Free Republic

California health officials are scrambling after tuberculosis exposures were confirmed at multiple schools as cases of the world’s deadliest infectious disease continue climbing across the state. Fresno County officials confirmed a cluster at Justin Garza High School, where one active infection was found, though authorities did not specify whether the case involved a student or staff, according to ABC30. Officials emphasized no one on campus is currently contagious, but 22 out of 169 people exposed have tested positive for the infection, though they show no symptoms yet. Health officials are teaming up with the school for contact tracing and testing,...

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said on Thursday that he was appalled by a report about the death of 31 slots who died under the care of Sloth World, a tourist attraction in Orlando that wasn’t yet opened to the public. The slots were from South American rainforests, and perished in storage warehouses between December 2024 and February 2025, according to an incident report by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “These sloths — naturally solitary animals — were put in the worst conditions possible,” Frost said in a Thursday post on X. “They were taken from their natural habitats...

April is sexually transmitted infection (STI) Awareness Month, and with it brings renewed attention to these infections. One issue that is rapidly escalating beyond routine public health messaging: antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea. Once considered a straightforward infection to diagnose and cure, gonorrhea is evolving into a far more serious challenge—particularly for men. Experts now caution that this shift demands a reframing of the conversation, recognizing resistant gonorrhea not just as a general public health concern, but as a growing men’s health crisis with unique risks and consequences. At the center of this concern is the speed at which gonorrhea has adapted to...

Los Angeles funded and enabled a massive population of drug addicts to set up tent camps and banned effective ways of killing vermin. Medieval diseases returned. What’s to blame? Global warming! The county health department’s report indicates that California also had the highest number of flea-borne typhus cases in the modern era at 277. Number 1 in the modern era. Or perhaps California is going medieval. Shannon Bennett, the chief of science and a microbiology curator at the California Academy of Sciences, said the disease has been around for centuries and is “as old as the plague.” “It’s always a...

President Trump has just announced that White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has been diagnosed with “early stage breast cancer.” “She has a fantastic medical team, and her prognosis is excellent!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “During the treatment period, she will be spending virtually full time at the White House, which makes me, as President, very happy! “Her Strength and her Commitment to continue doing the job she loves, and does so well, while undergoing treatment, tells you everything you need to know about her. “Susie, as one of my closest and most important advisors, is tough and...

When it comes to the queer bar in the wild, so many threats exist, and it's only gotten worse in the past few years. Higher upfront costs combined with lower foot traffic have caused a nationwide problem for the service and food industries, which is exacerbated in queer spaces, which deal with smaller demographics than the average bar or restaurant. And of course, there’s the fact that many people, especially younger people, just don’t go out or have a third space anymore.

A newly surfaced CIA document suggests US intelligence once reviewed research that hinted at a possible cancer treatment more than 60 years ago. The document, produced in February 1951 and declassified in 2014, summarizes a Soviet scientific paper that examined striking similarities between parasitic worms and cancerous tumors. snip Although the document was declassified more than a decade ago, it has recently resurfaced online, fueling outrage among some Americans who say it raises troubling questions about why Cold War research hinting at possible cancer treatments sat in intelligence archives for decades.

LOS ANGELES - A disease that can cause neurological illness and meningitis in people, rat lungworm, has been found in wild opposums, rats and a zoo animal in San Diego County, indicating its establishment in California for the first time. Researchers reported their findings in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

An extensive investigation based on declassified government documents and previously suppressed scientific research has uncovered compelling evidence that U.S. biological weapons programs contributed to the emergence of Lyme disease, which now affects hundreds of thousands of Americans annually. The investigation reveals a pattern of concealment spanning six decades, including the systematic suppression of critical medical research and the release of nearly 300,000 radioactive ticks across Virginia to study how the disease-carrying insects would spread. In 2014, researchers discovered extensive unpublished materials in the garage of deceased scientist Willy Burgdorfer, who identified bacterium that causes Lyme disease. The materials revealed that...

"The Evil Dead" star Bruce Campbell announced he's been diagnosed with cancer and will be canceling upcoming appearances. On Monday night, Campbell took to X to share that he has a "treatable" but not "curable" type of cancer. "I apologize if that was a shock — it was for me too," he wrote. "I’m posting this, because professionally, a few things will have to change — appearances and cons and work in general need to take [a] back seat to treatment," Campbell continued. Bruce Campbell holds an axe in a shot from "The Evil Dead" "The Evil Dead" star Bruce...

