Tag: public health

A Santa Fe County woman has died from plague, New Mexico's first human case of 2026. The tragedy is a sobering reminder that the disease that fueled the Black Death never disappeared. Though rare, plague still circulates among wildlife in the American West, making awareness, prevention and early treatment essential.

In back-to-back incidents in Silver City and Mountainair, powdered fentanyl and methamphetamine sickened dozens of firefighters, deputies and paramedics responding to overdose scenes, highlighting a dangerous new risk for emergency personnel in New Mexico’s fentanyl crisis.

New Mexico is opening more than 60 free vaccination clinics across the state through late August. The “Got Shots?” program offers immunizations to every child from birth through age 18 with no insurance or appointment barriers at many locations.

A confirmed New World screwworm case in South Texas has prompted New Mexico officials to urge ranchers, pet owners and hunters to remain vigilant. While no cases have been detected in the state, authorities say early detection and reporting are essential to protecting livestock, wildlife and public health from the destructive parasite.

Nine New Mexico women have filed suit against Pfizer, claiming that long-term use of Depo-Provera caused brain tumors that led to surgeries, seizures, vision loss and lasting neurological damage. Their case joins a growing national wave of litigation following new federal warning requirements about the contraceptive's potential risks.

New Mexico has reduced cigarette smoking to its lowest level in years, but rising e-cigarette use reveals a new challenge: nicotine addiction is evolving, not disappearing.

A deadly overdose scene in Mountainair, New Mexico, left three people dead and 18 first responders hospitalized, exposing both the devastating reach of fentanyl and the growing fear surrounding accidental exposure. The tragedy reflects a broader crisis gripping rural America, where synthetic opioids, methamphetamine and collapsing behavioral health systems are colliding with deadly consequences.

A silent poison has flowed through American taps for decades. As New Mexico receives over $27 million to root out lead service lines, the urgent race to protect children from irreversible harm is finally accelerating.

New Mexico has launched a centralized website to help residents identify, report and respond to the threat of New World screwworm, a parasitic fly whose larvae feed on living tissue and can devastate livestock, wildlife and pets. Officials say the platform could become a critical early-warning system against outbreaks.

More than 30 years after the Four Corners outbreak, New Mexico continues to report among the nation’s highest hantavirus pulmonary syndrome cases. Experts say the state’s ecology, climate cycles and rural living conditions have created an enduring hotspot for the rare but deadly disease carried by deer mice.

New Mexico regulators voted to revive a contentious rulemaking process that could expand the use of treated oil and gas wastewater beyond drilling sites, reigniting a fierce clash between industry advocates and environmental groups over public health, water scarcity and political influence.

A new study shows New Mexico health officials detected measles in wastewater five days before hospitals confirmed cases, highlighting sewage surveillance as a powerful early-warning system during the nation’s largest measles outbreak in decades.