 |
|
|
|||||
Texas has more than 600 known cases of measles on Tuesday as the outbreak in the western part of the state approaches the three-month mark.The U.S. was up to 800 cases of measles nationwide on Friday. Two unvaccinated elementary school-aged children died from measles-related illnesses in the epicenter in West Texas, and an adult in New Mexico who was not vaccinated died of a measles-related illness.Other states with active outbreaksdefined as three or more casesinclude Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico. The U.S. has more than double the number of measles cases it saw in all of 2024.North America has two other outbreaks. One in Ontario, Canada, has sickened 925 from mid-October through April 16. And as of Tuesday, the Mexican state of Chihuahua state has 514 measles cases, according to data from the state health ministry. The World Health Organization has said cases in Mexico are linked to the Texas outbreak.Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that’s airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes, or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines, and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000.As the virus takes hold in other U.S. communities with low vaccination rates, health experts fear the virus that the spread could stretch on for a year. Here’s what else you need to know about measles in the U.S. How many measles cases are there in Texas and New Mexico? Texas state health officials said Tuesday there were 27 new cases of measles since Friday, bringing the total to 624 across 26 countiesmost of them in West Texas. Two more Texans were hospitalized, for a total of 64 throughout the outbreak, and Bailey County logged its first two cases.State health officials estimated about 2% of casesfewer than 10are actively infectious.Sixty-two percent of Texas’ cases are in Gaines County, population 22,892, where the virus started spreading in a close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite community. The county has had 386 cases since late Januaryjust over 1% of the county’s residents.The April 3 death in Texas was an 8-year-old child, according to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Health officials in Texas said the child did not have underlying health conditions and died of “what the child’s doctor described as measles pulmonary failure.” A unvaccinated child with no underlying conditions died of measles in Texas in late FebruaryKennedy said age 6.New Mexico announced two new cases Tuesday, bringing the state’s total to 65. Six people have been hospitalized since the outbreak started. Most of the state’s cases are in Lea County. Two are in Eddy County and Chaves and Dona Ana counties have one each.State health officials say the cases are linked to Texas’ outbreak based on genetic testing. New Mexico reported its first measles-related death in an adult on March 6. How many cases are there in Kansas? Kansas has 37 cases in eight counties in the southwest part of the state, health officials announced Wednesday.Finney, Ford, Grant, Gray and Morton counties have fewer than five cases each. Haskell County has the most with eight cases, Stevens County has seven, Kiowa County has six.The state’s first reported case, identified in Stevens County on March 13, is linked to the Texas and New Mexico outbreaks based on genetic testing, a state health department spokesperson said. But health officials have not determined how the person was exposed. How many cases are there in Oklahoma? Oklahoma confirmed one more case Tuesday for a total cases of 13: 10 confirmed and three probable. The first two probable cases were “associated” with the West Texas and New Mexico outbreaks, the state health department said.Custer, Oklahoma and Cleveland counties had public exposures in the past 42 days. The state health department is not releasing which counties have cases. How many cases are there in Ohio? The Ohio Department of Health confirmed 30 measles cases in the state Thursday. The state county includes only Ohio residents.There are 14 cases in Ashtabula County near Cleveland, 14 in Knox County, and one each in Allen and Holmes counties, the state said. The outbreak in Ashtabula County started with an unvaccinated adult who had interacted with someone who had traveled internationally.Health officials in Knox County, in east-central Ohio, say there are a total of 20 people with measles, but seven of them do not live in Ohio. In 2022, a measles outbreak in central Ohio sickened 85. How many cases are there in Indiana? Indiana confirmed two more cases Monday in an outbreak that has sickened eight in Allen County in the northeast part of the statefive are unvaccinated minors and three are adults whose vaccination status is unknown. The cases have no known link to other outbreaks, the Allen County Department of Health said Monday. How many cases are there in Pennsylvania? In far northwest Pennsylvania, Erie County health officials declared a measles outbreak April 14 after finding two new cases linked to a measles case confirmed March 30.The state has had nine cases overall this year, six of which are not linked to the outbreak, including international travel-related cases in Montgomery County and one in Philadelphia. How many cases are there in Michigan? Montcalm County, near Grand Rapids in western Michigan, has four linked measles cases. State health officials say the cases are tied to a large measles outbreak in Ontario, Canada.The state has eight confirmed measles cases as of Monday, but the remaining four are not part of the Montcalm County outbreak. Michigan’s last measles outbreak was in 2019. How many cases are there in Montana? Montana state health officials announced five cases Thursday in unvaccinated children and adults who had traveled out of state, and confirmed it was an outbreak on Monday. All five are isolating at home in Gallatin County in the southwest part of the state.State health officials are working to trace exposures in Bozeman and Belgrade.They are Montana’s first measles cases in 35 years. Health officials didn’t say whether the cases are linked to other outbreaks in North America. Where else is measles showing up in the U.S.? There have been 800 cases in 2025 as of Friday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 