“I'm not great at the advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?”

This is what ‘Friends’ actor Matthew Perry’s character Chandler Bing was known for. He was known for being funny. However, he had his own struggles in his personal life and those struggles were acute depression. He was treating it with ketamine infusion therapy which is legal in the US and the UK.

What is Ketamine infusion therapy?

Ketamine is an anaesthetic used to treat depression, anxiety and pain under supervised and controlled medical settings. However, it does have its side effects, which can lead to distortion of sight, sound and time. It can also produce calming and relaxing effects.

Ketamine increases a person’s heart rate and blood pressure. If overdosed, it can leave users confused and agitated and can cause them to hurt themselves without even realising it. It can also lead to liver damage and bladder problems.

However, when used in moderation and under the supervision of medical doctors, it can treat depression where traditional antidepressants have failed.

Prof Rupert McShane, a University of Oxford psychiatrist who runs an NHS ketamine treatment clinic told BBC that ketamine “probably turns off the area of the brain that is involved in disappointment.”

Can Ketamine Infusion Therapy Kill Someone?

In simple terms, it cannot, be if the dosage is given in a controlled setting and as prescribed. Ketamine infusion therapy uses drugs in small doses than those used for anaesthesia. It acts faster than traditional anti-depressants, but the effects also wear off way quickly. Which is why it is important to monitor patients’ mental state for relapsing back into depression and discouraging them from overdosing on it.

There are ways of giving people ketamine. One of the ways is through “infusing”, which means to use an IV drip. However, injections, nasal sprays and capsules are also methods used to give people ketamine.

Since the dosage of ketamine used in the infusion treatment is small, it being the reason of actor Perry’s death was ruled out. The medical examiner also noted that Perry’s last ketamine infusion therapy session happened more than a week before his death, which means by the time he had died, it must have worn off.

So, What Happened To Perry?

Though Perry’s last session was more than a week before, his post-mortem showed that his blood contained a high concentration of ketamine. He had died of the “acute effects” of ketamine.

If it was not his session, then how did he get ketamine?

Prosecutors alleged that his assistant gave him at least 27 shots of ketamine in four days before his death, reported BBC.

Perry has been open about his personal struggles and this is what the doctors and dealers used against him. Martin Estrada, the US attorney for California’s Central District told the BBC that people took advantage of his condition. They charged him 165 times more than what vials of ketamine cost.

Names that have come up include Dr Salvador Plasencia, drug dealers “Ketamine Queen” aka Jasveen Sangha and Eric Fleming, and Perry’s live-in assistant Kenneth Iwamasa.

Who Are These Names And What Did They Do?

Ketamine Queen or Sangha supplied drugs that led to Perry’s death. Her home was a “drug-selling emporium,” said Estrada. More than 80 vials of ketamine, and thousands of pills including methamphetamine, cocaine and Xanax were allegedly found in her house known as the “Sangha Stash House.”

Sangha is known to deal with high-end celebs and was a “major source of supply for ketamine to others as well as Perry,” said Estrada.

Dr Plasencia called Perry a “moron” while charging him $2,000 for vials that cost only $12. He sold Perry 20 vials of ketamine between September and October 2023, costing $55,000.

He was the one who taught Iwamasa, who had no medical knowledge to inject the drug. This is after he knew that “Perry’s ketamine addiction was spiralling out of control,” as per what the investigators told the BBC.

Another dealer Fleming was told by Sangha to “delete all our messages.” While Fleming pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute drugs unlawfully, he also allegedly messaged Sangha: “Please call...Got more info and want to bounce ideas off you. I’m 90% sure everyone is protected. I never dealt with [Perry] only his assistant. So the assistant was the enabler.”

The court documents also revealed that he asked Sangha on whether the ketamine stays in your system or “is it immediately flushed out.”

Dr Pepper, Bots, Cans

The people who allegedly exploited Perry used coded language for ketamine and called it “Dr Pepper”, “bots”, or “cans.”

Selling overpriced drugs, taking advantage of Perry’s mental condition and falsifying medical records to make the drugs given to him look legitimate by Dr Plasencia is what took Perry’s life.

