Weirdest Medical Cases of 2024; CDC Sees Concerning H5N1 Changes; The King’s Speech

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Brain worms … 200 COVID shots … butt eels: Gizmodo reviews the weirdest medical cases of 2024.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said that Israeli warplanes struck a Yemeni airport just as he was about to board a flight.

Twenty big cats at a Washington state wildlife sanctuary — including cougars, bobcats, and a tiger — have died after contracting bird flu. (NBC News)

And a house cat in Oregon died after eating frozen pet food that tested positive for H5N1 virus. (AP)

Meanwhile, the CDC said a genetic analysis of the Louisiana patient hospitalized with a severe case of bird flu showed that the virus mutated in a way that could potentially make it more transmissible to humans. (CNN)

The Biden Administration has withdrawn proposed rules that would have made it more difficult for employer-sponsored health plans and insurers to exclude coverage of birth control. (The Hill)

Over 40% of Americans say they are overweight, and 55% want to lose weight, according to a Gallup poll.

Some doctors’ offices are doing away with weight measurements, with concerns that the routine practice may be driving patients away. (New York Times)

Whooping cough cases in the U.S. are at their highest level in a decade, with more than 32,000 cases reported so far this year. (CNN)

Meanwhile, flu cases are surging in Louisiana, a state that just barred its public health department from promoting vaccines. (Ars Technica)

What kind of people would give their kidney to a stranger? (NPR)

A Virginia hospital said it will no longer admit babies to its neonatal intensive care unit after several were found with “unexplainable fractures.” (WAVY)

King Charles III offered “heartfelt thanks” to healthcare workers in his 2024 Christmas message after a year in which he and his daughter-in-law, Kate Middleton, were both diagnosed with cancer. (AP)

The FDA approved RECELL GO mini, a product that uses a patient’s own skin cells to treat thermal burn wounds and full-thickness skin defects, for smaller wounds, maker Avita Medical announced.

And the agency approved tislelizumab (Tevimbra) in combination with chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancers, BeiGene announced.

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