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India's tuberculosis (TB) incidence has recently been reduced by 21%, almost double the pace observed globally, as per the World Health Organization's Global TB Report 2025.
Similarly, India's TB mortality rate has decreased, reflecting a near-tenfold increase in government funding to the TB program, which has focused on high-risk areas such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi.
Since its launch in December 2024, India's flagship TB elimination mission, the TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, has achieved extensive reach, screening over 19 crore vulnerable individuals across the country, leading to the detection of over 24.5 lakh TB patients, including 8.61 lakh asymptomatic TB cases.
Since TB is a vaccine-preventable disease, India offers access to the 100-year-old Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine.
These proactive approaches draw on both global and local evidence, underscoring India's commitment to science-based solutions to reduce the severity of this disease.
Unfortunately, the provisional data from the U.S. CDC for 2024 showed 8% increase from 2023, reaching the highest count since 2011, with rates rising across most age groups.
However, the CDC's week #49 data indicates a position trend in 2025, with only 8,489 TB cases confirmed as of December 6, 2025.
While access to the BCG vaccine in the U.S. is limited, recent shortages have been resolved with recombinant versions like rBCG.
As of December 13, 2025, the CDC doesn't recommend it for general use because of false-positive TB skin test results. However, healthcare providers can access the vaccine through special programs when visiting TB-outbreak areas in India.
Throughout 2025, Chikungunya fever outbreaks have been reported in countries that border the Indian Ocean. From Madagascar to France's La Réunion Department, locally-acquired and travel-related cases have set new records.
To alert international travelers, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently issued a Level 2 - Practice Enhanced Precautions, Travel Health Notice regarding the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka's ongoing Chikungunya fever outbreak.
Sri Lanka is located just south of India, home to about 21 million residents, and welcomed over 2 million visitors in 2024.
Earlier in 2025, a non-peer-reviewed study identified virus mutations that may be the source of these outbreaks.
These researchers wrote in May 2025 that the ongoing large outbreak in Sri Lanka is due to the Indian Ocean lineage and the E1:K211E/E2:V264A sublineage of the Chikungunya virus, which has acquired specific, previously uncharacterized mutations.
As of December 8, 2025, the CDC says that if you are pregnant, you should reconsider travel to the affected areas, particularly if you are close to delivering your baby. Mothers infected around the time of delivery can pass the virus to their baby before or during delivery.
Furthermore, newborns infected in this way or by a mosquito bite are at risk for severe illness, including poor long-term outcomes.
As of December 13, 2025, the CDC recommends vaccination with a U.S. FDA-approved vaccine for travelers visiting an area with a Chikungunya outbreak. Vaccines are commercially available at travel clinics in the USA.
International leaders, philanthropists, and global health partners announced today a collective $1.9 billion to advance polio eradication. This funding is essential as wild poliovirus is now endemic in only two countries, but outbreaks of variant poliovirus still threaten children in over 30 countries.
According to a press release from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) on December 8, 2025, the funds will accelerate efforts to reach 370 million children annually with polio vaccines and strengthen health systems in affected countries to protect children from other preventable diseases.
This includes approximately $1.2 billion in newly pledged funds, reducing the remaining resource gap for the GPEI 2022-2029 Strategy to $440 million.
The pledges announced today reaffirm international resolve to finish the job and protect future generations from a disease that once paralyzed 1,000 children every day across 125 countries.
"The fight to end polio shows what is possible when the world invests together in a shared goal. We're 99.9 percent of the way there – but the last stretch demands the same determination that got us this far," said Bill Gates, Chair of the Gates Foundation. "This renewed funding will help us cross the finish line and strengthen the systems that protect children from this terrible disease for good."
Success would make polio just the second human disease ever eradicated—after smallpox—and is projected to save the world more than $33 billion by 2100 compared to the ongoing cost of outbreak control.
The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on immunization (SAGE) recently endorsed two critical innovations for polio eradication.
SAGE recommended that fractional doses of Sabin-based inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) be used in the same way as fractional doses of Salk-based IPV – helping stretch supply and reach more children.
SAGE also backed the broader rollout of novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) to help stop persistent outbreaks of circulating variant poliovirus type 2 in some of the toughest places.
In 2024, SAGE recommended that, where feasible, the use of both IPV and nOPV2 vaccines be employed for initial outbreak-response vaccination campaigns.
