Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services

Cases of the intestinal illness, which can cause explosive diarrhea, rose to nearly 300 this week in Kansas, up from 55 last week, according to numbers from the state.

Missouri health officials said they are confident the number of reported cases reflects exposure to contaminated food inside the state. But investigators are still working to identify the source of the outbreak.

Taylor Farms, a vegetable producer linked to the outbreak, issued a recall of iceberg lettuce shipped to 27 states, including Missouri.

Missouri still has far fewer reported cases of cyclospora, the parasitic infection than other Midwest states. Cylosporiasis symptoms include nausea and watery diarrhea.

The legislature-mandated report reviewed pregnancy-related deaths between 2019 and 2023. During that period, 340 Missouri women died while pregnant or within one year after the end of a pregnancy.

A Missouri bill that would mandate the counting and tracking of an allergy to mammalian products passed the House on Thursday by a wide margin.

The Missouri Department of Public Safety and other state departments wrote in their alert that nitazene can be five to 10 times more potent than fentanyl. Recent wastewater surveillance reports from Missouri schools shows that it's becoming more common.

State regulators discovered cultivation licensees were bringing in clones, seeds and tissue cultures from other states, in violation of Missouri’s marijuana tracking regulations.

Dozens of people impacted by alpha-gal syndrome — a tick-borne allergy to mammalian products such as red meat and dairy — rallied at the Missouri capital Tuesday. There is no standard reporting for the disease so it's hard to know how common it is.

Researchers have said this year's flu vaccine may be mismatched with the currently circulating flu type known as subclade K.

The state, in cooperation with the American Lung Association, has added “smoke-free” to descriptions of rental properties in a statewide directory. Landlords and health advocates believe it will inspire people to seek out smoke-free environments and lower the state's disproportionately high tobacco-related illnesses and deaths.

More than 40,000 Missouri food establishments and stores are estimated to be impacted by federal regulations on hemp products, which were included in the new spending package that reopened the federal government.