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The air conditioning has broken down in STAT’s NYC bureau, signaling the start of summer. Happy Friday.
The latest update in the hantavirus cruise ship saga
Prepare yourself; the resolution to the hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship could take several weeks or even months. Here’s the latest update from STAT’s Helen Branswell.
According to the World Health Organization’s latest briefing, the MV Hondius is heading to the Canary Islands. WHO officials are coordinating efforts to disembark people from the ship, and despite its earlier withdrawal from the organization, the United States is cooperating. For more on the outbreak’s origin, read Helen’s story.
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the leading U.S. official overseeing public health on cruise ships is stepping down, as revealed by an internal announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention obtained by STAT’s Daniel Payne.
Luis Rodríguez, who has been with the Vessel Sanitation Program since 2010 and its chief since 2023, is retiring unexpectedly following a challenging year in which the division laid off all full-time employees. The administration did not comment on Rodríguez’s successor. Read more from Daniel.
The (sorry) state of science
STAT’s Anil Oza published two concerning articles about the current state of science yesterday.
First, researchers have identified a possible reason for the prolonged decline in groundbreaking discoveries: an aging workforce. Most scientists produce their most disruptive work early in their careers, but as they age, they tend to favor more conventional research.
An analysis published Thursday in Science examined 12.5 million scientists who published at least three papers between 1960 and 2020, tracking how these papers cited earlier work and were subsequently cited. As researchers aged, they referenced older studies.
In addition to the aging workforce, the rise of AI may be contributing to a surge in fabricated citations in medical journals, according to a study published Thursday.
The study found 4,000 fabricated citations among 2,800 papers—a relatively small but rapidly growing number. In the first seven weeks of 2026, the rate reached one in every 277 papers.
Read more from Anil.
‘The FDA left me’
If you haven’t yet read Lizzy Lawrence’s outstanding article on what the FDA has lost during the second Trump administration, Alex Hogan has dedicated his weekly video to the story. Alex and Lizzy took a tour around DC, interviewing six former FDA officials about their passion for the agency and the turmoil that ultimately led to their departures.
Kids in poorer countries are six times more likely to die during emergency surgery
The disparity in global health outcomes is stark: children in poorer nations with severe abdominal injuries are six times more likely to die after emergency surgery than those in wealthier countries.
This conclusion, published Thursday in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, analyzed data from 237 pediatric patients who underwent trauma laparotomies at 85 hospitals across 32 countries. Most patients were male (82.3%) and had suffered blunt injuries (57.0%) from incidents like car accidents or violence. Globally, the 30-day mortality rate was 8%, with a heightened risk in resource-limited settings.
Traffic accidents are a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Although the study’s sample size was small and diverse, the findings are troubling.
We need more men in nursing
The demand for qualified nurses is increasing, with nearly 200,000 job openings anticipated annually due to a wave of retirements. Who should fill this gap?
Men, writes Nicholas A. Giordano, a nurse and assistant professor at Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing in Atlanta.
Men make up only 12% of nurses nationwide, despite the profession offering stability and median salaries that often reach six figures. The percentage of men in nursing has stagnated for years.
To address the gender imbalance, Giordano suggests that health leaders should broaden their outreach to men and continue recruiting male faculty to mentor male students early in their training. Read more.
What we’re reading
- Trump’s immigration crackdown has harmed scores of kids with tear gas, pepper spray, ProPublica
- Republicans’ midterm health care dilemma, Axios
- Employees with medical conditions challenge C.D.C. in-office requirement, New York Times
- Becerra’s rise baffles his former Biden colleagues, Politico
