Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Archives

Map displays the most distinctive causes of death in individual states in US

May 18, 2015 By Stephanie James Leave a Comment

A new map of the country is created which shows the most distinctive causes of death in individual states in United States.

The map is released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Francis Boscoe from the New York Sate Cancer Registry and co-author of the study said, the map is intended as “somewhat of a colorful and provocative way of starting some conversations and highlighting some unusual things that are going on.”

Statistics from between 2001 and 2010 are used to create the map. The map indicates the most distinctive causes of deaths in the states, but it does not show what kills the most.

Distinctive cause of death is when the rate of death is higher than what the national average is, but does not necessarily mean high numbers. It is a measure of causes of deaths that appear in some states and not in others.

Lung disease was the most distinctive cause of death of people in West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania where mining activity takes place. Inhaling of dust led to their death.

The most distinctive cause of death was flu in Maine, Wyoming and North and South Dakota.

The most distinctive cause of death for Alaska and Idaho was dying in a plane or a boat accident.

The most distinctive cause of death in New Jersey was sepsis.

Inflammatory disease of the pelvic organs was the most distinctive disease in Connecticut and New York.

Death caused by law enforcement, excluding the legal executions were the most distinctive deaths in the sates of Nevada, Oregon and New Mexico. The death caused by a police officer took place at a higher rate than the national average in those three states.

The most distinctive death in Florida was due to HIV, 15,000 people died of it.

In the state of Louisiana the most distinctive death was due to syphilis, 22 people died of it.

New Bird flu cases are reported as Iowa declares a state of emergency

May 5, 2015 By Jeff Suchon Leave a Comment

Some more poultry farms in Iowa are reported to have been hit by the deadly virus H5N2, this report is released just four days after the Governor Terry Branstad has officially declared state of emergency in Iowa.

Iowa’s Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship reported that 2.8 million chickens in a single egg production facility in Wright County are affected by bird flu. There are other three turkey farms which are also affected by bird flu.

The outbreak began earlier this year and cost Iowa 19 million chickens. Many activists and farm workers have opposed the culling of the birds but scientists insist that this measure in necessary to stop the spreading of the disease any faster.

Many preventive measures are implemented across the United States and Canada but still bird flu is contaminating new localities.

Scientists have no clear explanation to this, but they believe that the disease may spread through smaller rodents, birds, feathers or by infected dust.

Farm workers are provided with antivirals as a precaution as the bird flu strain is taking lives of millions of chickens and turkeys.

US public health officials are determined that the disease will not spread from one human to another, but the main concern is that the workers who are exposed to the strain are at a high risk of contracting the disease.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention representative said that that human vaccine has been developed and will be given to at least 300 people who have come in direct contact with the livestock affected with bird flu.

CDC is recommending the farm workers to take antivirals but only half of them have taken it.

Some farm workers believe that antivirals are against their religion, while others think that they are not a high risk of contracting the virus.

Official’s main concern is that the disease may spread and affect the country’s wild bird which would be catastrophic.

The number of birds affected by the strain is beyond the 7 million mark.

The efforts taken by the officials to control the spread of H5N1 virus have no results as new cases are reported regularly.

The strain is moving towards north direction, but the officials exactly don’t know why it is moving northward.

CDC study shows American teens not using most effective birth control

April 8, 2015 By Dave Smith Leave a Comment

A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found that many teenagers in the United States who are sexually active do not prefer using the most effect methods of birth control.

According to the CDC researchers, most sexually active teens opt for birth control pills or condoms. They were, however, found not using IUDs or implants, which are considered to be the safest and the most effective methods for avoiding pregnancy.

The researchers said that even though the teenagers in the US are getting better at adopting safety during sex, the new federal health report exposed that very of them are using the most effective birth control measure.

Releasing a statement, CDC principal deputy director Ileana Arias, said, “Long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) is safe for teens, easy to use, and very effective. We need to remove barriers and increase awareness, access, and availability of long-acting reversible contraception such as IUDs and implants.”

For its new study, the CDC looked at data collected from the Title X National Family Planning Program over contraceptive use by the teens for the 2005–2013 period. The researchers found that teenagers’ use of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), like the implant and the intrauterine device (IUD), are up but still very low.

According to the figures, the LARC use by the American teens rose from under one percent in 2005 to seven percent in 2013. Women of all ages used implants more than IUDs.

Colorado is the only American state that has reported the highest use of LARC among its teens in 2013 at 26 percent. All other US states ranged from LARC use of less than 1 percent to 20 percent.

Indiana takes CDC assistance to tackle HIV menace; 55 cases confirmed

March 22, 2015 By Stephanie James

Amid Indiana witnessing an HIV crisis with 55 reported cases, the federal health experts have come in to attempt containing the deadly outbreak in the state’s southern part.

According to the Indiana State Department of Health officials, 55 confirmed cases of HIV and 13 other preliminary positive cases have been reported so far in the state.

A medical team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will on Monday arrive in Scott County in order to assist the state health department officials with follow-up contacts of HIV-positive patients and data analysis.

In a news release, Indiana Health Commissioner Dr. Jerome Adams said, “We are engaging local, state, and national partners to determine where we can most effectively focus our efforts. Extra care is being taken to invest resources in getting people off drugs and into treatment, since drug abuse is the clear driving force behind this outbreak.”

According to the federal agency, the outbreak is believed to be triggered due to use of shared needles by most of the infected people while injecting a painkiller called Opana. It is a prescription drug which is more potent than Oxycontin. The agency has linked some of the HIV cases to the unprotected sex.

The outbreak was first reported by the health department in late February, when 26 HIV-positive cases were diagnosed over the last two months in five counties: Jackson, Washington, Scott, Perry, and Clark.

CDC spokesman Amy Reel said that the positive thing is that the HIV outbreak is currently limited to those counties and not spread to other regions.

Indiana reported 405 confirmed cases of HIV in 2012.

The health department has started a public awareness campaign called, You Are Not Alone, providing information on safe sex, needle disposal, drug abuse and HIV testing as well as treatment.

The campaign that began on Friday will continue for three-month and will include digital, radio and social media advertisements and billboards.

The department’s hotline offering information about HIV testing locations as well as care can be reached at 866-588-4948.

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