, compared to 18% of menopause hormone therapy non-users.
“The information garnered through this new study provides important insights to develop more effective and personalized weight management interventions to reduce a postmenopausal woman’s risk of overweight and obesity-related health complications,” said Maria Daniela Hurtado Andrade, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine and consultant for the Division of Endocrinology at the Mayo Clinic. “This study underscores the urgent need for further research to better understand how obesity medications and menopause hormone therapy work together. Gaining this knowledge could greatly improve the health and well-being of millions of postmenopausal women. It also points to the need for better strategies to make these treatments more accessible and available to those who need them.”
This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health Bridging Interdisciplinary Careers in Women’s Health Research Grant and the Mayo Clinic Center for Women’s Health Research.

Metabolic health factors, including small increases in blood sugar, are the main drivers of change in the reproductive systems and sexual functioning of aging men, according to a study presented at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif.
“Although age and testosterone levels have long been considered an impetus for men’s declining sexual health, our research indicates that these changes more closely correlate with modest increases in blood sugar and other metabolic changes,” said Michael Zitzmann, M.D., Ph.D., professor and doctor of medicine at University Hospital in Muenster, Germany. “This means that men can take steps to preserve or revive their reproductive health with lifestyle choices and appropriate medical interventions.”
These conclusions follow a long-term study of healthy men (without diabetes mellitus, heart disease and/or cancer) aged 18-85 that began in 2014 with 200 participants and concluded in 2020 with 117 participants. Researchers studied progressive changes in participants’ semen and hormonal profiles, erectile functioning and metabolic health (BMI and blood sugar levels marked by the HbA1c test).
Findings indicated that over time hormone levels and semen parameters stayed largely within normal ranges. However, sperm movement and erectile function declined in men with minimally elevated blood sugar levels that were below the 6.5% HbA1c diabetes threshold. The study also found that while testosterone levels did not have a direct impact on erectile function, they did correlate with participants’ libido assessment.
“We’re hopeful that the information gleaned from this study will help doctors and their patients formulate effective male sexual health maintenance plans,” Zitzmann added. “We now know that it’s in our power to retain sexual and reproductive well-being in men, even as they age.”
This research was conducted as part of the FAME 2.0 study.

The anti-obesity medication tirzepatide, marketed as Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for obesity, reduced obesity-associated breast cancer growth in a mouse model, according to a study being presented at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif.
“Obesity is a significant risk factor for breast cancer, and while it is very preliminary data, our studies in mice suggest that these new anti-obesity drugs may be a way to reduce obesity-associated breast cancer risk or improve outcomes,” said study author Amanda Kucinskas, B.S., a Ph.D. candidate in the labs of Drs. Erin Giles and Kanakadurga Singer at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Existing research has shown that having obesity can lead to worse breast cancer outcomes compared to those who do not have obesity, and weight loss can improve outcomes. However, there are many challenges with traditional weight loss methods.
Kucinskas and colleagues leveraged tirzepatide, one of a new class of effective anti-obesity medications that target GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide 1) and GIP (glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide) receptors. The researchers sought to learn whether or not tirzepatide would reduce obesity-associated breast cancer growth.
This mouse study included 16 mice. The 9-week-old C57BL/6 mice were fed a 40% high-fat diet and housed in a warm environment to induce obesity. At 32 weeks of age, the mice with obesity were randomly assigned injections of tirzepatide or a placebo every other day for 16 weeks. Tumor volumes were measured twice weekly.
The researchers found that the anti-obesity drug reduced body weight and body fat by approximately 20% in mice, similar to the amount of weight loss achieved by women on this drug. They found this was primarily due to a loss of adipose mass, with a reduction in adipose depot weights compared to controls.
The anti-obesity drug also reduced tumor volume compared to the controls. At the end of the study, the researchers found that tumor volume was significantly correlated with body weight, total adipose mass and the amount of fat stored in the liver.
“While these are very preliminary results, they suggest that this new anti-obesity drug may also have a beneficial impact on breast cancer outcomes,” Kucinskas said.
Ongoing studies are underway in collaboration with Dr. Steve Hursting’s lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to separate the weight loss from the tumor-specific effects of tirzepatide.

