ATLANTA — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a formal health advisory Thursday warning of a sharp nationwide increase in reported human rabies exposures this summer, urging doctors to be vigilant about proper risk assessment and treatment as multiple states reported mass exposure events involving more than one person at a time.

From July through August, the CDC received 17% more rabies-related inquiries than during the same period in 2025, according to the agency’s Health Alert Network advisory, which flagged both a rise in human exposures to rabid or possibly rabid animals and errors in how post-exposure treatment was being administered by some providers.

“During the summer of 2026, reports of animal exposures and rabies post-exposure vaccinations have increased across the country,” the CDC said in its statement.

The scale of the increase was also reflected in pharmacy utilization data. According to weekly pharmacy figures as of Sept. 2, use of the two rabies vaccines licensed in the United States, Imovax and RabAvert, rose an estimated 33% compared with the same period last year, while use of the two licensed human rabies immunoglobulin products, KEDRAB and HyperRab, jumped 76% over that same comparison window. The CDC said at least eight state health departments have separately reported increases in rabies post-exposure prophylaxis use, treatment administration errors, or both, since July.

Despite the surge in demand, the agency emphasized that there is currently no shortage of either rabies vaccine or rabies immunoglobulin in the United States. Even so, the CDC stressed the importance of administering treatment correctly, given the risks tied to both inadequate care and unnecessary overtreatment.

“Proper administration of rabies vaccine and human rabies immune globulin is critical to ensuring patients receive effective protection while avoiding unnecessary treatment, costs, and strain on supplies,” the CDC said.

The agency’s advisory detailed several specific administration errors that have been reported by state health departments in recent weeks, including vaccines being given in the gluteal area rather than the recommended injection site, failure to properly infiltrate immunoglobulin directly into and around a wound, and instances in which immunoglobulin was improperly mixed with vaccine doses in the same syringe.

The CDC’s alert followed a high-profile rabies outbreak at a petting zoo in North Carolina, where baby goats tested positive for the virus less than two weeks before the advisory was issued, an incident that reportedly exposed hundreds of visitors to potential infection. Beyond that outbreak, recent local reports cited in connection with the advisory span a wide range of locations and animal species. Health officials in Suffolk, Virginia, confirmed a raccoon within city limits had tested positive for rabies, while a dog in Mire, Louisiana, also tested positive, prompting a warning from local veterinarians. Elmira, New York, has reported multiple rabid cats and skunks in recent weeks, and a rabies-infected bat was discovered earlier this year inside a shower house at Yosemite National Park.

Rabies is a viral disease that attacks the central nervous system and is almost always fatal once symptoms begin to appear, but the disease is considered nearly entirely preventable if post-exposure treatment is administered promptly, before symptoms start. That treatment regimen typically consists of an immediate dose of human rabies immune globulin, an antibody medication that provides protection while the body’s own immune response develops, combined with a series of at least four rabies vaccine doses administered over several weeks. According to the CDC, the regimen is nearly 100% effective when administered correctly and promptly following a potential exposure.

The CDC also noted an important distinction in its guidance regarding who should receive the immunoglobulin component of treatment specifically.

“People who have been previously vaccinated or are receiving pre-exposure prophylaxis for rabies should not receive human rabies immune globulin,” the agency said.

According to the CDC, roughly 100,000 people receive rabies post-exposure prophylaxis in the United States each year following a potential exposure, out of an estimated 1.4 million people who seek medical evaluation annually after some form of animal contact. Given the disease’s near-total fatality rate once symptoms develop, the CDC has continued urging anyone bitten, scratched, or otherwise potentially exposed to a wild or unusually behaving animal to take the situation seriously rather than dismissing what might initially appear to be a minor scratch.

Recommended immediate steps following a potential exposure include thoroughly washing the affected wound with soap and water for a full 15 minutes, followed by contacting a health care provider or local public health department the same day to determine whether post-exposure treatment is warranted, rather than waiting to see whether symptoms develop before seeking medical attention.

The CDC’s advisory was distributed through its Health Alert Network, the agency’s primary communication channel for disseminating urgent public health information to doctors, hospital networks and state and local health officials nationwide. The alert cited research published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association examining national rabies surveillance trends in 2024, alongside earlier research published in JAMA Network Open examining rabies risk and post-exposure prophylaxis administration patterns across the United States.

