Amid the outbreak of avian influenza (H5N1) or commonly known as bird flu in Odisha, the state has also reported its first human case of bird flu. According to Dr Mukesh Mahaling, state health minister, the case was found in the Mangalpur Community Health Centre (CHC) of Puri district.

This is also where the first cases of the mass chicken deaths at a local poultry farm was detected with over 5,000 chickens already culled. The state plans to cull up to 20,000 birds with in a 1km radius of the infected farm. The affected areas include Pipili and Satabadi blocks, which are currently being observed closely.

Measures By The Health Department

The health department has established a surveillance zone with in the same radius and a secondary surveillance from 1km to 10km around the affected area. ASHA workers are also conducting door-to-door awareness campaigns along with distributing the Tamiflu medicines and N95 masks to contain the situation.

"The health department intensified its monitoring efforts. Surveillance and preparedness activities are being rigorously conducted in the Pipili and Satyabadi blocks of Puri district, where the ongoing H5N1 outbreak is under close observation. A primary surveillance zone has been established within 1 Km radius, with a secondary layer of surveillance extending from 1 Km to 10 Km. Our department is fully prepared, with ASHA workers conducting door-to-door awareness campaigns and distributing Tamiflu medicine to those in need. N95 masks are also being distributed as part of the containment strategy. The government remains vigilant, with close coordination between the health and animal husbandry departments. To date, approximately 25,000 birds have been culled as part of the containment measures," said Dr Mahaling.

What Is Bird Flu?

This is the third human infection of bird flu from India, the first cases were reported in 2019 and another from June this year.

It refers to a disease caused by birds who are infected by the avian influenza Type A viruses. H5N1 is a highly pathogenic virus that can cause severe illness in humans, whereas the H9N2 is a variant of avian influenza that can occasionally infect humans. The person detected bird flu has the H9N2 variant.

Bird flu viruses do not infect humans as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, human infections with bird flu have occurred. The CDC adds that there is yet no evidence of a human-to-human transmission of the avian influenza virus.

"Human infections with avian influenza viruses can happen when virus gets into a person’s eyes, nose or mouth, or is inhaled," says the CDC.

Symptoms Of Bird Flu

The symptoms range from mild such as eye infections, upper respiratory symptoms to severe, including illness, pneumonia that can result to death.

Other symptoms include conjunctivitis, sore throat, headache, runny nose, and muscle and body aches.

Prevention

The CDC recommends avoiding contact with surfaces that are animal faeces, raw milk, litter, or materials contaminated by birds or any other animals. Consuming uncooked or raw bird meat.

Measles in US have already logged up to 982 cases in 2026, revealed the data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday. It is more than four times the number of cases as this time last year when a large outbreak was just beginning in West Texas.

As of now, 26 states have reported measles cases so far. Large outbreaks continue to grow in Utah, Arizona and South Carolina.

Measles In US: How Many Are Hospitalized?

This is the largest measles outbreak US has seen in a generation. According to a South Carolina epidemiologist Dr Linda Bell, reported by NBC, at least 20 people have been hospitalized. These hospitalizations involve both adults and children. Additional cases required medical care for measles but were not hospitalized,” Bell said.

As per the CDC data, 1 in 10 measles cases in 2025 resulted in hospitalization and most of them were children and teenager.

Florida too is seeing a rise in cases. At the beginning of this year, the state's health department reported 92 cases since the beginning of the year. 66 of the cases were in Collier County and largely clustered at Ave Maria University, near Naples.

Measles In US: Symptoms That Stay

While some people recover, some also stay with the symptoms way beyond the illness. Long term health problems develop even after the rash clears up. This is because the virus targets cells that play roles in a person's immune system and makes them vulnerable to subsequent illnesses.

In some rare cases, people could develop dangerous brain inflammation seven to 10 years after a measles infection. This condition is called sclerosing panencephalitis, or SSPE, is almost always fatal.

Measles In US: Rarest Of Rare Case Study

Doctors at Children's Hospital of Orange County in California described a case in the New England Journal of Medicine. It was a 7-year-old boy who went to the hospital following several months of seizures and cognitive problems that had gotten worse. The boy had lived in Afghanistan in his infancy where he had gotten measles.

Doctors said that when he arrived in the hospital he could not speak and his body's muscle reflexes were not working. These were signs of neurological problems and he was diagnosed with SPPE. Unfortunately, within a year of his first symptoms, he died.

