Mike Stobbe | The Greenwood Commonwealth

Municipal workers collect dead pelicans on Santa Maria beach in Lima, Peru, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2022, as thousands of birds have died in November along the Pacific of Peru from bird flu, according to The National Forest and Wildlife Service (Serfor). The bird flu virus drawing attention in 2023 _ Type A H5N1 _ was first identified in 1959, by investigators looking into a flu outbreak in chickens in Scotland. Like other viruses, it has evolved over time, spawning newer versions of itself. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo, File)

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Why sick minks are reigniting worries about bird flu
By MIKE STOBBE - AP Medical Writer
Sat,02/18/23-8:09AM , 348 Reads
NEW YORK (AP) — A recent bird flu outbreak at a mink farm has reignited worries about the virus spreading more broadly to people.

Scientists have been keeping tabs on this bird flu virus since the 1950s, though it wasn't deemed a threat to people until a 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong among visitors to live poultry markets.
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This scanning electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows rod-shaped Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria. U.S. health officials are advising people to stop using the over-the-counter eye drops, EzriCare Artificial Tears, that have been linked to an outbreak of drug-resistant infections of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday night, Feb. 1, 2023, sent a health alert to physicians, saying the outbreak includes at least 55 people in 12 states. One died. (Janice Haney Carr/CDC via AP)

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Eye drops recalled after US drug-resistant bacteria outbreak
By MIKE STOBBE - AP Medical Writer
Thu,02/02/23-9:09AM , 786 Reads
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials said Thursday a company is recalling its over-the-counter eye drops that have been linked to an outbreak of drug-resistant infections.
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Socially distanced kindergarten students wait for their parents to pick them up on the first day of in-person learning at Maurice Sendak Elementary School on April 13, 2021, in Los Angeles. Vaccination rates for U.S. kindergarteners in 2022 saw a significant drop for the second year in a row, according to new data released Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023, and worried federal officials are launching a new campaign to try to help bring them back up. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

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US kindergarten vaccination rate dropped again, data shows
By MIKE STOBBE - AP Medical Writer
Thu,01/12/23-12:03PM , 670 Reads
NEW YORK (AP) — Vaccination rates for U.S. kindergarteners dropped again last year, and federal officials are starting a new campaign to try to bring them up.
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Final tally: Nearly 107,000 US overdose deaths last year
By MIKE STOBBE - AP Medical Writer
Wed,12/21/22-1:26PM , 208 Reads
NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year, according to final figures released Thursday.

The official number was 106,699, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. That's nearly 16% higher than the nearly 92,000 overdose deaths in 2020.
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