Iwamasa is said to have administered more than 20 shots of ketamine and three on the day Perry died. Whereas ketamine is only administered by a physician. Authorities also found that weeks before Perry’s death, Dr Plasencia allegedly bought 10 vials of ketamine and intended to sell to Perry.

He also injected Perry with a large dose, two days later. This caused him to “freeze up” and spiked his blood pressure.

When I Die, I Want Helping Others To Be The First Thing That’s Mentioned

Perry had always been open about his drug addictions, struggles with alcohol and his depression. He said that his openness would help others who are also struggling and wanted to be remembered by his quote which also is on the homepage of the Mattew Perry Foundation that helps others struggling with the disease of addiction: “When I die, I want helping others to be the first thing that’s mentioned.”

Five arrests have been made in the case so far.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued an immediate recall of contaminated Rosabella brand moringa powder capsules that are tied to an outbreak of drug-resistant Salmonella infections, causing fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.

This is the second Salmonella outbreak related to moringa powder in the past six months. However, the two cases are not related, the CDC said.

In its latest alert issued in February 2026, the CDC reported seven cases, including three hospitalizations, from seven states linked to Rosabella brand moringa powder capsules.

The agency noted that the capsules distributed by Ambrosia Brands LLC, which is based in the US, are contaminated with Salmonella Newport and have led to one case each in states including Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, and Washington.

"CDC, public health and regulatory officials in several states, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are collecting different types of data to investigate a multistate outbreak of multidrug-resistant Salmonella Newport infections,” the CDC said.

"Epidemiologic data show that Rosabella brand moringa powder capsules may be contaminated with Salmonella Newport and may be making people sick,” it added.

What The CDC Investigation Found

The median age of the affected patients is 66 years, and 86 percent are females.

The public health officials also conducted a whole-genome sequencing of the seven samples.

The tests revealed that the Salmonella strain associated with this outbreak is resistant to all first-line and alternative antibiotics commonly recommended for the treatment of Salmonella infections.

"This strain also might be resistant to multiple β-lactam antibiotics, including meropenem and other carbapenems, because it carries an NDM-1 carbapenemase gene," the CDC said.

As Salmonella illnesses may not be treatable with commonly recommended antibiotics, the CDC advised to "tailor antibiotic treatment to antimicrobial susceptibility testing results when possible".

Issuing a recall, the CDC stated the capsules are sold on the company's website, Amazon, TikTok Shop, Shein, and eBay.

"If you have any of these capsules in your home, throw them out or return them. CDC and FDA continue to work to identify if there are other products causing illness in this outbreak,” the regulator said.

In January, the regulator had reported an investigation of a Salmonella outbreak linked to dietary supplements containing moringa leaf powder.

What Is The Salmonella Infection?

Food contamination with Salmonella -- an organism -- can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.

The CDC noted that in rare cases, the organism can get into the bloodstream and produce more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis, and arthritis.

Salmonella Newport, detected in the recent outbreak, is a serious, often multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterium causing human and animal illnesses. It also ranks among the top three Salmonella serotypes in US foodborne outbreaks.

Noida administration has launched a 10-day measles-rubella (MMR) vaccination drive with an aim to cover students from Classes 1 to 5 across government and private schools. UP State Health Department officials noted that the sessions are also being conducted within the school premises under this campaign to ensure a wider vaccination coverage and ease of access for students and parents.

The initiative is part of the state government's ongoing efforts to strengthen immunity against measles and rubella. It is a highly contagious viral disease that primarily affects children.

Under the Measles-Rubella elimination campaign, the Central government aims to reach 100 per cent immunization coverage by ensuring children receive both doses of the vaccine. According to the 2024–25 Health Management Information System, India’s MMR coverage is currently 93.7 per cent for the first dose and 92.2 per cent for the second.

“The objective is to ensure that no eligible child is left out. Children will be administered an additional dose of the MR vaccine during the campaign. The vaccine is safe and is being provided for free of cost,” Dr Narendra Kumar, Chief Medical Officer of Gautam Buddha Nagar, told the media persons.

What Is Measles?

Measles is a highly contagious disease. It spreads by coughs or sneezes or by touching things that someone with measles has coughed or sneezed on.

