Suspected militants shot and killed two police officers in Mohmand on Tuesday as they travelled to protect a door-to-door polio team, police told AP and Dawn. A third officer was wounded; AP said no group had claimed responsibility. Separately, four polio workers were abducted in Tank on Monday, according to the provincial governor; no link between the incidents is established. Pakistan’s campaign to vaccinate 24 million children began Monday. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries where wild poliovirus remains endemic, according to WHO.
A child in rural Lewis County died in a measles-associated case, New York’s Department of Health and Lewis County Public Health announced on Monday. The joint statement called it the state’s first known measles-associated death in more than 30 years and asked that the child’s family be given privacy. The state reported 178 cases as of 24 October: 170 outside New York City and eight in the city. Those figures are dated; a newer statewide count was not established in the sources reviewed.
The FDA granted tentative approval to Dr. Reddy’s generic six-month injectable lenacapavir for HIV prevention, according to AP and the development partners. The designation does not permit U.S. marketing while the branded product remains patent-protected. CHAI says the access agreement targets a price of US$40 per person per year in 120 licensed low- and middle-income countries, with initial supplies expected before the end of 2026 and wider availability in 2027. STAT reported the company expected to start shipping next month. Actual country approvals, procurement and patient availability remain ahead.
The Yakima Health District said a county resident hospitalized with severe illness died on 1 November after exposure at a dairy with infected cattle. The person had underlying health conditions; officials withheld identifying details. The district reported a third confirmed human case linked to dairy exposure; that person was not hospitalized. AP reports CDC identified H5N1, 33 positive county dairy herds and no genetic changes suggesting easier spread or greater severity. Officials say risk to the general public remains low.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy experienced a stroke on 31 October and was hospitalized, according to his chief of staff. After a transfer to Johns Hopkins for monitoring, Murphy’s office said on 1 November that he was awake and alert, responding well to treatment and expected to make a full recovery. The office has not announced the stroke’s severity or a discharge date. Murphy is not on the ballot in Tuesday’s midterm election.
Deep Purple said on 31 October that singer Ian Gillan had suffered a medical emergency resulting in hospitalization, forcing it to postpone performances in Leipzig that night and Hamburg on 1 November. The band said it was seeking rescheduled dates and did not disclose a diagnosis or his condition. Rolling Stone Australia reported that the next concert was still scheduled for 3 November in Dortmund as of its publication; that schedule is not a medical update.
Pennsylvania reported 1,426 measles cases across 44 counties by 30 October, including 268 hospitalizations and five deaths. The Associated Press described it as the largest U.S. outbreak in 35 years. All figures are dated and attributed; the state total is not a national count.
The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air estimated that fire-related fine-particle pollution contributed to 3,560 acute deaths in Indonesia during September. Its October 29 assessment also estimated 1,750 deaths associated with other air pollution. These are modelled health estimates, not a count of death certificates or deaths occurring in October.
Genmab reported on 28 October that petosemtamab plus pembrolizumab improved overall survival and response in the Phase 3 LiGeR-HN1 head-and-neck cancer trial. The company plans to submit full results for a medical meeting; the treatment remains investigational.
Lilly announced on 28 October that investigational retatrutide reduced blood sugar and weight more than Ozempic in TRANSCEND-T2D-2. Full peer-reviewed results are pending.
An IPC analysis released on 28 October estimates that 5.94 million people in Haiti face Crisis or worse food insecurity during September 2026–February 2027, representing 53% of the population analysed.
ESPN broadcaster Hannah Storm said on 28 October that she was cancer-free after a hysterectomy and would miss the New York City Marathon broadcast while recovering.
The US Department of Health and Human Services made a draft interim enforcement policy available on 28 October covering six unapproved peptides. HHS says it does not intend to act against certain licensed compounders meeting listed conditions while formal rulemaking continues.
The CDC amended its Ebola-related air-travel order on 28 October to explicitly cover crew and cargo aircraft. Subject to exemptions, people flying to or through the United States must attest they have not been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the preceding 21 days.
The Vatican said on 26 October that Pope Leo XIV’s recovery was progressing and medical examinations found no contraindication to his planned Latin America trip. It said the condition was localized and no further oncological treatment was necessary.
The phase 3 SAFFRON trial found longer survival with osimertinib plus savolitinib than platinum-pemetrexed chemotherapy in a specific group of patients with advanced lung cancer. Results were presented and published on 25 October; they do not apply to all lung cancers.
DR Congo’s Ministry of Health and National Public Health Institute report 10,467 confirmed Bundibugyo Ebola cases and 5,103 deaths through 31 October. A prior bulletin listed 5,372 deaths through 30 October; the discrepancy remains unexplained as data harmonization continues. In Kenya, nine cases and two deaths have been reported, with no new cases since 19 October. The health ministry says 52 contacts remain under monitoring; broadcasters report five patients have recovered and two remain in care.
A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention order requires people arriving on international flights to submit an attestation about travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the previous 21 days. The order takes effect at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on 3 November and is scheduled to run through 18 December. The amended order includes crew and requires operators to verify forms and retain them for 42 days. It applies to inbound international air travel generally, with limited exceptions; it does not mean passengers were exposed to Ebola or are infected.
Merck and Moderna released detailed INTerpath-001 results on 22 October: adding the personalised mRNA therapy intismeran to pembrolizumab after melanoma surgery reduced the relative hazard of recurrence or death by 42%.
Christina Applegate said in the 20 October episode of her MeSsy podcast that her doctor had told her the earlier multiple-sclerosis diagnosis was wrong, the Los Angeles Times and Global News reported. She said her symptoms had not improved and doctors were investigating their cause.
Singapore's health ministry said on 3 November that a required security update to a shared DNS service was missed before a scheduled global change, causing the 9.5-hour outage across the public healthcare system on 13 October. Both backup data centres depended on the same service, so switching between them would not have restored access. About 4,000 outpatient appointments were rescheduled, with some delays up to two hours; the ministry said no adverse patient-safety incidents were attributed to the disruption and no patient data was compromised or lost.
An IPC analysis released on 23 September projected that 5.4 million people in Somalia would face Crisis-level hunger or worse from October through December 2026, including 1.5 million in Emergency. It said nearly 26,000 displaced people in Baidoa were likely to face Catastrophe-level food insecurity; famine risk depended on a plausible worst-case of more severe flooding and displacement. FEWS NET separately assessed a credible famine risk in southern Somalia through January if extreme flooding occurs. Le Monde reported on 8 October that conflict continued to obstruct aid access in parts of the southwest.