Abortion SCOTUS ruling, Ebola outbreak: Morning Rounds

During a conversation about top fruits, my STAT colleague Alexa Lee and I concluded that peaches have been quite average recently. Is this a localized issue to New York City? Share your thoughts on the matter.

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Supreme Court preserves access to mail-order mifepristone

Currently, mail-order abortion pills remain legal.

Following a three-day extension for further consideration, the Supreme Court has put a temporary hold on a federal appeals court’s decision that required women seeking abortions to see a doctor in person. The court’s recent ruling guarantees access to mifepristone as the lawsuit proceeds. The decision was passed with a 7-2 vote, with Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissenting; Thomas described mailing mifepristone as a “criminal enterprise.”

If the complexities of this case confuse you, along with its broader implications for drug regulation, consider reading Theresa’s story from last week.

Africa CDC declares Ebola outbreak in DRC

Health officials in Africa confirmed an Ebola outbreak on Friday in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, resulting in 246 suspected cases and 65 reported deaths.

Preliminary testing indicates the outbreak stems from an Ebola species other than the Zaire strain, as per the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. While vaccines exist for Ebola Zaire, there are only experimental ones for other strains.

Africa CDC revealed that sequencing is ongoing to identify the strain.

The agency highlighted several concerns, such as the disease spreading in urban areas, frequent movement of people for work, regional insecurity, and challenges in infection prevention and control. The outbreak is occurring near the borders with Uganda and South Sudan.

Africa CDC announced a meeting today with global and regional health authorities, vaccine and drug developers, and charitable groups.

Ituri was also impacted by the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak, the second-largest recorded. — Andrew Joseph

The violent fallout from Trump’s cuts to foreign aid

After President Trump began his second term, his administration promptly dismantled the United States Agency for International Development, a major international provider of aid, including health aid. While the consequences of this withdrawal have been well-documented, a new analysis in Science sheds further light: regions that received more USAID support have experienced increased violent conflict since the agency’s closure.

According to a study released yesterday, regions with the most U.S. aid had a 6.5% higher likelihood of conflict compared to those without U.S. aid, with a roughly 10% rise in riots and battle-related fatalities. Read more about the study here.

What is a ‘qualified’ medical school applicant?

The Department of Justice recently sent a letter to Yale’s School of Medicine, accusing it of illegally discriminating against applicants who are not Black or Hispanic. This is the latest action by the Trump administration to limit DEI initiatives aimed at diversifying the scientific workforce. Experts argue that it inadvertently reopens debates on what defines a qualified physician.

This issue arose after a 2023 Supreme Court decision that banned affirmative action in admissions. The Trump administration accused medical schools of continuing discriminatory practices, pointing to disparities in average test scores and GPAs among different racial groups over the last three admissions cycles. The DOJ also sent a similar letter to the University of California, Los Angeles, medical school last week.

Read more about the consequences of these letters from STAT’s Anil Oza.

Why isn’t alcohol seen as a public health emergency?

We have previously shared multiple stories from STAT’s latest series on how alcohol contributes to an epidemic of injuries, illnesses, and deaths in the United States. Alex Hogan interviewed the series’ authors, Lev Facher and Isabella Cueto, about their key insights from extensive reporting. Watch here.

MIT losing research funds, grad students

MIT’s research operations have decreased by 10% over the past year due to federal funding gaps and policy changes, according to President Sally Kornbluth. She also noted a consistent drop in graduate admissions in a video posted on YouTube yesterday.

Kornbluth attributed the difficulties to the Trump administration’s rigorous efforts to reshape higher education, increased taxes on large university endowments, and immigration policy changes that have deterred international students from applying. MIT is facing a $300 million deficit, which has already led to library closures and a reduction in undergraduate admissions.

Read more about the challenges MIT is facing.

The hole in the Craig Venter tributes

Two weeks ago, genomics pioneer Craig Venter passed away. He was undeniably one of the 20th century’s most influential scientists. Tributes poured in, including a touching reflection from STAT’s Matt Herper. However, Zach Utz, the former archivist of the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH, points out an omission in these tributes.

In the 1990s, when Venter’s company Celera declared it would outperform the publicly funded Human Genome Project in sequencing the first human genome, it was framed as a race between an audacious private scientist and a sluggish bureaucracy. The narratives following Venter’s death have perpetuated this misleading dichotomy.

To understand how Celera’s ambitious project was made possible by public data from the NIH, read more from Utz.

What we’re reading

• Trump demands Medicaid data for deportation. Some states go a step further., KFF Health News
• Judge blocks Trump administration’s demand for Rhode Island hospital’s records of transgender kids, AP
• CDC plans to transfer monkeys to nonprofit’s sanctuary as it seeks to reduce animal testing, STAT
• U.S. reports no hantavirus cases from cruise outbreak, monitors 41, Reuters