When the first Neanderthal bones were uncovered in 1856, they sparked a flood of questions about these mysterious ancient humans. Were they similar to us or fundamentally different? Did our ancestors cooperate with them, clash with them, or even form relationships? The discovery of the Denisovans, a group closely related to Neanderthals that once lived across parts of Asia and South Asia, added even more intrigue to the story.
Now, a group of researchers made up of geneticists and artificial intelligence specialists is uncovering new layers of that shared history. Led by Joshua Akey, a professor at Princeton’s Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, the team has found strong evidence of genetic exchange between early human groups, pointing to a much deeper and more complex relationship than previously understood.
“This is the first time that geneticists have identified multiple waves of modern human-Neanderthal admixture,” said Liming Li, a professor in the Department of Medical Genetics and Developmental Biology at Southeast University in Nanjing, China, who performed this work as an associate research scholar in Akey’s lab.
“We now know that for the vast majority of human history, we’ve had a history of contact between modern humans and Neanderthals,” said Akey. The hominins who are our most direct ancestors split from the Neanderthal family tree about 600,000 years ago, then evolved our modern physical characteristics about 250,000 years ago.
“From then until the Neanderthals disappeared — that is, for about 200,000 years — modern humans have been interacting with Neanderthal populations,” he said.
The results of their work were published the journal Science.
Rethinking the Ice Age Stereotype
Neanderthals, once stereotyped as slow-moving and dim-witted, are now seen as skilled hunters and tool makers who treated each other’s injuries with sophisticated techniques and were well adapted to thrive in the cold European weather.

(Note: All of these hominin groups are humans, but to avoid saying “Neanderthal humans,” “Denisovan humans,” and “ancient-versions-of-our-own-kind-of-humans,” most archaeologists and anthropologists use the shorthand Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans.)
Using genomes from 2,000 living humans as well as three Neanderthals and one Denisovan, Akey and his team mapped the gene flow between the hominin groups over the past quarter-million years.
The researchers used a genetic tool they designed a few years ago called IBDmix, which uses machine learning techniques to decode the genome. Previous researchers depended on comparing human genomes against a “reference population” of modern humans believed to have little or no Neanderthal or Denisovan DNA.
Akey’s team has established that even those referenced groups, who live thousands of miles south of the Neanderthal caves, have trace amounts of Neanderthal DNA, probably carried south by voyagers (or their descendants).
With IBDmix, Akey’s team identified a first wave of contact about 200-250,000 years ago, another wave 100-120,000 years ago, and the largest one about 50-60,000 years ago.
Challenging the Out-of-Africa Model
That contrasts sharply with previous genetic data. “To date, most genetic data suggests that modern humans evolved in Africa 250,000 years ago, stayed put for the next 200,000 years, and then decided to disperse out of Africa 50,000 years ago and go on to people the rest of the world,” said Akey.

“Our models show that there wasn’t a long period of stasis, but that shortly after modern humans arose, we’ve been migrating out of Africa and coming back to Africa, too,” he said. “To me, this story is about dispersal, that modern humans have been moving around and encountering Neanderthals and Denisovans much more than we previously recognized.”
That vision of humanity on the move coincides with the archaeological and paleoanthropological research suggesting cultural and tool exchange between the hominin groups.
Li and Akey’s key insight was to look for modern-human DNA in the genomes of the Neanderthals, instead of the other way around. “The vast majority of genetic work over the last decade has really focused on how mating with Neanderthals impacted modern human phenotypes and our evolutionary history — but these questions are relevant and interesting in the reverse case, too,” said Akey.
They realized that the offspring of those first waves of Neanderthal-modern matings must have stayed with the Neanderthals, therefore leaving no record in living humans. “Because we can now incorporate the Neanderthal component into our genetic studies, we are seeing these earlier dispersals in ways that we weren’t able to before,” Akey said.
Shrinking Populations and Genetic Illusions
The final piece of the puzzle was discovering that Neanderthals had a smaller population than researchers previously thought.
Scientists often estimate population size by looking at genetic diversity. In general, more variation in the genome suggests a larger group. But when Akey’s team applied their tool, IBDmix, they found that much of the apparent diversity in Neanderthal DNA actually came from genes inherited from modern humans, who had far larger populations.With this new insight, scientists lowered their estimate of the Neanderthal breeding population from about 3,400 individuals to roughly 2,400.Taken together, these findings help explain how Neanderthals disappeared from the fossil and genetic record around 30,000 years ago. 
“I don’t like to say ‘extinction,’ because I think Neanderthals were largely absorbed,” said Akey. His idea is that Neanderthal populations slowly shrank until the last survivors were folded into modern human communities.
This “assimilation model” was first articulated by Fred Smith, an anthropology professor at Illinois State University, in 1989. “Our results provide strong genetic data consistent with Fred’s hypothesis, and I think that’s really interesting,” said Akey.
“Neanderthals were teetering on the edge of extinction, probably for a very long time,” he said. “If you reduce their numbers by 10 or 20%, which our estimates do, that’s a substantial reduction to an already at-risk population.
“Modern humans were essentially like waves crashing on a beach, slowly but steadily eroding the beach away. Eventually we just demographically overwhelmed Neanderthals and incorporated them into modern human populations.”
This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant R01GM110068 to JMA).