Measles, also known as rubeola, is an extremely contagious viral illness that typically causes high fever, cough, runny nose, red and watery eyes, and a characteristic rash that begins on the face and spreads downward across the body. It spreads through respiratory droplets and can lead to severe and sometimes fatal complications, including pneumonia and inflammation of the brain known as encephalitis.

Symptoms include high fever, sore or red and watery eyes, coughing, sneezing, and small white spots in the mouth.

What Are The Symptoms Of Measles

Measles has a high transmissibility, and high measles immunity levels are required to prevent sustained measles virus transmission.

This is why herd immunity for measles could be easily breached.

It easily spreads from one infected person to another through breathes, coughs or sneezes and could cause severe disease, complications, and even death.

Symptoms include:

• High fever
• Cough
• Runny Nose
• Rash all over the body

The most unique symptom or the early sign of measles in the Koplik spots. These are tiny white dots that look like grains of salt on red gums inside the cheeks that appear before the red rash starts to appear on a person's face and then the body.

Read: Measles Outbreak In UK: Virus Spreads Among Unvaccinated Children In London

Furthermore, the symptoms of measles are also characterized by the three Cs:

• Cough
• Coryza or runny nose
• Conjunctivitis or red and water eyes

How Long Does The Infection Last?

The progression of the symptom comes in two stages, first is the prodromal stage or Days 1 to 4, where one would notice high fever, cough, runny nose, red and watery eyes, sore throat, fatigue, and Koplik spots.

The second stage is called the rash stage or the days 5 to 10 or even more where rash start to appear on the hairline, and then it runs down the body. It lasts for several days and fades in the same order.

The first symptoms, notes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), appear 7 to 14 days after a measles infection. Often, it could also lead to ear infection, or even diarrhea. Though these complications happen in every 1 in 10 children or individual with measles.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued new guidance urging veterinary drug makers to define the duration of antibiotic use in livestock.

The February 2026 guidance, published by the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), aims to mitigate the development of antimicrobial resistance and protect public health. It is consistent with previous recommendations by the federal agency that promoted the judicious use of medically important antimicrobial drugs in animals.

The FDA said that the guidance is intended for sponsors of approved new animal drug applications (NADAs) and abbreviated new animal drug applications (ANADAs) containing antimicrobial drugs.

The guidance provides recommendations on how to add duration limits to medically important antibiotics used in or on the medicated feed of food-producing animals.

"The framework outlined in this guidance is intended to facilitate voluntary changes to have all medically important antimicrobial new animal drugs administered in alignment with the principles of judicious use,” the FDA said.

"This guidance provides specific recommendations on how sponsors may facilitate changes to the approved conditions of use of affected products in support of ongoing efforts to mitigate the development of antimicrobial resistance,” it added.

The New FDA Recommendations

Currently, no limit has been set for the approved treatment in food-producing animals. As a result, farmers can use the antibiotics in animal feed for extended periods of time.

The proposed guidelines for “appropriately defined duration of use” labelling will ensure that the drug is used only when animals need it.

The regulator also called the industry to “revise the labeling to include appropriate criteria regarding when to begin and end feeding of the antimicrobial drug.”

The nonbinding guidance also suggests sponsors avoid instructions like “feed until market weight” to define the duration of use.

"The scope of this guidance is limited to those drugs that are approved for use in or on animal feed because all the approved uses of medically important antimicrobial drugs in other (non-feed) dosage forms already have appropriately defined durations of use," the FDA said.

Why Misuse of Antibiotics In Animals Is A Concern

Antibiotic use in livestock and poultry globally is intended to treat, control, and prevent bacterial infections.

However, their overuse and misuse in food-animal production threaten both animal and human health. It is because these promote the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

AMR in livestock is a major driver of the 700,000 to over 1 million annual human deaths linked to drug-resistant infections globally.

With roughly 70 per cent of global antibiotics used in agriculture, this misuse contributes to food-borne resistant pathogens and is projected to drive up to 10 million annual human deaths by 2050, as per the World Organisation for Animal Health.

FDA On Antibiotic Use In Livestock

The 2017 guidance issued by the FDA limited the over-the-counter use of medically important antibiotics on livestock.

It also required a prescription and veterinary oversight for all antibiotic use.

Later in 2018, the CVM called for all antibiotics used in the feed and drinking water of food -producing animals to have “an appropriately targeted duration of use”.