With rabies-related inquiries and treatment utilization both climbing sharply compared with last year, the CDC’s advisory underscores the agency’s effort to balance two competing public health priorities heading into the fall: ensuring that anyone genuinely exposed to a rabid or potentially rabid animal receives prompt and properly administered treatment, while also working to prevent unnecessary or improperly administered doses that could strain existing rabies vaccine and immunoglobulin supplies as reported exposures continue to rise across multiple states nationwide.

LONDON — Queen Camilla is reportedly working to strengthen her relationship with Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, as she continues supporting King Charles III through his ongoing cancer treatment, according to a source cited by Heat World.

An insider told the outlet that despite any past wariness between the two women, Camilla recognizes the practical necessity of maintaining a cordial relationship with her daughter-in-law.

“No matter how wary Camilla may be towards Kate, she genuinely can’t afford to have her as an enemy,” the source said.

The insider pointed to Charles’s close relationship with Kate as one key factor shaping Camilla’s approach, along with the broader dynamics of her relationship with Prince William.

“For one thing, Charles has a huge amount of respect and love for Kate, so bickering with her doesn’t go over well with him. But even more crucial is how William feels and she’s simply never going to get anywhere with him if she isn’t on decent terms with Kate,” the source said.

The insider went on to suggest that Camilla’s motivations extend beyond simple family harmony, tying her approach directly to concerns about her own long-term position within the royal family as Charles’s reign progresses.

“The sad reality is that she may need his help a lot sooner than she would like. Her worst possible nightmare is being booted out and having zero role in the Firm,” the source said. “She wants to strike some sort of compromise that would allow her to hold onto all her perks and privileges when the time comes and she reluctantly accepts that the only way to make that even a remote possibility is to start being nice to Kate.”

The report comes amid a broader, well-documented history connecting Charles and Kate through their shared and overlapping health struggles in recent years. Buckingham Palace first announced in February 2024 that Charles was undergoing treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer, a diagnosis that emerged following a separate procedure for a benign enlarged prostate. Just weeks later, in March 2024, Kate announced she had also been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing preventative chemotherapy, following earlier abdominal surgery. Kate completed her chemotherapy treatment in September 2024 and announced in January 2025 that she was in remission.

Author Sally Bedell Smith, who wrote “George VI and Elizabeth: The Marriage That Saved the Monarchy,” previously told People magazine that the shared experience of cancer treatment has only deepened the existing bond between Charles and Kate.

“The King has always had a very good bond with her,” Smith said. “She’s interested in artistic things, and she appreciates art and culture, so she has an affinity with the King over that.” Smith added of their parallel health battles: “Obviously they have this in common and can only bring them closer. It is a source of reassurance and consolation for both of them.”

Charles and Kate reportedly shared a private lunch together the day before Kate publicly announced her own cancer diagnosis in March 2024, according to sources cited by People at the time, further underscoring the close personal relationship between the two.

Charles has continued his cancer treatment in the time since his initial diagnosis, with Buckingham Palace confirming in December 2025 that his treatment schedule would be reduced heading into 2026, an update widely interpreted as a positive sign regarding his ongoing recovery, even as the palace has continued describing his cancer as a managed, ongoing condition rather than one that has been fully resolved.

Kate and Charles have made several joint public appearances in the time since their respective diagnoses, including attending a Cancer Research UK reception together at St James’s Palace in June marking the charity’s 125th anniversary. During that event, Kate met with Sebastian Bowen, husband of the late cancer awareness advocate Deborah James, continuing her broader public engagement with cancer-related causes since completing her own treatment.

Camilla, for her part, has spoken publicly about the emotional difficulty of the earliest days following Charles’s diagnosis, describing a period during which she felt she was “longing to let it out but obviously I couldn’t,” reflecting the pressure she faced maintaining public composure while privately supporting her husband through a serious health diagnosis. Camilla has served as patron of Maggie’s, a cancer support charity, notably having visited one of the organization’s centers just a week before Charles’s diagnosis was first disclosed to the public, a timing coincidence that drew some attention at the time.

The relationship between Camilla and Kate has periodically been the subject of speculation and competing narratives within British royal commentary over the years, with various outlets offering differing characterizations of the dynamic between the two women, ranging from reports of tension to accounts of a more cordial, if not especially close, working relationship within the broader royal family structure.

