Utah's health department is reporting a measles outbreak linked to a high school cycling event held on August 16. The department didn't say how many illnesses have been identified in the outbreak, only that event attendance was 2,000.

“Given the number of people who may have been exposed to measles at Soldier Hollow on August 16, 2025, we encourage attendees and participants of upcoming Utah High School Cycling League Region 6 events to check their MMR [measles, mumps, and rubella] vaccination status,” Leisha Nolen, MD, state epidemiologist, said on the Utah Department of Health and Human Services website. Utah has reported 22 measles cases this year.

CDC: National total rises to 1,454

One more measles case has been reported in Wisconsin's Oconto County measles outbreak. The new case raises the state’s total to 25. All 25 cases have been in unvaccinated individuals, and 2 people have required hospitalization.  

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has posted its weekly measles update, and 23 more cases have been recorded since last week, raising the national total to 1,454. There are two more outbreaks, raising the total number of outbreaks to 37. Eighty-six percent of cases reported this year are linked to outbreaks.

Relative to uninfected children, COVID-19 patients aged 8 to 17 years were at a 49% higher risk for new-onset depression or anxiety in 2021, rising to 59% in those with severe illness, according to a University of Utah study published this week in PLOS One.

The researchers mined the Utah All Payers Claims Database to explore the link between COVID-19 infection, illness severity, and risk of depression and anxiety among 154,565 school-aged youth who had private insurance or Medicaid coverage. The average participant age was 10.8 years in 2019, when the study period began, and 48% were girls.

Key contributors to mental illness among children include the pandemic's direct impacts on daily life, such as school closures, isolation from peers, and disrupted family routines, the authors noted.

"These challenges have likely had long-term consequences for the mental health and well-being of young people," they wrote. "Moreover, COVID-19 infection itself may play a significant role in the development of mental health disorders among children and adolescents."

Prioritizing youth mental well-being

Children infected with COVID-19 had a 49% higher probability of experiencing new-onset depression or anxiety. Compared with uninfected youth, those with moderate symptoms had a 40% higher likelihood of incident depression or anxiety, a risk that rose to 59% among those with severe disease.

As society continues to navigate the post-pandemic landscape, prioritizing the mental well-being of younger populations is critical for fostering resilience and ensuring that adequate resources are available to support their psychological recovery.

"At the onset of the pandemic, healthcare efforts primarily focused on treating the physical health symptoms from COVID-19 infection," the researchers wrote. "The novelty of the virus meant that the psychological impact of the illness took a lower priority compared to the discovery of its cure, leaving a gap in mental health care."

The findings, they said, underscore the need for targeted mental health interventions for infected children. 

"As society continues to navigate the post-pandemic landscape, prioritizing the mental well-being of younger populations is critical for fostering resilience and ensuring that adequate resources are available to support their psychological recovery," the authors concluded.

A study of patients with advanced cancer found an increase in broad-spectrum antibiotic use in the last 3 months of life, South Korean researchers reported yesterday in JAMA Network Open.

For the nationwide cohort study, researchers used data from the South Korean National Health Insurance database to examine broad-spectrum antibiotic use among patients with advanced cancer who died from July 2002 through December 2021, calculating the proportion of patients who received antibiotics and the amount used. While patients with advanced cancer frequently receive antibiotics because of a heightened risk of bacterial infections, there's concern that excessive antibiotic use may compromise the quality of end-of-life care and promote the emergence of multidrug-resistant organisms.

The end-of-life trajectory was divided into five intervals: T1 (6 months to 3 months before death), T2 (3 months to 1 month before death), T3 (1 month to 2 weeks before death), T4 (2 weeks to 1 week before death), and T5 (final week before death).

Window for targeted stewardship interventions

Among the 515,366 decedents (mean age, 68.7 years; 64.7% male) included in the study, 288,151 (55.9%) received broad-spectrum antibiotics during the last 6 months of life. The proportion of patients receiving broad-spectrum antibiotics peaked during T2, with 144,920 (28.1%) patients receiving at least 1 dose, and declined to 68, 564 (13.3%) during T5. In contrast, total consumption peaked during T3, reaching 190.0 days of therapy per 1,000 patient-days. The patterns were consistent across antibiotic classes and cancer types.

During the last week of life, patients with leukemia had the highest exposure to broad-spectrum antibiotics compared with those with lung cancer (the reference group), both for prescription proportions (crude odds ratio, 1.50; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.43 to 1.58) and total consumption (adjusted relative risk, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.19 to 1.23).

The study authors say the findings suggest that 3 months to 2 weeks before death could be a window for targeted stewardship interventions in advanced cancer patients.

"Our study may offer important insights for stewardship efforts targeting patients with advanced cancer in the end-of-life phase, suggesting a potential turning point when more deliberate prescribing decisions could be considered," they wrote.