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The American Cancer Society (ACS) has released Prostate Cancer Statistics, 2025, a report on current prostate cancer occurrence and outcomes in the United States. According to the study, prostate cancer incidence rates have reversed from a decline of 6.4% per year during 2007 through 2014 to an increase of 3.0% annually during 2014 through 2021, with the steepest increase (4.6%–4.8% per year) for advanced-stage diagnoses. Simultaneously, mortality declines slowed from 3% to 4% per year during the 1990s and 2000s to 0.6% per year over the past decade. These major findings were published by Kratzer et al in the journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

The report also shows wide disparities. Despite steep declines, mortality rates for prostate cancer are two times higher for Black men compared to White men, vs 67% higher incidence rates. Likewise, Native American men have 12% higher prostate cancer mortality than White men, despite 13% lower incidence. 

“Our research highlighting the continued increases in prostate cancer incidence and persistent racial disparities underscores the need for redoubled efforts to understand the etiology of prostate cancer and optimize early detection,” said Tyler Kratzer, MPH, Associate Scientist, Cancer Surveillance Research at the ACS, and lead author of the study. “At age 50, per ACS guidelines, all men should have a conversation with their health-care provider about the benefits and harms of screening, but Black men and those with a family history of prostate cancer should have that conversation at age 45.”

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis among men in the United States, accounting for 30% of male cancers in 2025, and is the second-leading cause of cancer death in men behind lung cancer. This year, the ACS estimates there will be 313,780 new cases of prostate cancer and 35,770 deaths.

For the report, researchers analyzed population-based cancer incidence data through 2021 and mortality data through 2023 collected by the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to study authors, distant‐stage disease is increasing in men of every age, including by nearly 3% per year in those younger than 55 years and 6% per year in men 55 years and older. The 5-year relative survival rate for distant-stage prostate cancer is only 38% but approaches 100% for earlier-stage diagnoses.

Highlights of the Report

Other key findings from the report include:

• American Indian and Alaska Native men are the most likely to be diagnosed with distant-stage disease (12% vs 8% among White men).
• Prostate cancer mortality ranges from 36.9 deaths per 100,000 among Black men to 8.8 among Asian American and Pacific Islander men. American Indian and Alaska Native men have the second-highest mortality rates (20.6 per 100,000), with White (18.4 per 100,000) and Hispanic (15.4 per 100,000) men ranking third and fourth among broadly defined racial and ethnic groups.
• Prostate cancer mortality varies by state, with the highest death rates in Washington, DC (27.5 deaths per 100,000), and Mississippi (24.8 deaths per 100,000), which have a high proportion of Black residents.

“Our report underscores the need to redouble efforts to optimize early diagnosis that minimizes overdetection and to also ensure those strategies reach Black and Native American communities in particular,” said Rebecca Siegel, MPH, Senior Scientific Director, Cancer Surveillance Research at the ACS and senior author of the report. “All men should have the same opportunity to survive this common cancer.”

Screening Support

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the advocacy affiliate of the ACS, supports the Prostate-Specific Antigen Screening for High-risk Insured Men (PSA Screening for HIM) Act, federal legislation that would waive cost-sharing requirements such as deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance for prostate cancer screening tests for men with the highest risk of prostate cancer.

“Out-of-pocket costs such as co-pays can be a barrier to accessing early detection,” said Lisa A. Lacasse, President of ACS CAN. “No one should be at a disadvantage against cancer. The PSA Screening for HIM Act will help remove a major obstacle that can prevent those at high risk for the disease from getting the screening tests they need to find prostate cancer at the earliest, most treatable stage. We urge the House and the Senate to pass this legislation to help reduce prostate cancer disparities and save more lives.”

Disclosure: For full disclosures of the report authors, visit acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com.