Measles In US: What Is It And What Are The Common Symptoms?

Measles has a high transmissibility, and high measles immunity levels are required to prevent sustained measles virus transmission.

This is why herd immunity for measles could be easily breached.

It easily spreads from one infected person to another through breathes, coughs or sneezes and could cause severe disease, complications, and even death.

Symptoms include:

• High fever
• Cough
• Runny Nose
• Rash all over the body

The most unique symptom or the early sign of measles in the Koplik spots. These are tiny white dots that look like grains of salt on red gums inside the cheeks that appear before the red rash starts to appear on a person's face and then the body.

Furthermore, the symptoms of measles are also characterized by the three Cs:

• Cough
• Coryza or runny nose
• Conjunctivitis or red and water eyes

A warming climate may not only reshape the planet, weather patterns, and ecosystems, but may also influence who is born and cause gender imbalance, according to an alarming study.

The large study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides new evidence that higher temperatures can influence the sex ratio at birth -- the number of boys born relative to girls.

The findings, based on an analysis of more than five million births across 33 sub-Saharan African countries and India, showed that temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius have consistently led to fewer male births in both regions.

"Extreme heat is not only a major public health threat. We show that temperature fundamentally shapes human reproduction by influencing who is born and who is not born,” said lead author Dr. Jasmin Abdel Ghany, from the University of Oxford.

“Our findings indicate that temperature has measurable consequences for fetal survival and family planning behavior, with implications for population composition and gender balance. Understanding these processes is essential for anticipating how the environment affects societies in a warming climate," Ghany added.

Climate Change May Determine Who Is Born

The study showed a decline in male births among women exposed to high temperatures during the first trimester of pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa.

This pattern is consistent with increased prenatal mortality driven by maternal heat stress. It is particularly pronounced among women living in rural areas, those with lower levels of education, and those with higher birth orders.

On the contrary, the team found that in India, where sex ratios have historically been distorted by preference for a male heir and sex-selective abortion, the effects appear later in pregnancy.

Higher temperatures during the second trimester led to fewer male births. This was particularly seen among older mothers, high-parity births, and women without sons in northern states.

Notably, the study highlighted that the effects of heat are not evenly distributed.

Women with fewer resources and those living in more vulnerable settings are more strongly affected, raising concerns about widening health inequalities under climate change.

Warming Temperatures Can Reshape Demographics

The research demonstrates how environmental change can shape fundamental population processes.

It contributes to growing evidence that extreme heat is not only an environmental and economic challenge, but also a major public health and demographic issue.

Amid rising global temperatures, the researchers stressed the need to protect maternal health and to improve access to health care, as this will cut down the long-term impacts of heat on reproduction and population dynamics.

During the height of President Trump's third political campaign in 2024, Robert F Kennedy Jr. shocked the world by changing his affiliation with the Democratic Party and throwing his support behind the Republican candidate.

But Kennedy Jr. was not the only one to switch sides. He also brought along a string of health conscious female followers who called themselves the MAHA Moms after his Make America Healthy Again movement, all of whom enthusiastically voted for Trump.

However, a new executive order by Trump to protect the production of glyphosate-based herbicides, such as Roundup, has caused unrest among the MAHA community and invited severe backlash.

In a February 18 order, the President wrote: 'Elemental phosphorus is also a critical precursor element for the production of glyphosate-based herbicides, which play a critical role in maintaining America’s agricultural advantage by enabling farmers to efficiently and cost-effectively produce food and livestock feed.

"As the most widely used crop protection tools in United States agriculture, glyphosate-based herbicides are a cornerstone of this Nation’s agricultural productivity and rural economy, allowing United States farmers and ranchers to maintain high yields and low production costs while ensuring that healthy, affordable food options remain within reach for all American families.

"There is no direct one-for-one chemical alternative to glyphosate-based herbicides. Lack of access to glyphosate-based herbicides would critically jeopardize agricultural productivity, adding pressure to the domestic food system, and may result in a transition of cropland to other uses due to low productivity.

"Given the profit margins growers currently face, any major restrictions in access to glyphosate-based herbicides would result in economic losses for growers and make it untenable for them to meet growing food and feed demands."

What Is Glyphosate?

