Officials have linked 11 listeria cases since October 2021 to items from Yu Shang Food, which is recalling more than 72,000 pounds of products.A baby died and at least 10 other people in four states fell ill in an outbreak of listeria tied to ready-to-eat meat and poultry products sold by Yu Shang Food, federal health officials said on Friday, as the company recalled more than 72,000 pounds of items.The 11 people who fell ill were in California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey, and their illnesses were reported between October 2021 and July 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Nine people were hospitalized and one, an infant in California, died. The C.D.C. did not say when the baby died.The agency said that lab tests and interviews with the people indicated that products from Yu Shang Food had made them sick.The company, based in Spartanburg, S.C., is recalling products including pork belly, chicken feet, duck neck and beef shank, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said. These have been shipped to retail locations nationwide and were also available online.All of Yu Shang Food’s ready-to-eat products made before Oct. 28 are subject to the recall, the service said, publishing a list of products and their labels. Officials urged consumers who have already purchased the products to throw them out or return them.The packaging of a Yu Shang Food chicken product included in the recall.U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission/Food Safety and Inspection Service, via Associated PressIn interviews with local public health officials, the people who fell ill reported buying Yu Shang Food’s products from multiple stores, federal officials said. Two specifically mentioned the company’s ready-to-eat chicken products.Routine tests last month detected listeria in Yu Shang Food’s products, setting off an initial recall of about 4,600 pounds of products that was announced on Nov. 9. The recall was expanded on Thursday after additional testing found listeria contamination in the company’s products, officials said. An investigation is underway to determine if these listeria samples match the strain that caused the outbreak.Ling Li, a plant manager at Yu Shang Food, said in an emailed statement on Friday night that the company had taken immediate corrective action after inspectors found listeria, and that it would work to prevent future contamination.Listeria bacteria are naturally found in soil but can contaminate a range of foods like dairy products, fruits and deli meats. Most people who ingest it do not get sick, but pregnant women, older people, newborns and people with weakened immune systems can become seriously ill or die. Symptoms include fever, muscle aches and tiredness, the C.D.C. said.

President-elect Donald J. Trump chose Dr. David Weldon, a former congressman, on Friday to serve as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Dr. Weldon, 71, is a native of Long Island and earned a medical degree in New York before moving to Florida to practice. Starting in 1995, he served seven terms in Congress, representing the 15th District of Florida, before forgoing re-election and returning to his medical practice.As a member of Congress, Dr. Weldon pushed the false notion that thimerosal, a preservative compound in some vaccines, had caused an explosion of autism — a hypothesis that experts say has no evidence. He also introduced a “vaccine safety bill” that aimed to relocate most vaccine safety research from the C.D.C. — which he said had an “inherent conflict of interest” — to a separate agency within the Department of Health and Human Services.Mr. Trump’s choice signals yet again his commitment to reforming the role of federal health agencies in radical ways. Though Dr. Weldon is an internist, his skepticism of vaccine safety and concern about C.D.C. overreach echo those of other nominees, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr.“In addition to being a Medical Doctor for 40 years, and an Army Veteran, Dave has been a respected conservative leader on fiscal and social issues,” Mr. Trump wrote in a statement released Friday night, saying that Dr. Weldon would “restore the CDC to its true purpose.”“Americans have lost trust in the CDC and in our Federal Health Authorities, who have engaged in censorship, data manipulation, and misinformation. Given the current Chronic Health Crisis in our Country, the CDC must step up and correct past errors to focus on the Prevention of Disease.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

