Scores Sick After Toxic Chocolate; Lethal Ants Spread; $250M Hospice Fraud Scheme

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CDC researchers catalogued 180 cases of severe illness across more than 30 states among people who ate Diamond Shruumz and other mushroom-containing chocolate in 2024; nearly one-fourth required intensive care and two people died. (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report)

The U.S. birth rate declined by 1% in 2025, driven in part by a 7% drop in teen births, according to a CDC report.

An internal memo explains why Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hasn’t been talking about vaccines. (Bloomberg)

Should academic misconduct be catalogued in a database? (Nature)

Hospitals are bracing for another round of healthcare cuts from Republicans in Congress. (Becker’s Hospital Review)

The Asian needle ant — an invasive insect with a potentially lethal sting — is spreading in the U.S. (USA Today)

Traded mammals are about 1.5 times more likely to be sources of human diseases than non-traded mammals, researchers reported in Science.

Blaine Labs issued a voluntary recall of wound care gel products due to contamination with Lysinibacillus fusiformis, a spore-forming bacterium, according to an FDA notice.

GSK withdrew its drug application for leucovorin calcium (Wellcovorin), just months after the company submitted it at the request of the FDA. Generics will still be available. (Wall Street Journal)

Could some patients in a vegetative state actually be in a state of “covert consciousness?” (New York Times)

The Artemis moon mission involves an experiment to see how the astronauts’ bone marrow responds to radiation and microgravity. (Harvard Magazine)

California officials said they uncovered a $250 million scheme to use stolen identities from people outside the state to charge for hospice services paid for with a government insurance program. (AP)

A jury ordered Abbott Laboratories to pay $53 million to a group of mothers who claimed the company’s formula caused necrotizing enterocolitis in their infants. (Bloomberg via MSN)

White House advisor Calley Means said “conversations are ongoing” amid doubts about whether his sister, Casey Means, MD, will be confirmed as the next surgeon general. (The Hill)

President Trump met privately with members of the Make American Healthy Again (MAHA) movement as part of an effort to soothe MAHA voters ahead of the mid-terms. (New York Times)

Meanwhile, the Trump administration proposed weakening rules for the disposal of ash produced by burning coal that can contain hazardous heavy metals and contaminate groundwater. (AP)

Experts are worried that BuzzBallz — a pre-mixed cocktail that has become a favorite of Gen Z drinkers — will become a magnet for underage drinkers. (New York Times)

The number of burials of unclaimed bodies in New York City greatly exceeded historical patterns in 2020, suggesting the pandemic magnified existing inequalities. (Scientific Reports)