10 clustersdefined as three or more related cases.Measles cases also have been reported in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentuky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, and Washington.Cases and outbreaks in the U.S. are frequently traced to someone who caught the disease abroad. In 2019, the U.S. saw 1,274 cases and almost lost its status of having eliminated measles. What do you need to know about the MMR vaccine? The best way to avoid measles is to get the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.Getting another MMR shot is harmless if there are concerns about waning immunity, the CDC says. People who have documentation of receiving a live measles vaccine in the 1960s don’t need to be revaccinated, but people who were immunized before 1968 with an ineffective measles vaccine made from “killed” virus should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said.People who have documentation that they had measles are immune and those born before 1957 generally don’t need the shots because most children back then had measles and now have “presumptive immunity.”In communities with high vaccination ratesabove 95%diseases like measles have a harder time spreading through communities. This is called “herd immunity.”But childhood vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the pandemic and more parents are claiming religious or personal conscience waivers to exempt their kids from required shots. The U.S. saw a rise in measles cases in 2024, including an outbreak in Chicago that sickened more than 60. What are the symptoms of measles? Measles first infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body, causing a high fever, runny nose, cough, red, watery eyes and a rash.The rash generally appears three to five days after the first symptoms, beginning as flat red spots on the face and then spreading downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC.Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling, and death. How can you treat measles? There’s no specific treatment for measles, so doctors generally try to alleviate symptoms, prevent complications and keep patients comfortable. AP Science Writer Laura Ungar contributed to this report. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Devi Shastri, AP Health Writer
Category:
E-Commerce
Over the past 30 days, many big-name tech giants have seen their stock prices fall hard, largely thanks to President Trumps chaotic tariff rollout. For example, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has seen its shares fall 11% over the past month, while Nvidia has seen its shares fall (Nasdaq: NVDA) fall over 12%. But until yesterday, IBM (NYSE: IBM) was one of the big-name tech giants that rode out the tariff storm pretty well. While the companys stock price did tank along with the rest of the markets in early April, it has recovered nicely since then and, as of the close of bell yesterday, its shares were actually up just a bit (about 0.6%) over the past 30 days. But then IBM announced its Q1 2025 results yesterday, and its stock sank after hours. And today, as of the time of this writing, IBM shares are down more than 6.75% in pre-market trading. The main reason? You can blame Elon Musks DOGE. IBMs Q1 2025 results When a stock drops after a company reports its latest quarterly results, its natural to assume it is doing so because the company in question posted poor numbers. But that actually wasnt the case with IBM yesterday. By all accounts, IBM had a pretty good quarter. Here are its most salient numbers: Revenue: $14.5 billion (up 1%, or up 2% on a constant currency basis) Earnings per share (EPS): $1.60 As noted by CNBC, those critical metrics actually beat analysts estimates, which had expected revenue of $14.4 billion and an EPS of just $1.40. We exceeded expectations for revenue, profitability and free cash flow in the quarter, led by strength across our Software portfolio, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said in a statement announcing the companys Q1 results. There continues to be strong demand for generative AI and our book of business stands at more than $6 billion inception-to-date, up more than $1 billion in the quarter. But if this is the case, why did IBM’s shares drop? Its all because of DOGE. Elon Musks DOGE takes bite out of IBMs government contracts biz Unfortunately for IBMs stock price, the company also announced last night that 15 of its government contracts had either been canceled or paused due to cuts initiated by Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Bloomberg reports that these cuts equate to about $100 million in future payments. Addressing the cuts on the companys financial call, IBMs chief financial officer, James Kavanaugh, said that federal sales account for less than 5% of the companys overall revenue. However, Krishna noted that DOGEs downscaling of the U.S. government did leave IBMs consulting unit more susceptible to discretionary pullbacks and DOGE-related initiatives. As noted by Reuters, the impact of the DOGE cuts on IBMs business sent the companys shares lower in after-hours trading yesterday. IBM issues rare quarterly guidance But IBM also announced something else yesterdayguidance for the second quarter. Historically, IBM has not issued quarterly guidance, but as Reuters notes, the company decided to do so now. “We’ve chosen now, in light of the very unprecedented dynamic of uncertainty going on in the market, to give a second-quarter revenue guidance range. We felt incumbent upon ourselves to give as much transparency as possible to our investor group, IBMs Kavanaugh announced yesterday. That forecast revealed that IBM expects Q2 2025 revenue of between $16.40 billion and $16.75 billion. Thats slightly above analysts forecasts of $16.33 billion, noted Reuters. Still, that attempt at reducing uncertainty in investors didnt do enough to counteract the effects that the DOGE cuts had. In premarket trading this morning, as of the time of this writing, IBM stock is down 6.75% to $228.90. As of yesterday’s close of $245.48 before IBMs Q1 results were released, the companys shares had been up over 11.6% for the year so faran impressive return considering all the market turmoil over the past three weeks.
