A CDC doctor who vanished in February drowned himself and was pulled from an Atlanta river about two months after going missing, authorities now believe. Cunningham, a Harvard-educated epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was last seen alive leaving work Feb. 12, after complaining that he felt ill. On April 3 — after much fruitless searching and mystery, some of whichspawned wild and since-debunked conspiracy theories— his body was pulled from the Chattahoochee River....

A man in Los Angeles wearing a mask.Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via GettyThe Centers for Disease Control is droppingtheir nationwide mask recommendationand instead leaving the decision up to local governments, advising only those with high COVID-19 transmission levels to retain their mask mandates.In a major change from past guidance, the CDC said that withCOVID-19 transmission levels down in most of the country,the mask mandate is no longer needed for areas with low or medium case rates, which is currently about 70% of the country....

Carnival Vista cruise ship.Photo: Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via GettyThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has lowered its warning level for cruise travelers for the second time in two months after advising against all cruising earlier this year.The agency’s rating, which was just bumped down toLevel 2,still recommends all passengers be vaccinated before boarding a ship.“Getting vaccinated is still the best way to protect yourself from severe disease, slow the spread of COVID-19, and reduce the number of new variants,” the CDC says....

Amy St. Pierre.Photo: Amy St. Pierre/Facebook A CDC employee has been identified as the woman killed in the mass shooting in Atlanta. Amy St. Pierre, 38, died and four other women were injured in an attack at Northside Hospital Midtown medical building Wednesday. St. Pierre was pronounced dead at the scene, Jimmy Sadler, senior investigator with the Fulton County Medical Examiner Center tells PEOPLE. The suspected gunman,24-year-old Deion Patterson, has been taken into custody....

Photo: Getty If you have a pet hedgehog, put the prickly guy down and read this. In January,the Center for Disease Control (CDC) released a warning to hedgehog ownersacross the country, cautioning them not to get too cozy with their pets. The reason: the CDC suspected that close contact with hedgehogs could be the cause of a multi-state salmonella outbreak. At the time, 11 people across eight states — Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming — had become infected withSalmonella Typhimuriumand the CDC found that 10 of those individuals came in contact with a hedgehog shortly before becoming ill....

Melioidosis.Photo: Getty TheCenters for Disease Control is investigatingthree mysterious cases of a bacterial disease that is typically found in tropical climates — yet the infected people have not left the United States. The first patient to be diagnosed with the disease, in March, died 10 days after being hospitalized, though they had two preexisting conditions, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and liver scarring, that put them at high risk of serious illness....

Photo: GettyU.S. health officials are investigating 14 new reports of theZika virusthat may have been sexually transmitted.In two of the cases, the virus has been confirmed in women whose only known risk factor was sexual contact with an infected male partner who had recently traveled to an area with active Zika transmission through mosquito bites, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday. The new reports, which include pregnant women, suggest that sexual transmission of the virus may be more of a concern than was initially thought....

Dole Salad.Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images The Centers for Disease Controlis investigating a listeria outbreakfrom Dole salads that has left two people dead and led to 13 hospitalizations. The outbreak has caused a reported 17 sick in total, across 13 states. The CDC said that anyone with products thatmatch the warningshould throw out or return the salads and thoroughly clean any surfaces that they touched. The symptoms of listeriainclude fever, muscle aches, headaches and loss of balance, and can take 1 to 4 weeks to appear....

A person getting vaccinated.Photo: Getty There is growing evidence of a link betweenthe COVID-19 vaccineand cases of a mild heart condition in young people, primarily men, after receiving their second dose,the Centers for Disease Control said Thursday. The number of cases is low — the CDC has identified 283 cases of the heart inflammation, called myocarditis, in people under 30 years old — but higher than expected. The CDC typically sees fewer than 100 cases of the condition in this age group....

Photo: Universal History Archive/UIG/Getty On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued what’s been described as a historic travel warning, advising pregnant women and their partners to avoid an area north of Miami, Florida, overZika concerns. It’s believed to be the first time the CDC has warned people against traveling to an American neighborhood over concerns of infectious disease transmission, according to agency spokesman Tom Skinner. The agency’s warning is timely: 11 additional people in Florida were found to have beeninfected with the virus, bringing Florida’s total to 15....

A pregnant woman receiving vaccination.Photo: Getty Images The Centers for Disease Control isurgently warning pregnant women to get vaccinated against COVID-19due to the significant risks of hospitalization or death from the virus. In a health advisory, the agency “strongly recommends” people who are currently pregnant or hoping to conceive get a COVID-19 vaccine to “prevent serious illness, deaths and adverse pregnancy outcomes.” Pregnancy significantly increases the likelihood of hospitalization or death if a person contracts COVID-19, yet “only 31% of pregnant people have been vaccinated,” the CDC said....

Photo: IMAGE POINT FR/NIH/NIAID/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty The Centers for Disease Control and Preventionissued a health advisorythis week due to a seasonally-unusual increase in the spread of acommon respiratory virus. On Thursday, the CDC warned doctors and health care providers that cases of RSV, which stands forRespiratory Syncytial Virus, are on the rise in the South. RSV infections, which are the most common cause of bronchitis and pneumonia in kids under the age of one in the U....

A sick child.Photo: gettyThe Centers for Disease Controlissued a health advisorylast week warning that cases of the seasonal flu are low but starting to rise, a sign that “could mark the beginning of the 2021-2022 influenza season.“After more than two months of nonexistent or minimal flu activity, the number of positive tests have started to increase,with 415 casesin the week ending on Nov. 20. Though that is just a 1% positivity rate nationwide, the CDC wants physicians to prepare for a potential influx of patients, particularly with COVID-19 cases also on the rise in the U....