In recent days, The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health released a statement announcing a school-aged LA County resident died from subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE)—a rare but universally fatal complication that can occur in individuals who had measles early in life. The child was originally infected with measles as an infant before they were eligible to receive the measles vaccine which is routinely recommended to be administered between 12 and 15 months. Although the child recovered from the initial measles illness, the child developed and ultimately died from SSPE.¹

SSPE is a rare, progressive brain disorder that is a late complication of infection from the measles virus. SSPE usually develops seven to ten years after the initial measles infection after the patient seemed to fully recover. It is characterized by a gradual and worsening loss of neurological function with death occurring 1 to 3 years after the initial diagnosis. It is rare, affecting about 1 in 10,000 people with measles, but the risk may be much higher — about 1 in 600 — for those who get measles as infants.¹

Paul Offit, MD, the director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), treated several children involved in a measles outbreak that occurred in that city that began in the fall of 1990 and lasted into the spring of 1991. It caused more than 1,400 cases, with a majority in unvaccinated children, and led to 9 children dying.²

“This is not a disease you want to get. Every year, before there was a vaccine, about 50,000 children would be hospitalized and 500 would die,” Offit said in an interview with Contagion earlier this year.

As a clinician, Offit said it was very difficult to watch the progression of SSPE especially without any treatment or cure for it.

While it is important to note this individual child’s measles infection in the Los Angeles area happened before the age of vaccination, it is also equally important to point out measles continues to circulate. In 2025, we have seen the largest number of cases—1,454 confirmed cases as of September 9—in the US in 25 years, since measles was declared eliminated in the year 2000. And it reminds the greater public, that vaccination not only protects your child, but family members, people who are vulnerable to disease, and everyone in the wider community.

In thinking about community immunity, Muntu Davis, MD, MPH, Los Angeles County health officer, says it is vital to maintain it. “Infants too young to be vaccinated rely on all of us to help protect them through community immunity. Vaccination is not just about protecting yourself—it’s about protecting your family, your neighbors, and especially children who are too young to be vaccinated.”¹

“We need to protect everyone against getting a vaccine-preventable disease, because if a kid got it In school, they can bring it home,” Tina Tan, MD, FIDSA, FPIDS, FAAP, president, IDSA, said in a recent interview with Contagion. “And you know, there are people with immunocompromising conditions that can’t receive certain vaccines, so you need to protect them. The other problem is that if a growing number of individuals aren’t vaccinated, this is really going to cause these diseases to spread far and wide.”

Children typically receive their first dose of the MMR vaccine at 12–15 months of age and a second dose at four to six years. However, infants six to 11 months of age should receive one dose of the MMR vaccine before traveling internationally or through an international hub. Infants younger than six months are too young to be vaccinated and rely on maternal antibodies and community immunity to reduce their risk of exposure.¹

References
1. Public Health Reminds Residents About the Importance of Measles Vaccination Following the Death of a Child from a Measles-Related Complication. September 11, 2025. Accessed September 15, 2025.
http://www.publichealth.lacounty.gov/phcommon/public/media/mediapubhpdetail.cfm?prid=5135

2. 1990–1991 Philadelphia measles outbreak. Wikipedia. Accessed September 15, 2025.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990%E2%80%931991_Philadelphia_measles_outbreak

Just 10 days after the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) declared an Ebola virus outbreak in Kasai province, vaccination in the affected health zone began, targeting frontline health workers and contacts sick patients, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday in an update.

The initial shipment to Bulape health zone included 400 doses of Ervebo (VSV-EBOV) drawn from the DRC’s stockpile of 2,000 doses stored in Kinshasa, where some frontline workers were recently immunized. The WHO said more doses will be delivered in the coming days. 

Outbreak responders are using ring vaccination strategy focusing on those at highest risk among patient contacts. 

The international Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision has approved an additional 45,000 Ebola vaccine doses to be shipped to the DRC. The WHO said it is supporting the health ministry in formatting a request for more doses, and with other partners has helped officials develop an immunization plan and train vaccination teams.

Treatment courses of the monoclonal antibody treatment MAb114 (ansuvimab-zykl, also known as Ebanga) have been sent to treatment centers in Bulape. 

Cases rise to 81, deaths reach 28 

In related developments, the provincial Ebola emergency committee met on September 13, which included updates on the latest epidemiological situation, according to a report from the DRC’s National Public Health Laboratory (INRB).

More suspected and confirmed cases have been reported, along with two more deaths, lifting the outbreak total to 81 cases and 28 deaths, for a case-fatality rate of 34.6%. The numbers are up from 68 suspected cases (20 confirmed) and 16 deaths reported a few days ago.

Of seven new suspected cases from Bulape health zone, five were confirmed by lab testing. 

Health officials have identified 58 more contacts, raising the total to 716. 

In another vaccine development, health officials said another 360 doses arrived in the provincial capital Tshikapa.