Talks between Health Secretary Wes Streeting and the British Medical Association (BMA) will take place next week in a bid to avert strike action in England’s NHS, the BBC understands.Resident doctors, previously known as junior doctors, announced earlier this week that they will walk out for five consecutive days from 25 July until 30 July over a dispute about pay with the government.The BMA said strikes would only be called off if next week’s talks produce an offer it can put to its members.The government has insisted it cannot improve its offer of a 5.4% increase for this year.Resident doctors were awarded a 5.4% pay rise for this financial year – which will go into pay packets from August – following a 22% increase over the previous two years.But they are arguing that pay in real terms is still around 20% lower than it was in 2008 and have called for the government to set out a pathway to restoring its value.They believe that this year’s 5.4% increase doesn’t take them far enough down that path.Health department sources have told the BBC the health secretary is sympathetic to improving working conditions for resident doctors, but he won’t budge on salaries.After the BMA’s strike announcement, Streeting called the strike “unnecessary and unreasonable”, adding: “The NHS is hanging by a thread – why on earth are they threatening to pull it?”He said the government was “ready and willing” to work with the BMA, but any further strike action would be a disaster for patients and push back the progress made in reducing waiting lists in England.BMA resident doctor committee co-chairs, Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt, said on Wednesday they had been left with “no choice” but to strike without a “credible offer to keep us on the path to restore our pay”.Lord Robert Winston, a professor and TV doctor who was a pioneer of IVF treatment, resigned from the BMA on Friday over the planned strikes.In an interview with The Times, he urged against strike action and said it could damage people’s trust in the profession.Resident doctors took part in 11 separate strikes during 2023 and 2024.In order to end the previous strikes last year the incoming Labour government awarded a backdated increase worth 22% over two years.The action in England will not affect resident doctors in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, who negotiate directly with their devolved governments on pay.Resident doctors’ basic salaries in England range from £37,000 to £70,000 a year for a 40-hour week, depending on experience, with extra payments for working nightshifts and weekends.That does not include the latest 5.4% average pay award for this year which will start to be paid into wage packets from August.

