Health

"Utah could become the first state to ban fluoride in its drinking water, alarming public health experts and dentists who note the mineral’s role in reducing tooth decay across the nation. The Republican-controlled statehouse sent the legislation to Gov. Spencer Cox (R) last week after both chambers passed it largely along party lines."

"An unidentified illness has killed scores of people and infected hundreds in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organization has reported, with preliminary investigations tracing the outbreak to three children who in January ate a bat and died."

"A child who wasn’t vaccinated died in a measles outbreak in rural West Texas, state officials said Wednesday, the first U.S. death from the highly contagious — but preventable — respiratory disease since 2015."

"The president, still angry about the pandemic response, may be cutting into the country’s fundamental ability to identify emerging diseases and head them off."

"A scientific report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Thursday shows some veterinarians who provide care for cattle were unknowingly infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus last year. ... The report is one of three about bird flu that were scheduled to be published three weeks ago in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). But the scientific publication was abruptly suspended when the Trump administration instructed federal health agencies to pause all external communications on Jan. 21."

"In the U.S., bird flu is spreading rapidly on poultry and dairy farms—and data censorship could pose risks to combating it, experts say."