2026 Health Q&A

And I know a big thing that everybody's worried about, especially as school is coming back up for our kids is this measles outbreak here in the U.S. and also cyclospora, that parasite that's causing explosive diarrhea, depending on what you eat. Yeah, before we try to scare you all with anything that we could tell you, again, I just want to ask some questions to an expert and get you all some answers. I want to remind you, this is an interactive live stream chat. That means if you have a question, all you got to do is hit us up on our live stream chat, like in real time, ask us your question, I'll be able to ask our experts. So bringing in CMO for HealthTrack, Dr. Steve Goldberg, Dr. Goldberg, I'm hearing that 2026 is already like the biggest outbreak for measles that we've had in quite some time. So let's just start with the measles here. What do you think could potentially be leading to this uptick? Sure. The answer is people aren't getting vaccinated like they should. Let's remind folks, the vaccine came out in the 1960s. Before people started getting vaccinated, there were half a million infections every year, 50,000 hospitalizations, 1,000 cases of brain damage, 400 deaths. And that all went away with vaccination. But what has happened over the past several years is we've had a creeping down of vaccination for measles in both children and adults. We need communities to have about 94, 95% of the folks vaccinated. If that's the case, if someone comes into the area and they're not vaccinated, it won't spread. But as the numbers drop from 93, 92, it's more likely to spread. And we're seeing that in pockets all across the United States. The cure is getting people vaccinated. So, I mean, I have a question about that. It's crazy to me that it's just one, maybe even two percentage points that really changed the tides of what we're talking about here. But let's say you do decide to vaccinate your children, you can't force other people to. So how do you, like, what do you do in that case? You did what you thought was the right thing, but maybe other people are doing what they think is the right thing. Is there a way to protect yourself even more? I think that's a good question. I think the measles vaccine has been safe. People can be afraid of getting their children vaccinated. But the measles vaccine has been around for many decades, and it's very, very safe. And most of the unvaccinated children are those that are not going to public school. In most states in the United States, it's required before you go into kindergarten. And then what happens is some adults also are electing not to get vaccinated. So if you are concerned about the environment within which you live, make sure your children are vaccinated, make sure you're vaccinated. And if there's an outbreak, pull back a little bit, use a mask. And if you have any signs of illness, call your practitioner. Tell them what you're experiencing. It shows up like a flu, shows up like a bad cold, but with a rash. And if you have that, seek care. That's really the best you can do. I hear that. I have a personal question coming up for you. Again, we're asking our audience and some of my coworkers to try to weigh in so we understand what is most of concern for anybody out there. And it's because we're talking about 45 different states here with outbreaks. It's a big concern. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware are among those 45 different states. With the summer coming to an end, people still trying to get out, either have fun or maybe one of my coworkers says that they're trying to teach their child how to swim. And they're kind of nervous about the public pool areas. That's something we should avoid. Can it be transmitted through water? What can you talk to us about there? It's not transmitted through water. It's transmitted through droplets in the air, if you will, being near someone who's ill. It is the most contagious infectious disease that we see in the United States. It spreads very, very quickly. So the key thing to do is get yourself vaccinated. If you're an adult with children, get them vaccinated. If you have doubts and you're an adult and you're going to be in some high risk situations, such as college campuses or your health care provider. If you have any doubt, just go ahead and get the measles booster. Very easy. I would not restrict any activity. You know, we're aware in Philadelphia on July 4th, someone with measles came through the Philadelphia airport. That's scary. Fortunately, there's been no public health reports of someone being ill. So overall, the best thing we can all do is live our lives, but get immunized. So I want to shift your attention now to cycle sport, because that has been another one of those illnesses that's just raking its way through our headlines and respectfully through our kitchens and our bathrooms as well. We're learning that there's this new outbreak to be concerned about. And I just want to ask you, should we really be differentiating between the original outbreak and this new one? Like, are there major differences? See, it's a parasite that gets into the food supply. And what happens is the parasites carried in human stool. And somehow that stool gets into the process of growing fruits and vegetables in the irrigation water, for example. And the fruits and vegetables are not sufficiently clean before they get to your table. And what's happened is we've seen a few outbreaks. Now, I know state health departments and others are working really aggressively to try to understand the sources of the outbreaks. It's usually fruits and vegetables from abroad. And it's usually things like raspberries, blackberries, cilantro, lettuce that's used for prepackaged salad, because the surfaces are a bit irregular and it's hard to get them clean. What people should do, in my view, is only consume fruits and vegetables that are grown in the United States for now. And if you have any illness at all, and that classic, frankly, explosive diarrhea, call a clinician. There's easy ways to get tested for it, including the testing that our company does at Urgent Care Pediatric Family Medicine and Women's Health sites, where you go in, get a swab taken, and we can result it out the next day. We do that because if you have it, it's very responsive to antibiotics. The other key point, it can be a week delay from the time you consume the food to the time you show the symptoms. I don't think I realized that. I knew that it could take some time, but up to a week, you might not even put the two and two together that, hey, I ate this and it led to this. But that is good to know. And that makes me think, too, you know, again, we're getting ready to go back to school. There are a lot of parents who do already pack their kids' lunches, so they can kind of control the variables there. But let's say the parents who send their kids off with money for lunch. Should they be concerned about the cafeterias? Should we be packing lunch? I think overall, we have to live our life. And I know school districts, universities and others do a really good job with food prep. We have started to identify the origin sites for some of the fruits and vegetables that have made people ill. And my hope is that we'll continue to identify the sites to have interventions done to get the food cleaner before it gets into the food chain. But in general, what I would suggest people do is if you're having cilantro, raspberries, blackberries, salad and pre-mixed salad, wash it extra well. That means not just light water, hard force running water, maybe a little bit of force against the food itself. And that'll keep you usually in good shape. And then if you do have the diarrhea, call your practitioner, get tested, because if you do have it, you want to get treated with antibiotics. It makes sense. Again, this is what I wanted to do. So we're not scaring people. Basically, what I'm hearing you tell us is yes, these things, measles, typhospora, it's out there. We all know that. What do we do now? And it's sounding to me like you don't necessarily have to change everything in your lifestyle or going out and trying to have fun or go to the pool or whatever may have you. And then also, you don't necessarily have to stop eating school lunch, but do your due diligence. That's what I'm hearing, right? Exactly. And if people want something to do, the something to do would be just wash your fruits and vegetables a little bit more carefully before consuming them at this time. It makes sense. And I appreciate you for bringing this down for us. A lot of people are nervous. Again, as we get back to the school year. But Dr. Goldberg, I appreciate you weighing in with your expertise on what we need to know here. Eva, great to be with you. Great to be with you as well.