3 hours agoShareSaveBethan JamesBBC NewsShareSaveBBCMakeup and skincare ingredients should be listed in English and not Latin to protect people with allergies, campaigners say.Cosmetic companies display ingredients in Latin, or using scientific names. But MP Becky Gittins, who has a severe nut allergy, said this was a problem as “less than 5% of our young people are educated in Latin”.One mum, whose daughter had an allergic reaction to body wash, said cosmetics should be labelled in the same way as food.Makeup influencer Amy Loring said the labelling system was “frustrating” but for some could be “life threatening”.The Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfumery Association (CTPA) said Latin-based names provided a universal language across the globe.Cosmetic companies list ingredients according to the International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients (INCI), a system which includes thousands of different Latin-based names. For example, sweet almond oil is Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis, peanut oil is Arachis Hypogaea, and wheat germ extract is Triticum Vulgare. Some cosmetic brands also list their ingredients in English, but this is not a requirement.Eve Huang’s daughter Elysia, 9, is allergic to cow’s milk, coconut, eggs, asparagus, mustard and tree nuts.Elysia’s allergies are triggered not just by food but by airborne particles and skin contact.”The Latin puts allergy sufferers at risk and it is so frustrating,” said Ms Huang, from Hornchurch in Essex.”Why are allergens not listed in bold? Why are there no warning signs?”Ms Huang said she recently bought Elysia a new skin-sensitive body wash. Within seconds of getting into the bath, Elysia became red and developed a hives rash all over her body. At first, they did not realise the cause was the body wash. Elysia did not develop anaphylaxis – a severe and life-threatening allergic reaction – but she did need to be treated.’Google the Latin names'”A child should not have to take medicine simply for having a bath. A process of getting oneself clean should not make them seriously ill,” said Ms Huang.She said birthday parties could also be “a nightmare”.”At one party, Elysia was gifted a facial mask in the party bag and I’ve had to explain she can’t use it until I’ve ‘Googled’ the Latin names and checked whether it’s safe.”She added: “Some brands now include English translations, which is useful. But I would like to see similar, if not the same standards, as food packaging.”Gittins, the Labour MP for Clwyd East who is behind the campaign for change, has a severe nut allergy. If she were to use products containing nuts it could trigger anaphylaxis.Gittins said at a recent trip to a spa, she had to frantically “Google” Latin terms to check for allergens. “Even on a day that’s supposed to be relaxing, I was still mitigating risk. It is incredibly difficult,” she said.”Less than 5% of our young people are educated in Latin at any level. Even fewer would recognise these terms when checking the back of a packet to see if they can use certain toiletries or ointments – that then becomes a big problem.”Gittins said her allergy meant she lived with “a base level of anxiety”.She added: “Do I live a very restricted life, or do I go out and do the things that are more risky?”That is what we need to minimise – we need to make sure we have a much more allergy-friendly world so we can mitigate that risk.”Amy Loring, a makeup artist from Cardiff who uses her Instagram page to provide skincare and cosmetics advice to thousands, said the labelling system needed to be “very clear”.”I have hypersensitive skin and it’s very uncomfortable when you’re breaking out and have eczema over your face. There are some days I can’t put anything on my skin because it is reacting so bad,” said the 31-year-old.”It is frustrating as a consumer when you get reactions like rosacea, redness, breakouts, and that’s just mild allergies – it can be quite severe and life-threatening.”The Latin names of cosmetic ingredientsAlmond (bitter): Prunus amygdalus amarAvocado: Persea gratissimaApricot: Prunus armeniacaBanana: Musa sapientumBrazil nut: Bertholletia excelsaCashew: Anacardium occidentaleChestnut: Castanea sativa/sylva or castanea crenataCoconut: Cocus nuciferaEgg: OvumFish liver oil: Piscum iecurHazelnut: Corylus rostrata, corylus americana, corylus avellanaKiwi fruit: Actinidia chinensis or actinidia deliciosaOat: Avena sativa or Avena strigosaPeach: Prunus persicaPeanut oil: Arachis HypogaeaSesame: Sesamum indicumSweet almond oil: Prunus amygdalus dulcisWalnut: Juglans regia or juglans nigraWheat germ extract: Triticum vulgareRegulations state that cosmetic ingredients must be listed clearly. If there is no outer packaging, the labelling will be on the container. If the product is very small, the ingredients may be listed on a leaflet.While the INCI system ensures consistency across the globe, critics say it leaves many consumers in the dark.Rachel WilliamsRachel Williams’ son, Jacob, is allergic to peanuts, hazelnuts and almonds.”It is difficult enough to navigate life with allergies without adding the learning of Latin on top of everything else,” said Rachel, from Swansea.”I can’t always remember the name of certain nuts in Latin, or I doubt myself when I’m checking products. This means I have to search online every time I use a product. I would have a lot more confidence in the products if they stated all of the top 14 allergens in English.”The CTPA has defended the use of INCI ingredient names.Caroline Rainsford, the director of science at the CTPA, said the system provided a universal language across the globe.”For botanical or natural extracts, we refer to the Linnaean system, which is the international system for scientifically naming plants and animals, and lots of those names will be Latin-based,” she said. “The reason we refer to that system is to have global harmonisation.”I can see that perhaps people would think it may be easier to have the English name but if you are on holiday and you are looking at the ingredients list, you would need to know the name of the plant in whichever country you’re in. “Whereas if we use the INCI system, you then just need to remember that one INCI name.”The more consistency and harmonisation we have with the ingredient list is not only great for us when we’re buying a product, it also makes life easier for companies.”The industry has developed tools to help consumers navigate the terminology.One such tool is the COSMILE app, which allows users to search ingredient names by scanning the label. The app aims to offer reliable and scientifically supported information on thousands of ingredients used in cosmetic products.A UK government spokesperson said: “Our regulations require all cosmetics to include a full list of ingredients that is clearly marked on the product label or packaging using generally accepted names.”Related stories