Category:
E-Commerce
So many mourners lined up to see Pope Francis lying in state in a simple wooden coffin inside St. Peter’s Basilica that the Vatican kept the doors open all night due to higher-than-expected turnout, closing the basilica for just an hour Thursday morning for cleaning.The basilica is bathed in a hushed silence as mourners from across the globe make a slow, shuffling procession up the main aisle to pay their last respects to Francis, who died Monday after a stroke.The hours spent on line up the stately via della Conciliazione through St. Peter’s Square and through the Holy Door into the basilica has allowed mourners to find community around the Argentine pontiff’s legacy of inclusion and humble persona.Emiliano Fernandez, a Catholic from Mexico, was waiting in line around midnight, and after two hours still had not reached the basilica.“I don’t even care how much time I wait here. It’s just the opportunity to (show) how I admired Francisco in his life,” said Fernandez, whose admiration for the pope grew during his 2016 visit to Mexico. “I think because of the respect that I have for him and the great person he was, it’s worth the wait.”The last numbers released by the Vatican said more than 50,000 people had paid their respects during the first 12 hours of the public viewing, starting at 11 a.m. Wednesday. The basilica closed for just one hour Thursday morning, from 6 a.m. until 7 a.m., the planned opening time.Among the first-day mourners was a church group of 14-year-olds from near Milan who arrived for the now-suspended canonization of the first millennial saint, as well as a woman who prayed to the pope for a successful operation and an Italian family who brought their small children to see the pope’s body.“We came because we didn’t bring them when he was alive, so we thought we would bring them for a final farewell,” said Rosa Scorpati, who was exiting the basilica Wednesday with her three children in strollers. “They were good, but I don’t think they really understood because they haven’t yet had to deal with death.”Like many others, the Scorpati family from Calabria was in Rome on an Easter vacation, only to be met with the news of Francis’ death on Easter Monday.Out of devotion to the pope and his message of inclusion, the grieving faithful joined the procession of mourners that wended from St. Peter’s Square through the basilica’s Holy Door, with the repentant among them winning an indulgence, a form of atonement granted during the Jubilee Holy Year. From there, the line extended down the basilica’s central aisle to the pope’s simple wooden casket.By late Wednesday, the wait appeared to be three or four hours and growing. A person doing crowd management estimated that the wait was closer to five hours. The mourners stretched down the center of Via della Conciliazione, in a lane set aside for Jubilee pilgrims.After three days of public viewing, a funeral Mass including heads of state will be held Saturday in St. Peter’s Square. The pope will then be buried in a niche within the St. Mary Major Basilica, near his favorite Madonna icon.The death of Francis, who was 88, capped a 12-year pontificate characterized by his concern for the poor and his message of inclusion, but he was also criticized by some conservatives who felt alienated by his progressive outlook.A procession of priests, bishops and cardinals accompanied Francis’ body Wednesday on its journey from a private viewing inside the Vatican to St. Peter’s Square. The pageantry contrasted with the human interactions of rank-and-file mourners at the public viewing.Francis lay in state in an open casket, perched on a ramp facing mourners, with four Swiss Guards standing at attention. As the crowd reached the casket, many lifted their smartphones to snap a photo.One nun accompanying an elderly woman with a cane walked away sobbing, “My pope is gone.”Such despair was rare. The mood was more one of gratitude for a pope who had, by example, taught many people to open their minds.“I am very devoted to the pope,” said Ivenes Bianco, who was in Rome from Brindisi, Italy, for an operation. “He was important to me because he brought many people together by encouraging coexistence.” She cited Francis’ acceptance of the gay community and his insistence on helping the poor.Humbeline Coroy came to Rome from Perpignan, France, for the planned canonization Sunday of 15-year-old Carlo Acutis, which was suspended after the pope’s death. She stayed to pay respects to Francis, enjoying exchanges with Japanese mourners they met as they waited under the sun in St. Peter’s Square.“For me, it is a lot of things. In my job, I work with disabled children, and I traveled to Madagascar to work with poor people. Being here, and close to the pope, is a way of integrating these experiences, and make them concrete,” she said. Coroy also brought prayers for her father, who is sick with cancer.For Alessandra Nardi, the pope’s death brought back memories of the death three years ago of her beloved uncle Luigi, who used to call her from St. Peter’s Square when he came to see Pope Francis say Mass. He “let me hear the bells toll. It was a beautiful thing.”Riccardo Ojedea from Colombia said his experience waiting in line for two hours to pay respects to the pope had shown him how much “humanity loves the pope.”“He left a very important legacy for everyone,” he said, “to make this world happier.”AP video journalist Isaia Montelione contributed. Colleen Barry, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||