In addition, glyphosate breaks down in the environment, can be used for no-till and low-till farming which can reduce soil erosion, and facilitates integrated pest management.

Apart from farming, the compound is also used in conservation land, pastures, rangeland, aquatic areas, forests, turf grass, residential areas, non-food tree crops (pine, poplar and Christmas trees), rights of way, commercial areas, paved areas, spot treatments, ornamentals, parks, and wildlife management areas.

Glyphosate can be applied in agricultural, residential and commercial settings using a wide range of application methods, including aerial sprays, ground broadcast sprayers of various types, shielded and hooded sprayers, wiper applicators, sponge bars, injection systems, and controlled droplet applicators.

Why Is It Dangerous?

People can be exposed to the herbicide through agricultural use, as residues are found in food, water, and sometimes, the urine of the general population.

In 2015, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as "probably" carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A). Previous studies have also shown that the herbicide can cause DNA damage in humans and rodent cells.

Acute exposure can also cause skin/eye irritation, nausea, and, in high-dose ingestion, severe toxicity or death. Chronic exposure studies have raised concerns about liver inflammation, metabolic syndrome, and endocrine disruption, especially in early life.

Talking about the President's new order, Alex Clark, a health and wellness podcaster for the conservative group Turning Point USA, which is closely allied with the president said: "Women feel like they were lied to, that MAHA movement is a sham. How am I supposed to rally these women to vote red in the midterms? How can we win their trust back? I am unsure if we can.”

Vani Hari, a food activist, author and one of the grass roots leaders of the MAHA coalition also added: "This executive order reads like it was drafted in a chemical company boardroom. Calling it ‘national defense’ while expanding protections for toxic products is a dangerous misdirection. Real national security is protecting American families, farmers and children.”

Kelly Ryerson, another key player in the MAHA movement who has been lobbying US regulators and lawmakers for restrictions on glyphosate and other pesticides, further noted that this recent move by Trump and Kennedy Jr. is an insult to those who have largely supported the administration because of promises that MAHA issues would be taken seriously.

But despite wide criticism, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classification for glyphosate is “not likely” to be carcinogenic (causing cancer) to humans, based on evidence from animals and humans.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has also classified glyphosate as “probably” carcinogenic to humans, which means there was sufficient evidence of cancer in animals, but limited evidence of cancer in humans.

What Does The Government Say?

Paying no heed to his followers' complaints, Kennedy Jr. is doubling down on his defense of Trump's order and claims that while pesticides can cause health problems, but said they are necessary to ensure an adequate food supply.

In a X post, he explained: "Pesticides and herbicides are toxic by design, engineered to kill living organisms. When we apply them across millions of acres and allow them into our food system, we put Americans at risk. Chemical manufacturers have paid tens of billions of dollars to settle cancer claims linked to their products, and many agricultural communities report elevated cancer rates and chronic disease.

"Unfortunately, our agricultural system depends heavily on these chemicals. The U.S. represents 4 percent of the world’s population, yet we use roughly 25 percent of its pesticides. If these inputs disappeared overnight, crop yields would fall, food prices would surge, and America would experience a massive loss of farms even beyond what we are witnessing today. The consequences would be disastrous.

"I support President Trump’s Executive Order to bring agricultural chemical production back to the United States and end our near-total reliance on adversarial nations. His EO protects two pillars of national strength: our defense readiness and our food supply. When hostile actors control critical inputs, they directly threaten the security of the American people. The Trump administration will secure these supply chains to eliminate that vulnerability."

But his allies continue to disagree.

Zen Honeycutt, founder of Moms Across America, said in a post replying to Kennedy Jr.: "It’s been a year. Not a single thing has been done by the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] to reduce our children’s and families exposure to pesticides. In fact regulations have only gotten worse, loosened and more harmful pesticides have been approved.

"There is no excuse for this. We love you Bobby but this administration needs to keep their word. We were promised specifically clean air, clean water, and addressing of the pesticides [in] our foods. Whether glyphosate comes from China or the USA it’s still sterilizing and killing us and our soil."

Lori Ann Burd, environmental health program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, also called the executive order “a sickening love letter from Trump to the largest pesticide companies in the world.

“It’s more proof that Trump doesn’t care at all about Americans’ health,” she said. “While he’s pandering to chemical companies the rest of the country, especially those who’ve been poisoned by pesticides, is rightfully asking ‘what about us?’”