A three-member panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has allowed the U.S. military to reinstate its enlistment ban for HIV-positive people, ruling on Wednesday that the ban was based on “rational concerns.” The Department of Defense (DOD) has a “rational basis” to exclude people with HIV from enlisting in the armed forces, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer wrote in his opinion, even those with undetectable viral loads whose treatment renders them unable to transmit the virus. The ruling reverses a Virginia district court’s 2024 injunction blocking the DOD’s enlistment ban, which had been in effect since the Pentagon instituted...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced on Sunday that he would be “introducing federal legislation to make the Pride Flag a congressionally authorized symbol.” In a post on X, Schumer criticized President Donald Trump for attacking “not just the LGBTQ community,” but everyone who cares “about pride and equality” in New York City (NYC). Schumer added that he was “proud to stand with” people such as New York State Rep. Tony Simone (D) and New York State Sen. Erik Bottcher (D) to make his announcement. “The Stonewall Inn is sacred ground,” Schumer wrote. “Last week, Donald Trump attacked not...

VD for Valentine’s Day? In case you needed a reason to stay celibate this weekend, there’s a sexually transmitted fungus making the rounds and leaving its mark. Experts say the public should be aware of the nation’s “largest known outbreak” of Trichophyton mentagrophytes genotype VII. Known as TMVII, the nasty business is the only known fungal-based sexually transmitted infection. Cases of TMVII have been on the rise in Europe for the past several years, especially among men who have sex with men. In 2024, an NYC man became the first reported US case of TMVII, and it seems the icky...

A federal agent from Severna Park who may have infected his wife, son and nephew with the swine flu contracted the flu virus while on duty with President Barack Obama earlier this month in Mexico City. The man, who asked not be identified, was on duty as part of a protection detail with the president and other U.S. officials, he said. The agent and the president were part of a museum visit there with Felipe Solis, a distinguished archaeologist who showed Obama around the city's anthropology museum during his visit to Mexico earlier this month. Solis died the following week...

Time for Ozempic to walk the plank? Top dietitians in Australia this week are waving a red flag about an unforeseen impact of the GLP-1 class of weight-loss drugs, including Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro. In a new systematic review of existing research, led by professor Clare Collins of the Newcastle School of Health Sciences in New South Wales, Australia, it appears that very few global trials of the drugs have taken into consideration what and how much patients are eating while using them. This, experts have said, means many patients have been functionally malnourished — sometimes developing serious vitamin deficiencies...

Alamelu, a gray-haired woman who wears a bright pink sari and a gap-tooth smile, has lived in the Kalvari Nagar leprosy colony in India for 22 years and another colony before that. Her family sent her away when she was only 12 years old after she was diagnosed with what is likely the world's most misunderstood and stigmatized disease. They feared her presence in the home would tarnish the family's reputation and her siblings would never be married. Alamelu, who is now 75, never saw her family again. Like most residents of Kalvari Nagar, this woman was cured of leprosy...

A popular honeymoon destination is the site of the Pacific’s fastest-growing HIV epidemic, with officials pointing to rising meth use as a key driver. In Fiji, HIV/AIDS cases are projected to double this year to more than 3,000, according to UNAIDS and Fiji’s Ministry of Health. Officials say drug use is fueling the surge across the Pacific island nation. In December, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a rapid assessment detecting unsafe injecting practices.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 4, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Two people held at a large immigrant family detention center in Dilley, Texas, have tested positive for measles, officials said. The South Texas Family Residential Center, located about 70 miles south of San Antonio, houses roughly 1,100 adults and children. After the cases were confirmed Jan. 31, federal officials said they isolated anyone who may have been exposed and limited movement inside the building. “Medical staff is continuing to monitor the detainees’ conditions and will take appropriate and active steps to prevent further infection,” said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at the U.S. Department...

The No. 1 job of a mayor, above everything else, is to keep his or her city functioning. Yet with people dying on the cold streets of New York and trash building up in parts of the city, New York is by no means functioning. Not even close. The snow and frigid temps have tested Gotham’s socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani and, alas, he has not risen to the occasion. Rather, he’s left the city a mess. Everest-size mountains of garbage have popped up. Unremoved snow, ice and road salt have damaged Con Edison electrical equipment, contributing to power outages. Most...

Eight-foot piles of rat-infested trash are choking the streets around Gracie Mansion — which has gotten white-glove shoveling treatment as Mayor Zohran Mamdani crows he can’t “imagine how it could get better’’ in the city. While Hizzoner’s Upper East Side neighbors are forced to trudge through garbage-plagued roads, roaming rodents and mounds of snow tainted with dog pee a full week after Winter Storm Fern, the sidewalks outside the lefty mayor’s digs on East 88th Street are squeaky clean. “Clean as a whistle for the mayor,” Rivers said. “Look at this side.” “This side” is marred by massive piles of...