Neither Buckingham Palace nor Kensington Palace has publicly commented on the specific claims regarding Camilla’s efforts to improve her relationship with Kate, consistent with the royal family’s general practice of declining to address speculative reporting about the personal dynamics between senior family members.

With Charles continuing his reduced treatment schedule into 2026 and Kate having marked more than a year since entering remission, the shared health experiences of the two have continued to shape public perception of their relationship, even as unconfirmed reports regarding Camilla’s broader relationship-building efforts with Kate remain sourced to unnamed insiders rather than any official statement from the palace or the individuals involved.

Frontier Communications customers began reporting internet outages early Friday morning, with outage-tracking site Downdetector logging a surge in complaints starting around 12:56 a.m. EDT, marking the second such reported disruption for the internet provider this week alone.

Downdetector’s official account flagged the surge in a post shortly after the reports began, asking affected users how the disruption was impacting them and directing people to its live outage map for updates. The hashtag “FrontierDown” began circulating on social media as users compared notes on the issue.

According to reporting from the DesignTAXI community outage tracker, the volume of user reports climbed sharply beginning around 12:49 a.m. Eastern time, with a number of Frontier internet subscribers experiencing service interruptions. That report closely aligned with the timing of Downdetector’s own official alert flagging the surge in complaints.

Friday’s disruption is not an isolated incident. According to the same DesignTAXI community tracking service, Frontier internet subscribers also reported an outage earlier this week, on Sept. 9, with that earlier disruption’s user reports surging around 11:45 a.m. Eastern time. The recurrence of reported outages within such a short window has added to user frustration among affected customers this week.

Frontier Communications, founded in 1935, has long operated as one of the largest internet service providers in the United States, offering both fiber and DSL internet plans with speeds reaching multi-gigabit performance in some markets, alongside video, TV and phone services for residential and business customers. The company serves as the incumbent telecom provider in Connecticut and ranks among the largest internet providers operating in Florida, according to outage-tracking service GeoBlackout, which notes that Frontier outages in those states often overlap geographically with broader power grid disruptions affecting Eversource in New England and Florida Power & Light in Florida.

Friday’s reported outage comes at a notable moment for Frontier’s corporate structure, following the completion of Verizon’s $20 billion acquisition of the company on Jan. 20, 2026. That deal, first announced in September 2024, placed Frontier’s operations, including its various regional subsidiaries across the country, under Verizon’s ownership and control, marking a significant shift for the historic telecommunications provider following decades operating independently and under various prior corporate structures.

For customers experiencing ongoing connectivity issues, standard troubleshooting guidance typically recommended by technology support resources includes first checking whether a broader outage is affecting the customer’s specific region, an issue that can often be confirmed through a provider’s official website, mobile app or social media channels, many of which maintain dedicated outage maps pinpointing affected areas. If no broader regional outage is confirmed, the issue may instead originate within a customer’s own home network rather than reflecting a wider Frontier service disruption.

Recommended home network troubleshooting steps include power cycling both the modem and router by unplugging each device, waiting approximately 30 seconds, then plugging the modem back in and allowing it to fully power up, typically indicated by solid status lights, before reconnecting the router. Customers are also generally advised to check all cables connecting their modem and router to ensure secure connections, since loose or damaged cables represent a surprisingly common cause of home connectivity problems even when no broader provider-side outage is occurring.

Frontier maintains its own dedicated service outage status page through its help center, allowing customers to check for confirmed outages in their specific area directly through the company’s official channels, an alternative or supplement to relying solely on third-party outage-tracking services like Downdetector.

Frontier’s overall service reputation has drawn mixed reviews from customers over the years, with one independent site-monitoring service, Is It Down Right Now, showing a relatively low average rating for frontier.com based on user-submitted reviews, reflecting a pattern of periodic customer frustration with the provider’s reliability in various markets across the country. Regional subsidiaries of the company, some tracing their roots back more than a century to small, independently operated local telephone companies before eventual consolidation under the broader Frontier Communications umbrella, have historically varied in service quality and reported reliability depending on the specific local market and underlying network infrastructure in place.

Given Frontier’s substantial customer base spanning both residential and business internet service across numerous states, disruptions affecting the provider tend to generate significant user frustration and social media attention, particularly when outages recur within a short window, as has been the case this week with Friday’s early morning disruption following the earlier Sept. 9 outage reported by the same community tracking service.

