Child's measles death is New York's first in more than 30 years

• ActEvidence Nov 2, 2026
  A child in Lewis County dies in New York's measles outbreak, the state's first measles-associated death in more than 30 years

  The state health department advises an early MMR dose from age 6 months where measles is spreading and 21-day quarantine for nonimmune contacts.

  PediatricsFamily medicineNew York
  The New York State Department of Health said Nov. 2 that the death of a child in Lewis County was associated with the state's ongoing measles outbreak, calling it the first known measles-associated death in New York in more than 30 years. The department did not give the child's age or vaccination status. The state had counted 178 cases this year as of Oct. 24, 170 of them outside New York City, and Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state disaster emergency about four weeks earlier that widened who may give measles vaccine. The department's guidance includes an early MMR dose for infants 6 months and older who travel or live in a community with transmission, followed by the usual two doses; 21 days of quarantine for exposed people who are not immune; isolation until four days after rash onset; and a call ahead before a sick patient comes to a clinic or emergency department.
  Source: New York State Department of Health
• FYIEvidence Oct 15, 2026
  AI listening through a digital stethoscope flags ejection fractions of 40% or less, beating cardiologists 82% to 62% in a 100-patient test
  CardiologyPrimary care
  An AI model reading digital stethoscope recordings from four chest sites, taken with a simultaneous single-lead ECG, detected a left ventricular ejection fraction of 40% or less with an area under the curve of 0.904 in an external validation cohort of 964 Japanese patients referred for echocardiography, according to a prospective multicenter study published in NEJM AI. Sensitivity was 86.3% and specificity 74.2%, and the model outperformed ECG-only and clinical models that included B-type natriuretic peptide. In a 100-patient reader substudy, its accuracy was 82% vs. 62% for the consensus of seven cardiologists, and a simplified two-site version kept an area under the curve of 0.903. The study was funded in part by AMI Inc., a Japanese company whose employees are among the authors; the authors described the tool as a step before echocardiography and said further validation is needed before broader screening use.
  Sources: NEJM AI, PubMed record
• FYIEvidence Oct 15, 2026
  AI plain-language summaries sent before visits cut neurosurgery consultations from 33 to 25 minutes in a 300-patient randomized trial
  NeurosurgeryPractices
  Patients who received a quality-checked, AI-generated lay summary of their medical findings before an outpatient neurosurgery visit rated the physician-patient interaction higher and spent less time in the consultation, according to the AI-INFOCARE randomized trial of 300 adults at the university hospital in Dresden, Germany, published in NEJM AI. The primary interaction score was 4.42 vs. 4.25 (difference, 0.17; 95% CI, 0.05 to 0.29), driven by shared decision-making, with no difference in perceived empathy. Median consultation time was 25 vs. 33 minutes, about a 21% relative reduction. Physicians rated their own support of patient autonomy slightly lower in the summary group, and the authors said effects on clinical outcomes and clinician workload need confirmation before routine adoption.
  Sources: NEJM AI, PubMed record
• FYIEvidence Nov 2, 2026
  Early valve replacement for moderate aortic stenosis cuts death or heart failure events at 2 years, 744-patient PROGRESS trial finds
  Cardiology
  Transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve replacement with a balloon-expandable valve lowered the 2-year rate of death or a heart failure event to 16.7% from 23.9% with clinical surveillance in patients with moderate aortic stenosis and at least one at-risk feature, according to the international, open-label PROGRESS trial published Nov. 2 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The trial randomized 744 patients; the risk difference was 7.2 percentage points (95% CI, 1.3 to 13.1). Heart failure events occurred in 10.8% vs. 19.0%, while all-cause death was 8.4% vs. 7.3%. Current guidelines recommend echocardiographic surveillance every 1 or 2 years for moderate stenosis, the authors noted. Edwards Lifesciences funded the trial.
  Sources: New England Journal of Medicine, PubMed record
• FYIEvidence Nov 2, 2026
  Bicarbonate for metabolic acidosis in the ICU shows no clear survival gain but likely fewer dialysis starts, 1,544-patient meta-analysis finds
  Hospital medicinePulmonary and critical care
  Intravenous sodium bicarbonate did not show a clear short-term mortality benefit in critically ill adults with metabolic acidosis (risk ratio, 0.94; 95% credible interval, 0.73 to 1.22), according to a Bayesian meta-analysis of four randomized trials with 1,544 patients published Nov. 2 in Intensive Care Medicine. Bicarbonate was associated with a lower risk of starting renal replacement therapy (risk ratio, 0.74; 95% credible interval, 0.59 to 0.98), a 97.2% posterior probability of benefit. Effects on other outcomes were small or imprecise, and no consistent safety signal emerged. The authors said further trials should define which patients are most likely to benefit.
  Sources: Intensive Care Medicine, PubMed record