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The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed a third H5N1 avian flu outbreak at a large layer farm in Arizona, affecting nearly 1.4 million birds. Since the middle of May, the virus has hit three of the state’s large layer farms, all in Maricopa County, leading to a loss of more than 5 million birds. The outbreak wiped out about 95% of the birds at Hickman Family Farms’ facilities, and has shuttered all of the company’s West Valley farms, according to a local media report. (Schnirring, 6/3)

The South Dakota Department of Health (SDDH) yesterday reported its first measles case of the year, which involves an adult resident of Meade County who became ill after international travel. In a statement, the SDDH said the patient visited several public locations while infectious, including an urgent care in Rapid City on May 28 and an urgent care in Sturgis on May 29. (Schnirring, 6/3)

After years of largely predictable norovirus waves, the emergence of a new strain might have disrupted the seasonal pattern of outbreaks from this notorious stomach bug, suggests a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In previous years, the U.S. usually saw norovirus outbreaks increase around December. That marked the start of the season for the virus. But last year's season started in October, as a new norovirus strain called GII.17 drove a record wave of outbreaks. (Tin, 6/3)

A recent study in The Journal of Gerontology analyses Medicare data from 3,588,671 Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed as having COVID-19 from October 2021 to March 2023 and finds that 3.9% of beneficiaries—or about 140,000 people—were diagnosed with long COVID after experiencing symptoms for at least 1 year. The authors also estimated the risk of developing long COVID based on the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered prior to the index date, using Medicare Part B claims and pharmacy records. (Soucheray, 6/3)

Loryn Competti was watching the news with her husband at their home in Cincinnati when she heard about the new federal policy about who should get a COVID vaccine. "I started crying," says Competti. "I was like, 'Am I really not going to be able to get this vaccine? Why? Why?' That's absolutely terrifying." (Stein, 6/3)

Moderna Inc. has agreed to do a placebo-controlled trial of its new Covid vaccine that was recently approved by US regulators, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday. In a post on X, Kennedy said he wanted to “address those of you who have anxieties” about the Food and Drug Administration’s limited approval of Moderna’s vaccine, which was cleared for a narrower segment of the population than prior shots. (Smith and Cohrs Zhang, 6/3)

The fact that the COVID-19 vaccine is not available for newborn babies is shielding a group of prisoners on Georgia’s death row from execution. Executions in Georgia were halted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the state attorney general’s office entered into an agreement with lawyers for people on death row to set the terms under which they could resume for a specific group of prisoners. (Brumback, 6/3)

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) late last month upgraded its recall on tomatoes contaminated with salmonella to a Class I. The agency said produce sold by Williams Farms Repack could pose “serious adverse health consequences or death,” in a May 28 enforcement report. The recall was first announced on May 2 when the FDA said items posed the risk of potential contamination. However, the threat for products sold to distributors in the states of Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina has now increased. (Fields, 6/3)

Popular rice brands across the United States might contain highly toxic metals, one study has found. A study conducted by Healthy Babies, Bright Future found that out of 145 rice samples nationwide, 100% of them contained arsenic. According to the organization, more than one in four exceeded the FDA’s action level for infant cereal. (Campbell, 6/3)