China confirmed an additional 15 deaths on Friday from the so-called Wuhan virus, officially known as Novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV.

Wuhan, the Chinese city of 11 million where the outbreak sparked, is in virtual lockdown.

Around the world, 1,000 people are now confirmed infected with the new virus. Health authorities are working to prevent a global pandemic. Read the rest

Europe's first three cases of the Wuhan coronavirus were confirmed in France confirmed on Friday. Two patients are hospitalized in Paris, and one in Bordeaux. Read the rest

Here’s a good explainer from Reuters on the airline industry’s response to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak so far. If the virus spreads becomes a pandemic, this could impact world financial markets as did SARS in 2003. Read the rest

Chinese health authorities said early Wednesday that the number of cases of a new virus has risen to 440 in China. The officially stated death toll from the so-called Wuhan coronavirus now stands at 9. Read the rest

South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi L. Noem spent $449,000 (more that $0.50 per resident of South Dakota!) on a campaign to educate state residents about the state's program to address its methamphetamine epidemic. That campaign's slogan? "Meth: I'm On It." Read the rest

On her official Twitter account, New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced that NY is suing Juul. Read the rest

Thanks for the measles outbreaks, Facebook. Read the rest

In the San Francisco elections last night, it looks like there was a big loss for Juul. Read the rest

A French neonatal specialist named Dr Arnaud Gagneur has created a "vaccine counselling" program within Quebec's health-care system that uses a non-judgmental technique called "motivational interviewing" with parents of newborns to allay their fears about vaccines. Read the rest

An increase of 41 measles cases were reported in the United States from the previous week. Read the rest

British Columbia -- ground zero for the opioid epidemic in Canada and long a principal point of ingress for heroin -- pioneered the harm-reduction approach with the world's first safe injection sites; now addiction researcher and MD Mark Tyndall wants to go further and end accidental overdoses from fentanyl and other additives by giving registered addicts access to an armored, biometrically controlled "opioid vending machine" that dispenses prescribed amounts of hydromorphone pills without subjecting addicts -- whose lives are often chaotic due to homelessness and the need to steal or prostitute themselves to avoid dope-sickness -- to a bureaucratic process at a pharmacy or clinic. Read the rest

It's been ten years since the people of Juneau, Alaska succumbed to conspiracy theories and voted to ruin their kids' teeth by removing fluoride from the drinking water, and it shows. Read the rest

Bill Gates has a long, complicated and showy relationship with malaria eradication, and in a new letter, he makes a case that mosquitoes are Earth's deadliest animals, outkilling even the murderous h. sap.. Read the rest

San Francisco's housing crisis is also (of course) a homelessness crisis, and homelessness crises beget public defecation crises -- and San Francisco has a serious public defecation crisis. Read the rest