The resident died from pneumonic plague, the first such death in Coconino County, Ariz., since 2007, the county said.A resident of Coconino County, Ariz., died from pneumonic plague, the first such death in the county in almost two decades, officials announced on Friday.The resident went to Flagstaff Medical Center recently and died the same day despite attempts to provide “lifesaving resuscitation,” according to a statement on Friday from Northern Arizona Healthcare, which runs the hospital.Rapid diagnostic testing confirmed that the patient was infected with Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that causes the pneumonic plague, which appears as a severe lung infection.It was the first recorded death from the pneumonic plague in Coconino County, which is north of Phoenix, since 2007, county officials said in a statement.Additional details about the case, including when the patient died, were not released.The risk of exposure to the plague remains low, officials said. It’s rare for cases of the disease to appear in humans, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Plague occurs naturally in the western United States and circulates among the rodent populations there, the agency said.The plague infamously struck Europe in the 1340s, killing large parts of the continent’s population.The outbreak began in a trader settlement in what is now Kyrgyzstan before spreading across Eurasia.The outbreak was known as the Black Death, for the black spots that appeared on the bodies of the sick, who were infected with Yersinia pestis after being bitten by fleas that lived on rodents.According to Arizona officials, the 2007 death happened after the person came into contact with a dead animal infected with plague. Humans are usually infected through the bite of an infected rodent flea or by handling an infected animal, the C.D.C. said.An average of seven human plague cases are reported each year in the United States, according to the agency.Pneumonic plague symptoms include fever, headache and rapidly developing pneumonia, with shortness of breath, chest pain and coughing. Symptoms develop within one to eight days of exposure.Plague can be cured through antibiotics, but the treatment must be given quickly, according to the C.D.C.The risk of human-to-human transmission of the plague is low and the last known case happened in 1924 in Los Angeles, according to the National Institutes of Health.Plague is one of many diseases endemic to the southwestern United States, including West Nile virus, hantavirus and rabies.In New Mexico, Betsy Arakawa, the wife of the actor Gene Hackman, died from hantavirus this year, most likely after coming into contact with infected rodents.

Pepper, the pet cat who made headlines last year for his role in the discovery of the first jeilongvirus found in the U.S., is at it again. This time, his hunting prowess contributed to the identification of a new strain of orthoreovirus.
John Lednicky, Ph.D., Pepper’s owner and a University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions virologist, took Pepper’s catch — a dead Everglades short-tailed shrew — into the lab for testing as part of his ongoing work to understand transmission of the mule deerpox virus.
Testing revealed the shrew had a previously unidentified strain of orthoreovirus. Viruses in this genus are known to infect humans, white-tailed deer, bats and other mammals. While orthoreoviruses’ effects on humans are not yet well understood, there have been rare reports of the virus being associated with cases of encephalitis, meningitis and gastroenteritis in children.
“The bottom line is we need to pay attention to orthoreoviruses, and know how to rapidly detect them,” said Lednicky, a research professor in the PHHP Department of Environmental and Global Health and a member of UF’s Emerging Pathogens Institute.
The UF team published the complete genomic coding sequences for the virus they named “Gainesville shrew mammalian orthoreovirus type 3 strain UF-1” in the journal Microbiology Resource Announcements.
“There are many different mammalian orthoreoviruses and not enough is known about this recently identified virus to be concerned,” said the paper’s lead author Emily DeRuyter, a UF Ph.D. candidate in One Health. “Mammalian orthoreoviruses were originally considered to be ‘orphan’ viruses, present in mammals including humans, but not associated with diseases. More recently, they have been implicated in respiratory, central nervous system and gastrointestinal diseases.”
The Lednicky lab’s jeilongvirus and orthoreovirus discoveries come on the heels of the team publishing their discovery of two other novel viruses found in farmed white-tailed deer. Given the propensity of viruses to constantly evolve, paired with the team’s sophisticated lab techniques, finding new viruses isn’t entirely surprising, Lednicky said.

“I’m not the first one to say this, but essentially, if you look, you’ll find, and that’s why we keep finding all these new viruses,” Lednicky said.
Like influenza virus, two different types of orthoreovirus can infect a host cell, causing the viruses’ genes to mix and match, in essence, creating a brand new virus, Lednicky said.
In 2019, Lednicky and colleagues isolated the first orthoreovirus found in a deer. That strain’s genes were nearly identical to an orthoreovirus found in farmed mink in China and a deathly ill lion in Japan. How in the world, the scientific community wondered, could the same hybrid virus appear in a farmed deer in Florida and two species of carnivores across the globe? Some experts speculated that components of the animals’ feed could have come from the same manufacturer.
With so many unanswered questions about orthoreoviruses and their modes of transmission, prevalence in human and animal hosts and just how sick they could make us, more research is needed, DeRuyter and Lednicky said.
Next steps would include serology and immunology studies to understand the threat Gainesville shrew mammalian orthoreovirus type 3 strain UF-1 may hold for humans, wildlife and pets.
For readers concerned about Pepper’s health, rest assured. He has shown no signs of illness from his outdoor adventures and will likely continue to contribute to scientific discovery through specimen collection.
“This was an opportunistic study,” Lednicky said. “If you come across a dead animal, why not test it instead of just burying it? There is a lot of information that can be gained.”