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Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a statewide health emergency in New York State on Monday as measles cases increased dangerously across rural counties where vaccination rates have lagged. As of Saturday, 108 measles cases had been reported across the state this year, the most since 2019, when New York was the epicenter of a national outbreak. Most of the cases are in rural areas, concentrated in the Finger Lakes region. (Goldstein, 10/5)

Measles cases in Pennsylvania have surpassed 1,000 so far this year as the state continues to battle its largest outbreak in decades. Monday's update from the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) brings the total number of 2026 measles cases in the state to 1,004 across 39 counties. At least 198 people have been hospitalized, and five measles-associated deaths have been reported, DOH data shows. (Kekatos, 10/5)

President Trump said Monday he is concerned about the suspected plague case in Russia, saying the U.S. is “looking at it very strongly.” The State Department said Monday it was monitoring the suspected case of pneumonic plague in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. “I hate to see them having it,” Trump told reporters before departing the White House for Nebraska. “It’s a rough disease. We used to be able to control, but somehow those microbes have gotten stronger and smarter.” (Wilson, 10/5)

Plague is one of history’s most feared diseases, responsible for pandemics that killed tens of millions of people. Today, human cases are rare and can usually be treated with antibiotics. A suspected case of pneumonic plague in Siberia has renewed attention on the disease after a young worker at a Russian institute that studies plague and other dangerous infections died of severe pneumonia. (Gale, 10/6)

Kenya’s Health Ministry on Tuesday confirmed the country’s first imported Ebola case from Congo. ... Health authorities have placed the county on high alert and are monitoring for possible additional cases. (10/6)

The State Department’s new approach to foreign aid is changing the way the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention works abroad. (Paun, 10/5)

Detected cases of a rare but deadly fungal infection increased about fourfold from 2023 to 2025 at a U.S. laboratory that tests samples nationwide, and the reasons why aren't clear, researchers said. The clinical reference laboratory at the University of Washington identified 48 confirmed cases and one probable case of Cladophialophora bantiana infection from January 2009 to July 2026. While the annual case count ranged from one to five in 2009-2023, it jumped to eight in 2024 and 14 in 2025. (Rudd, 10/5)

The Trump administration released a report showing career officials had objected to the 2021 memo as evidence that the policy was biased against conservatives. But in an ironic twist, the administration has forced out many of the objectors. (Barrett. 10/5)