Read AMA Morning Rounds®’ most popular stories in medicine and public health from the week of July 14, 2025–July 18, 2025.
HHS reports nearly 400 significant health care data breaches so far in 2025
Modern Healthcare (7/11, Broderick, Subscription Publication) reports HHS’ Office for Civil Rights listed 378 health care data breaches as of Friday “affecting 500 or more individuals in the first six months of 2025,” which is “fewer than the 408 reported through June in 2024, but more than all years previous.” The data show fewer “individuals were also affected: The breaches reported through June totaled 31 million affected people, compared with 53 million reported in the year-ago time period and 51 million in 2023. Of the top 10 data breaches in the first six months of 2025, half have affected 1 million or more individuals. The biggest breach so far involves Yale New Haven Health, reported as affecting 5.5 million people.”
Editor’s note: Protect patient health records and other data from cyberattacks with the AMA’s cybersecurity resources.
CDC data show U.S. COVID-19 cases are on the rise
Axios (7/14, Reed) reports “cases of COVID-19 are on the rise or likely rising across half of the U.S. including much of the south as well as the West Coast, according to a weekly update from the” CDC, which suggests “another summer of illness could be in the offing as...more people lose protection from vaccination, natural immunity wanes and the virus keeps mutating.” CDC data show “COVID-19 cases are growing in 25 states, including Florida, Texas, California and Ohio,” while they are “likely growing in more than a dozen others.” Per the CDC, the most dominant COVID-19 strain circulating in the country is NB.1.8.1., nicknamed “nimbus.”
GLP-1 drugs may increase severe acid reflux risk, study suggests
HealthDay (7/15, Thompson) reports people “using GLP-1 weight loss drugs like Ozempic [semaglutide] are more likely to suffer from severe acid reflux, a new study says.” Researchers found that “people with type 2 diabetes were more likely to suffer from gastroesophageal reflux disease if they were prescribed a GLP-1 drug compared to those taking sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors.” The findings were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
COVID-19 infections growing or likely growing in half of U.S., CDC estimates
The Hill (7/16, Kutz) reports, “Infections of COVID-19 are growing or likely growing in half of the U.S. as of early July, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates.” Modeling from the CDC “shows the West Coast, Southeast and South are the primary [regions] for increased cases, though it maintains that activity overall remains ‘low’ nationwide.” According to the Hill, “the probability that the epidemic is growing is highest in California, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky and Ohio, among others.”
Gastrointestinal cancer diagnoses are rising in adults younger than 50, review finds
NBC News (7/17, Bendix) reports gastrointestinal cancers “are rising dramatically in younger adults, though” physicians “aren’t fully sure why.” Some of the potential “causes require more research, they say.” A review found that “gastrointestinal cancers have become the fastest-growing type of cancers diagnosed in adults younger than 50 in the U.S.” The review found that “colorectal cancer is by far the most common early-onset gastrointestinal cancer, with nearly 185,000 cases reported worldwide in 2022 and nearly 21,000 cases reported that same year in the U.S.” The findings were published in JAMA.
AMA Morning Rounds news coverage is developed in affiliation with Bulletin Healthcare LLC. Subscribe to Morning Rounds Daily.
