IPC Hot Topics for March 24, 2025: US Health Leadership, Measles, and More

Saskia v. Popescu presents Hot Topics in Infection Prevention

New US Health Leadership

Three big announcements in health leadership came early this week – the Senate confirmed Marty Makary and Jay Bhattacharya as FDA commissioner and National Institutes of Health director. As journalist Lizzy Lawrence noted, “Both nominees faced pressure from senators on the workforce shakeups led by the US DOGE (Department of Government Service), and on their views on vaccines given [Robert F. Kennedy, Jr]’s history as a prominent vaccine critic.” (Kennedy is the current Secretary of Health and Human Services [HHS].)

Susan Monarez, PhD, was also announced as the nominee for leading that agency. Politico wrote, “Prior to joining the CDC earlier this year, Monarez had served as the deputy director for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health since January 2023. She is seen in the public health sphere as a more moderate pick than Dave Weldon, MD, the administration’s first nominee, and a former member of the US House of Representatives, whose past comments on vaccines and autism helped tank his nomination hours before his hearing was scheduled to begin.”

At a time when CDC funding for COVID-19-focused programs, such as long COVID symptoms, is being halted, the hope is that some leadership will advocate for the critical role of public health. The former lead for CDC communications also recently shared concerns about misinformation and the role of the current administration in spreading dangerous health dis- and misinformation.

More Measles

Additional cases have been identified in the outbreak growing across the US. The Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) updated the case counts, with 18 new cases identified since late last week, bringing the 2025 total to 327. New Mexico is also experiencing an outbreak, which sits at 43 cases.

Across the US, 378 cases have been confirmed this year, with 42% in those aged 5 to 19 years and 64 hospitalized. There is growing concern around such high numbers, especially after the hospital labor and delivery exposure last week. Efforts are underway to remind people of the importance of vaccination and boosters, with many people unsure if the booster is needed.

Interesting Articles

• What it means to give H5N1 (and other diseases) a pass: Katherine Wu, PhD, reported on the current administration’s approach to infectious diseases, especially in the wake of HHS Secretary RFK Jr.’s comments on letting H5N1 run through birds rather than halt transmission. Wu notes, “The U.S. has the money, technology, and expertise to be a country minimally affected by infectious disease—as it was for decades. Its current leaders have stopped short of saying that they’d embrace a world rife with infectious death. But their actions suggest that those sacrifices are exactly the kind they are willing to make.”
• Primary care practices struggle with treating chlamydia and gonorrhea – a new study evaluated cases of these 2 sexually transmitted infections (STIs), outcomes in terms of antibiotic administration, and patient sociodemographic characteristics.

The authors noted that “Females, individuals aged 10 [to] 29 years, suburban dwellers, and patients with chlamydia-gonorrhea coinfection had higher treatment rates than comparator groups. Chlamydia was infrequently treated with the recommended antibiotic, doxycycline (14.0% of cases), and gonorrhea was infrequently treated with the recommended antibiotic, ceftriaxone (38.7% of cases).” Time to treatment was also longer for those aged 50-59 and for non-Hispanic Black patients.