President-elect Donald J. Trump announced on Friday that he would nominate Dr. Martin A. Makary, a Johns Hopkins University surgeon with a contrarian streak, to be commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.In a post on social media, Mr. Trump said: “F.D.A. has lost the trust of Americans and lost sight of its primary goal as a regulator.” He said that Dr. Makary would work under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the president-elect’s choice for the cabinet-level role as health secretary, to “properly evaluate harmful chemicals poisoning our nation’s food supply and drugs.”“I am confident that Dr. Makary, having dedicated his career to high-quality, lower-cost care will restore the F.D.A. to the gold standard of scientific research and cut the bureaucratic red tape at the agency to make sure Americans get the medical cures and treatments they deserve,” Mr. Trump said in a statement.Dr. Makary, 54, rose to prominence more than a decade ago as a critic of the medical establishment, speaking out about patient safety and working with hospitals to improve practices. He also gained attention during the pandemic, weighing in on herd immunity, vaccines and masks in 2021, roiling some doctors who were still contending with packed I.C.U.s and hundreds of deaths a week.As F.D.A. commissioner, Dr. Makary would lead an agency that has come under considerable fire from Mr. Kennedy Jr., who would be his boss if confirmed by the Senate to become secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.Mr. Kennedy has been outspoken in his desire to overhaul the F.D.A., saying he would fire agency staff members whom he argued had “suppressed” disputed and sometimes harmful treatments; would gut an entire department; and would clamp down on the food and pharmaceutical industries. Mr. Kennedy has also criticized the so-called user fees from drug and medical device companies that pay for thousands of employees to review industry products and account for nearly half of the agency’s overall budget of $7.2 billion.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Getty ImagesJulia’s first four years as a physician associate were everything she hoped they would be. After working in the NHS for the best part of a decade in a non-patient facing role, she was delighted to be on the wards supporting doctors and the wider healthcare teams.

President-elect Donald J. Trump is set to nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department, where he would have limited power over drugs.Ozempic? Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is not a fan.“If we just gave good food, three meals a day, to every man, woman and child in our country, we could solve the obesity and diabetes epidemic overnight,” he said to Greg Gutfeld on Fox News before the election. He added that the drug’s maker, Novo Nordisk, is “counting on selling it to Americans because we are so stupid and so addicted to drugs.”His opinions might remain just that — opinions. But now that President-elect Donald J. Trump has said he will nominate Mr. Kennedy to lead the federal Department of Health and Human Services, he may gain powers to turn some of his opinions into federal policies.Mr. Kennedy has not said he will limit access to Ozempic or other drugs. He did not reply to requests for comment about what he may do as secretary of health and human services.Here is a look at what powers he would have in that role.Can a health secretary reverse a drug’s approval?The short answer is no.The Food and Drug Administration is part of the Health and Human Services Department, but the secretary does not directly approve drugs. Any attempt to withdraw the approval of the obesity drugs would have to be initiated by the F.D.A.Holly Fernandez Lynch, an associate professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania who specializes in F.D.A. drug approval standards, explained what it would take.The grounds for withdrawal, she said, include compelling evidence that a drug is not safe or effective. Drugs can also be withdrawn if a company submitted “untruths in the application materials,” she said, or did not provide adequate records or make required reports. Another reason, she added, is “manufacturing concerns,” which might include contamination of the drug or inconsistency in its formulation.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Americans are dying of illnesses related to alcohol at roughly twice the rate seen in 1999.The number of deaths caused by alcohol-related diseases more than doubled among Americans between 1999 and 2020, according to new research. Alcohol was involved in nearly 50,000 deaths among adults ages 25 to 85 in 2020, up from just under 20,000 in 1999.The increases were in all age groups. The biggest spike was observed among adults ages 25 to 34, whose fatality rate increased nearly fourfold between 1999 and 2020.Women are still far less likely than men to die of an illness caused by alcohol, but they also experienced a steep surge, with rates rising 2.5-fold over 20 years.The new study, published in The American Journal of Medicine, drew on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Deaths related to alcohol included those caused by certain forms of heart disease, liver disease, nerve damage, muscle damage, pancreatitis and alcohol poisoning, as well as related mental and behavioral disorders. The study did not include other deaths influenced by alcohol, such as accidents.“The totality of the evidence indicates that people who consume moderate to large amounts of alcohol have a markedly increased incidence of premature deaths and disability,” said Dr. Charles Hennekens, a professor of medicine at Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University and one of the study’s authors.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Squire Patton BoggsThe parents of British lawyer Simone White, who died in a suspected poisoning in Laos, have said they are “devastated” by the “terrible tragedy”.

Getty ImagesTravellers are being warned of the dangers of methanol poisoning after six tourists to Laos have died.

FacebookA second Australian teenager has died of suspected methanol poisoning, bringing to six the number of foreign tourists who have died after apparently drinking tainted alcohol in Laos.

Getty ImagesSuspected methanol poisoning from tainted drinks has reportedly killed five tourists in a Laos holiday town in the past fortnight.