As of early Friday morning, Frontier had not issued a detailed public statement specifically addressing the cause of the reported outage, and it remained unclear whether Friday’s disruption was connected in any way to the earlier incident reported just two days prior. Affected customers were advised to continue monitoring both Downdetector’s live outage tracker and Frontier’s own official service status page for updates, while checking their own home network equipment using standard troubleshooting steps in the event the disruption proves to be isolated to their specific connection rather than reflecting a broader, provider-wide outage affecting Frontier’s network Friday morning.

Somerset’s cider apple growers know this is not a freak year.

“What we used to think of as extreme weather, we increasingly consider as normal.” says Mike Kendon, a climate scientist at the Met Office.

But what can an apple grower do about it?

Neil MacDonald is now watering newly planted trees.

“Five years ago you would just dig a good hole and leave nature to get on with it,” he smiles.

“Now you can’t get away with that, you have to irrigate young trees or they die.”

But irrigation for hundreds of acres of cider orchards is “just not viable”, he said. Farmers who grow eating apples for supermarkets command higher prices for their fruit, so traditionally they have invested in irrigation systems.

Cider growers are now having to rethink their calculations.

Most fundamentally of all, climate change may actually change the taste of West Country cider.

One of the main varieties that gives Somerset cider its bittersweet taste is Dabinett. Several growers have found these trees producing very few apples this year, not because of the drought, but the mild winter.

“Dabinett needs a cold snap,” MacDonald explains. “We just didn’t get the cold winter days this year or last, so it’s not producing.”

He is now grafting other varieties onto his Dabinett trees, plants that fare better in hot dry weather.

As our climate changes, the very taste of Somerset cider may change too.

The ONS said the services sector drove growth in July, with output increasing by 4%

The UK economy unexpectedly grew by 0.4% in July following a boost from the services industry and businesses increasing the use of AI, official figures show.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released the latest gross domestic product (GDP) data, which was up from a 0.3% growth rate in June.

It marks a surprise uplift after economists were expecting the economy to show zero growth for the month.

The figures will come as welcome news to Chancellor John Healey who earlier this week insisted that the UK economy was “turning a corner”, as he prepares to deliver his first autumn Budget statement next month.

The ONS said the services sector drove growth in July, with output increasing by 4%, and computer programming making the largest contribution.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and related technology has helped to boost the sector over the past three months, according to the ONS.

Its evidence showed that across computer programming, consultancy and IT activities, many of the businesses reporting the largest turnover in July were involved in activities related to AI and cloud computing.

It comes amid a wider AI investment boom, with businesses increasingly spending on infrastructure and training to accelerate their use of the technology.

GDP growth in July was also helped by a 0.2% increase in production output, driven by growths in manufacturing and water supply, including sewerage and waste management, the ONS said.

Construction output also increased by 0.1%, helped by housing repair and maintenance work.

Meanwhile, the impact from the heatwaves on spending in pubs and restaurants was down in July compared with June, which had been helped by record hot weather and the Fifa World Cup kicking off.

ONS director of economics statistics Liz McKeown said that “some businesses reported that the warm weather and Fifa World Cup had affected their activity, although effects differed across industries, benefitting some businesses while creating challenges for others”.

Mr Healey said: “Britain’s economy is demonstrating a welcome resilience, despite serious global uncertainty.”

He referred to the Iran war which he said “does have impacts here at home – from the cost of the weekly family shop to the cost of Government borrowing”.

Government long-term borrowing costs have risen to their highest levels in 28 years in recent weeks.

“We are shifting power to local communities to generate growth in more places and backing business to succeed with more investment, innovation and jobs,” Mr Healey said.

“This is the route to raising living standards and delivering good growth in every postcode.”

Ben Jones, CBI senior lead economist, said: Stronger-than-expected growth in July suggests that the economy carried some of its first-half momentum into Q3.

“But although the economy has proved more resilient to the fallout from the Middle East conflict than initially seemed likely, the second half of the year looks a bit more challenging. Higher household energy bills are beginning to bite, while volatile energy markets and a global bond-market sell-off are adding to uncertainty and pushing up borrowing costs.

“Business surveys have become less pessimistic than earlier in the year, but the improvement remains tentative. Ahead of the Budget, firms will be looking for how the Chancellor’s vision to unlock investment, innovation and good jobs across the country translates into action to tackle the cost of doing business – essential to turning that ambition into stronger growth and improved living standards.”

