CDC

Statement Of CFA’s Carol Tucker-Foreman

April 11, 2008 -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control report on foodborne illness rates for seven pathogens in 2007 looks depressingly like the reports for the last six years. The U.S. is no closer to reducing the toll of foodborne illness today than it was in 2001.

Incidence of foodborne illness: Chart by CFA

Graphs portraying the record show a flat line stalled far above the National Health Objectives. Even the CDC acknowledges little or no progress since 2001 in combating illnesses caused by these pathogens.    » read more »

April 10, 2008 -- A 10-state report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed little change in the incidence of some foodborne infections after a period of decline.

The findings are from 2007 data reported to the CDC as part of the agency′s Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, FoodNet.

Poultry products on store shelves: Photo by Jill (CC)    » read more »

April 7, 2008 -- Mothers who smoke early in pregnancy are more likely to give birth to infants with heart defects, according to a study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The study, published in the April issue of Pediatrics, shows that women who smoked anytime during the month before pregnancy to the end of the first trimester were more likely to give birth to infants with certain congenital heart defects (CHDs) compared to women who did not smoke during this time period.

Women smoking: Photo by Luis (CC)

The association was stronger for mothers who reported heavier smoking during this time period.    » read more »

Increased Health Risk Associated with Lack of In-home Running Water

April 1, 2008 -- Rural Alaska Natives living without in-home access to running water have disproportionately higher rates of respiratory and skin infections, according to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study is the first to show an association in the United States between lack of in-home running water and prevalence of these diseases.    » read more »

April 1, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today released the following statement on the House Science and Technology Committee, Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight hearing on the failure of the Center for Disease Control to protect Gulf Coast residents from contaminated FEMA trailers in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita:

A FEMA trailer in New Orleans: Photo by Kris Fricke (CC)    » read more »

County-level maps can help identify racial, ethnic and geographic differences

March 28, 2008 -- The highest rate of stroke hospitalizations among Medicare beneficiaries exists among African-Americans and in counties located primarily in the southeastern states, according to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in collaboration with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Texas Stroke Death Rates, Hispanics, By County    » read more »

Ask for end to ineffective and dangerous “abstinence-only” programs

On the heels of an alarming study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showing that one in four teen girls has a sexually transmitted infection (STI), and that more than three million teenage girls have an STI, newspaper editorials from across the country have echoed Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s call to end ineffective and dangerous “abstinence-only” programs.    » read more »

Disparities in screening still persist in certain populations

March 13, 2008 -- The percentage of U.S. adults aged 50 years and older getting screened for colorectal cancer is increasing according to a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention‘s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The study uses state-level Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS) data that have been combined to estimate that 60.8 percent of adults were current with colorectal cancer screening recommendations in 2006, compared with 53.9 percent in 2002.    » read more »

February 28, 2008 -- About 10 percent of adults report not getting enough rest or sleep every day in the past month, according to a new four-state study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention′s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.    » read more »

Public flu vaccination clinics planned in response to death, new CDC vaccination guidelines

Feb. 29, 2008 -- The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) today confirmed that a 12-year-old Twin Cities metropolitan area girl died recently from complications of influenza. The girl had not been vaccinated, and had an underlying medical condition that may have put her at increased risk of influenza complications.    » read more »

February 1, 2008 -- With an approaching storm bringing freezing rain to parts of the State, the Maine Center for Disease Control warns Maine citizens to be very careful using gas-powered generators, kerosene heaters or other heating or power sources during power outages. If not used safely, they can cause carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas formed when burning most types of fuels. Using gas-powered generators, kerosene heaters, charcoal grills, and gas grills can cause poisoning if CO gas builds-up in closed in spaces.    » read more »

January 30, 2008 -- Greater investments in state tobacco control programs are independently and significantly associated with larger and more rapid declines in adult smoking prevalence, according to a study by researchers at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and RTI International, an independent nonprofit research institute based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Researchers were able to quantify the link between comprehensive tobacco control programs and a decrease in adult smoking — observing a decline in prevalence from 29.5 percent in 1985 to 18.6 percent in 2003.    » read more »

January 29, 2008 -- Approximately half of 1 percent (0.47 percent) of the U.S. household population between the ages of 18 and 49 are living with HIV, according to estimates from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) based on surveys conducted between 1999-2006.    » read more »

Unsupervised Ingestion Accounts for 66 Percent of Incidents

January 28, 2008 -- An estimated 7,000 children ages 11 and younger are treated in hospital emergency departments each year because of cough and cold medications, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Approximately two-thirds of those incidents were due to unsupervised ingestion (i.e., children taking the medication without a parent′s knowledge). The study was published online today by the American Academy of Pediatrics journal, Pediatrics.    » read more »

January 28, 2008 -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) does not condone any actions that would prevent an employee or contractor from expressing an opinion about how FEMA has handled the formaldehyde concerns. The health and safety of residents has been and continues to be our primary concern.    » read more »