In the United States, the IPV is offered at travel clinics, and booster shots are suggested for certain travelers.
According to local media, the Romanian Ministry of Health has reported two confirmed cases of leprosy, and two other suspected cases are undergoing evaluation.
These are Romania's first eprosy cases in more than 40 years.
Romaina-Insider reported Corina Criste, director of the Cluj Public Health Directorate, told Agerpres on December 12, 2025, that a case of leprosy was detected in Cluj-Napoca, he second-most populous city in the European country.
Health minister Alexandru Rogobete said he has ordered intensified epidemiological surveillance, expanded testing of contacts, evaluations of the working and living conditions of foreign employees, and the request for international assistance from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO says leprosy, a chronic infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae, remains rare in Europe and is typically recorded among people originating from endemic regions in Asia, Africa, or Latin America.
In the United States, leprosy (Hansen's disease) is a nationally notifiable condition. Annually, the U.S. CDC detects around 150-250 cases of leprosy, with 225 in 2023 and 205 in 2024.
In 2025, Florida reported 36 leprosy cases, highlighting local transmission, especially in Brevard County.
In recent years, Argentina has seen a significant rise in Zika virus infections. Both Argentina and its South American neighbor, Brazil, face challenges in diagnosing Zika infections and distinguishing them from Dengue fever, another disease transmitted by mosquitoes.
According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), current efforts focus on improving the sensitivity of surveillance systems. In Argentina, Zika is detected mainly through passive surveillance systems that identify cases in people seeking medical care.
This detection process is not a guarantee that the Zika virus is not in circulation.
This makes it challenging to monitor the increasing number of Zika cases, which can lead to severe congenital disabilities, including microcephaly. This happens because an infected pregnant woman can spread the virus to her unborn baby.
As of December 12, 2025, the PAHO reported Argentina has confirmed 1,045 Zika cases this year.
This data compares with 564 reported in 2024.
Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, with over 3 million residents, and an international traveler's favorite, has seen a significant rise in Zika cases in 2025, with hundreds reported by the Health Ministry.
While the U.S. CDC has not issued a Travel Health Notice in 2025 focused on Zika outbreaks in Argentina, the PAHO and other organizations caution all visitors to reduce their risk of infection.
In the near term, a Zika prevention vaccine may be approved. Until then, beware of mosquito bites!
The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health in Hong Kong has announced that relevant departments will be conducting intensified mosquito control and prevention efforts along the Tsing Yi Nature Trails, a popular hiking area.
Published on December 9, 2025, this health alert is related to CHP's confirmation of a total of 78 chikungunya fever (CF) cases in 2025.
Among them, 10 were local cases, which were initially detected in late October 2025.
On December 7, 2025, the CHP wrote that some confirmed CF cases had reportedly been bitten by mosquitoes while hiking along the Tsing Yi Nature Trails. These trails are situated in a countryside environment and cover a vast area, with the trails stretching approximately 7,000 metres. Along both sides of the trails, there are various natural breeding grounds for vectors, including puddles on soil surfaces and fallen leaves, which increase the risk of mosquito breeding.
This area is located east of Hong Kong Disneyland and northwest of the city of Hong Kong, which has welcomed over 40 million visitors this year.
The public should call 1823 in case of mosquito problems, stated the CHP.
Chikungunya is a mosquito-transmitted disease that is also vaccine-preventable.
As of December 12, 2025, chikungunya vaccines are offered at travel clinics in the United States and various countries.
Connecticut's health department today reported its first measles case since 2021. This patient is an unvaccinated resident of Fairfield County, located just northeast of New York and home to about 950,000 people.
The Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) reported on December 11, 2025, that this child recently travelled internationally and began showing symptoms of measles several days later.
"The single best way to protect your children and yourself from measles is to be vaccinated," said DPH Commissioner Manisha Juthani, MD, in a press release.
"One dose of measles vaccine is about 93 percent effective, while two doses are about 97 percent effective. We must ensure we continue to protect those who matter most – children and other vulnerable people – from vaccine-preventable illnesses through on-time vaccination."
According to the 2024-2025 Statewide School Immunization Survey, 98.2% of Connecticut students had received two doses of MMR by kindergarten entry. Connecticut's MMR vaccination rate is one of the highest in the U.S.
MMR vaccination services are generally offered at clinics and pharmacies in the United States.