Yael Selfin, chief economist for KPMG, said: “Despite strong activity in July, the headline growth figure masks a weaker picture for households.”

She pointed to the consumer-facing services, like retail and hospitality, which marked falls in July following an earlier summer boost.

“Higher energy and fuel prices are likely to place further pressure on household budgets, while elevated mortgage rates will continue to weigh on housing activity and wider consumer spending,” she said.

This could cause momentum to slow in August and September, she cautioned.

Suren Thiru, chief economist for the Institute of Chartered Accountants England and Wales (ICAEW), said Mr Healey could be left with a “Budget headache” if economic growth starts to dwindle, “as more muted growth and surging borrowing costs erode his fiscal headroom, raising the prospect of further tax rises”.

Mr Healey is set to deliver his autumn Budget for taxes and spending on October 28, at a time when household energy bills are expected to rise following the new Ofgem price cap taking effect.

The UK economy grew by 0.4 per cent in July, well above the consensus forecast for no growth, according to figures published today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The statistics agency said the World Cup and record hot weather had lifted activity.

The monthly rise in gross domestic product followed growth of 0.3 per cent in June, while output stalled in May, the ONS monthly GDP estimate for July showed.

The ONS said businesses, especially in the hospitality sector, reported a boost in sales from the World Cup, which reached its latter stages in July. It said the record hot weather in the month also lifted activity.

The ONS figures show the increase in July was largely driven by a 0.4 per cent rise in services output. Service industries accounted for 81 per cent of UK economic output in the final three months of 2025, according to the House of Commons Library.

Production output rose by 0.2 per cent in July and construction output increased by 0.1 per cent.

On the three-month measure preferred by the ONS, GDP grew by 0.4 per cent in the three months to July. That matched growth in the three months to June.

The ONS’s first estimate for May had shown growth of 0.1 per cent, before the figure was revised down by 0.1 percentage points in its June bulletin.

July’s figures follow a first half in which the UK was the fastest-growing economy in the G7, according to the Resolution Foundation. The think tank said on 13 August that the economy grew by 0.6 per cent in the first quarter and 0.4 per cent in the second, giving combined growth of 1 per cent.

Stephen Hunsaker, economist at the Resolution Foundation, said at the time: “Britain’s economy has slowed after a strong start to the year, but growth of 0.4 per cent in the second quarter still leaves the UK leading the pack ahead of its G7 peers.”

The think tank said growth in the first half had left the economy 0.4 per cent larger than the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast in March, but warned that the economic fallout from the Iran war may cancel out that good news. It noted that the Bank of England had downgraded its future growth outlook.

The World Cup also featured in the ONS’s June figures, published on 13 August. The agency said the tournament, which started on 11 June, was cited as a reason for an increase in turnover in June by businesses in industries such as the manufacture of alcohol, wholesale, food and beverage serving activities, publishing, television production and advertising.

In July, payments company Square reported that transactions at Britain’s pubs and bars rose 145 per cent on the day of England’s World Cup semi-final against Argentina, with late-night trade between 10pm and 2am up 97 per cent.

The ONS’s June bulletin also said some businesses across manufacturing, retail, accommodation, and amusement and recreation cited positive impacts from the hot weather. The warm weather was also cited as having a negative impact on construction and on education, where schools were closed because of the heatwave.

Provisional Met Office figures put the mean temperature for June, July and August at 16.5C, the highest in a series stretching back to 1884, making it the UK’s warmest summer on record. The Met Office said on 1 September that the figure was 1.9C above the 1991-2020 average and beat the previous record of 16.1C set in 2025.

Separate analysis by the think tank Verdant put lost UK output from repeated heatwaves at £4.4bn by the end of July, citing reduced worker productivity and equipment shutdowns.

The ONS’s next monthly GDP estimate is due on 15 October.

Amy Ingham

Amy Ingham is a reporter at Business Matters, covering UK business news with a focus on breaking news, business policy, late payments and insolvency. She joined the magazine in 2026 after completing the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism at Harlow College’s journalism school. Her recent reporting includes British Steel’s nationalisation and its impact on SME suppliers, the decline in late payments by large firms, and Insolvency Service director disqualifications. Reach her at aingham@cbmeg.co.uk.

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