Three states have reported new measles cases over the past few days, including Kansas, with four more cases, all linked to an outbreak in the southwestern part of the state. 

In a July 9 update, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment upped the state's total to 87 cases, of which 84 are linked to the outbreak. The outbreak that began in January was initially tied to the large outbreak in West Texas. So far, outbreak-related cases have been reported in nine counties in Kansas, but five have gone 42 days with no new cases.

Elsewhere, North Dakota Health and Human Services reported one more case, boosting the state's total to 35 and marking the state's first since late May. Health officials noted potential exposures at a gas station in Valley City and at two locations in Willison. A local media report, citing the health department, said the case is in Williams County and that the patient is unvaccinated and had traveled out of state.

The New Jersey Department of Health yesterday confirmed a case in an Ocean County resident, though limited information is available and the state isn't ' experiencing an outbreak. Health officials are working with their local partners on contact tracing and notifying people who may have been exposed.

The new cases are part of a national surge fueled by multiple factors, including a large outbreak in West Texas, illnesses related to international travel, and a growing number of unvaccinated people. This week the nation reached a new post-elimination high of 1,288 cases. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday declared its investigation into a multistate Salmonella outbreak tied to organic and cage-free brown eggs over after 134 people fell ill and 1 died.

The outbreak has grown by 55 cases and three affected states since the CDC first reported the event on June 6. Ten states have confirmed cases. The death, in a patient from California, is also new.

Eggs from August Egg Company, of Hilmar, California, have been implicated. On June 6 the company recalled 1.7 million eggs that were distributed in California and Nevada from February 3 to May 15, with sell-by dates ranging from March 4 to June 4. The eggs were sold under various brand names across multiple stores, including Walmart, Safeway, and Save Mart.

Scientists with the Food and Drug Administration collected samples for testing at cage-free laying houses used by August Egg Company. Three of those samples tested positive for Salmonella, and whole-genome sequencing showed that they matched the Salmonella strain that sickened patients.

People started getting sick in February

Outbreak patients ranged in age from 1 to 90 years, with a median age of 46. About 59% were female and 85% White.

Of the 41 case-patients that officials interviewed, 37 (90%) reported eating eggs. In addition, state health officials identified illness clusters at multiple restaurants, all of which served eggs.

People started getting sick with the outbreak strain from February 24 to June 6. Of the 112 people with available information, 38 (34%) were hospitalized. By far the most cases were in California (109), followed by Arizona (8).

"The true number of sick people in this outbreak was likely much higher than the number reported, and this outbreak may not have been limited to the states with known illnesses," the CDC said.

• Though H5N1 avian flu detections in US dairy cattle have tailed off over the past few months, sporadic positives continue to be reported, including a new detection in a herd from California, the state's first since early June, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed today. The new positive from California raises the national total to 1,075 herds in 17 states.
• Wastewater detections of SARS-CoV-2 crept up from very low to the low level last week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today. Though virus activity remains low across the nation this summer, the region with the highest levels continues to shift and is now the West. In the previous week it was the South.
• Pakistan reported another wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV 1) infection last week, according to the latest weekly update from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). The patient, from North Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, had a June 10 paralysis onset. Pakistan, one of the two countries with endemic WPV1 activity, has now reported 14 cases this year. Afghanistan, the other endemic country, reported three more environmental detections of WPV1. They were collected in May in Kandahar, Uruzgan, and Hilmand provinces.