Another Maine hospital is closing its labor and delivery unit and services. MDI Hospital announced Thursday it will close its unit, effective July 1, due to a "dramatic" decline in births. Hospital officials say they have only delivered nine babies so far in 2025 and delivered just 32 in all of 2024. They said they were averaging around 100 deliveries per year a decade ago.
Ohio officially has a measles outbreak, the state health department announced. The outbreak consists of 10 people in Ashtabula County, nine of which are linked to an unvaccinated man reported last week as the state's first measles case of 2025. There is also a confirmed case in Knox County, where a "visitor" exposed others to measles in Knox and nearby counties.
Medical disinformation connected to the West Texas measles outbreak has created a new problem. Children are being treated for toxic levels of vitamin A. Covenant Children's Hospital in Lubbock confirms it is treating children with severe cases of measles who are also suffering from vitamin A toxicity. According to the hospital, they have admitted fewer than 10 pediatric patients who were all initially hospitalized due to measles complications but have elevated levels of vitamin A that is resulting in abnormal liver function.
A measles outbreak in Kansas doubled in less than a week to 23 cases and has “a possible link” to outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico that have sickened more than 370, the state health department said Wednesday. And health officials in Ohio say a single case identified in Ashtabula County has spread to nine others. Even before these two growing clusters were reported, the number of measles cases in the U.S. had already surpassed the case count for all of 2024, according to the CDC.
Measles vaccination rates for young children may be far lower than publicly reported, a troubling development that could mean the United States is closer than expected to losing its "elimination status" for the extremely contagious disease.
With great power comes great responsibility. As we continue integrating AI into healthcare, we must ensure innovation doesn't outpace ethical considerations. Guardrails are essential to ensure it serves the purpose of innovative care delivery models without unintended consequences.