Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Apocalypticism is a powerful brew of eschatological belief and political imagination that is extremely persuasive. This article addresses the intersections between apocalyptic rhetoric and the technical communication of risk, disease outbreak, and disaster preparedness by analyzing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's zombie apocalypse preparedness campaign. Specifically, I argue that the framing of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's campaign relies on and extends problematic iterations of apocalypticism and undermines the educational objectives of disaster preparedness and response. I conclude with suggestions for how technical communicators designing public awareness and outreach campaigns can use existential risk rhetoric for engagement without succumbing to the pernicious side effects of apocalypticism.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced a set of provisional guidelines concerning male circumcision, in which they suggest that the benefits of the surgery outweigh the risks. In this brief comment, I highlight a few of the key scientific and ethical issues worth considering in interpreting the CDC recommendations.

In December of 2014, an anonymous working group under the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a draft of the first-ever federal recommendations regarding male circumcision. In accordance with the American Academy of Pediatrics’ circumcision policy from 2012 – but in contrast to the more recent 2015 policy from the Canadian Paediatric Society as well as prior policies (still in force) from medical associations in Europe and Australasia – the CDC suggested that the benefits of the surgery outweigh the risks. In this article, we provide a brief scientific and conceptual analysis of the CDC’s assessment of benefit versus risk, and argue that it deserves a closer look. Although we set aside the burgeoning bioethical debate surrounding the moral permissibility of performing non-therapeutic circumcisions on healthy minors, we argue that, from a scientific and medical perspective, current evidence suggests that such circumcision is not an appropriate public health measure for developed countries such as the United States.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> update 14.03.2021:

Die Sterbezahlen durch die kriminellen, experimentellen, genetisch manipulierenden Covid-19-Impfungen schießen jeden Tag immer weiter in die Höhe.

Laßt Euch verdammt noch mal nicht impfen!!!

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/vaers-reports-death-up/?utm_source=salsa&eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=1f3a7dc2-ae8f-4671-ab4f-2429e7aaf02e

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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> update 3/02.03.2021:

afrikanische Schulkinder sind ganz offenbar klueger als die deutsche durchschnittliche Schaf-Bevoelkerung und haben noch einen gesunden Menschenverstand, weil sie sich nicht totimpfen lassen wollen!

https://t.me/alexander_ehrlich/1516

Wie pervers ist das?!!!!  Wacht auf, oder lasst Euch totspritzen, beklagen koennt Ihr Euch dann sowieso nicht mehr. Ruhet (hoffentlich) in Frieden!

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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> update 2/02.03.2021:

die Ereignisse werden immer dynamischer! Jetzt geraet der Bankkaufmann und Lobbyist Spahn in den Nuesslein-Strudel hinein! Illegaler Maskenhandel!

https://www.businessinsider.de/politik/deutschland/nuesslein-affaere-mails-bringen-auch-minister-spahn-in-erklaerungsnot/

Wahrheit waehrt am laengsten! Das Luegengebaeude des Merkelregimes, das auf Korruption gebaut ist, faellt jetzt zusammen!

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>>>>>>>>>>> update 02.03.2021:

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/injuries-reported-vaers-climbs/?utm_source=salsa&eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=c490b1d0-2794-435a-8896-d82a74129051

Das Sterben nach und mit der Impfung geht immer weiter!! Haltet die Augen und Ohren offen. Und sagt es den anderen!!!!

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Gedanken eines Archäologen zu einer sogenannten Pandemie, mit deren Hilfe eine weltweite kriminelle Vereinigung (die 'Davos-Clique') die gesamte Menscheit foltern, versklaven oder töten will

(diesmal ohne Anmerkungen, die Informationen findet man zur Genüge überall im Netz, etwa auch auf dieser Seite, oder hier: https://swprs.org/)

(notiert am 28.02.2021)

Anthropology's response to the West African Ebola epidemic was one of the most rapid and expansive anthropological interventions to a global health emergency in the discipline's history. This article sets forth the size and scale of the anthropological response and describes the protagonists, interventions , and priorities for anthropological engagement. It takes an inclusive approach to anthropological praxis by engaging with the work of nonanthro-pologist " allies, " including qualitative researchers, social workers, and allied experts. The article narrates how the concept of " anthropology " came to serve as a semantic marker of solidarity with local populations, respect for customary practices and local sociopolitical realities, and an avowed belief in the capacities of local populations to lead localized epidemic prevention and response efforts. Of particular consideration is the range of complementary and conflicting epistemological, professional, and critical engagements held by anthropologists. The article also discusses how to assess anthropological " impact " in epidemics. 421

Chronic disease has reached global epidemic proportions in the past decade with millions dying each year from diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. All of these diseases have one key attribute in common: they are nearly 100 percent avoidable with proper lifestyle habits and requisite lifestyle modifications. This paper examines how these life-saving and life-extending behaviors can be instilled in individuals from a young age, utilizing an open badging strategy from lessons learned by analyzing similar programs in the targeted demographics.

The goal of this research is to identify and promote awareness of prominent demographic risk factors to predict individuals at risk for suicide and aid in the prevention within the USA. This would support the Education Development Center’s Zero Suicide initiative and provide strategies and tools to health and behavioral health systems to reduce suicide mortality. The research presented in this paper focuses on the hypothesis that demographic variables available in the Center for Disease and Prevention (CDC) mortality data sets should be integrated into initiatives to identify and prevent suicide mortality. A comprehensive analysis of the CDC mortality data from 2003 through 2013 was extracted, transformed, loaded and analyzed utilizing Python,
R Scripting, RStudio and Tableau. The CDC mortality data was subsided into a data frame of 17 variables from the original 75 variables that indicated the most statistical significance as a function of the respective suicide ICD10 codes. Education attainment levels of a 12th grade
education emerged as one of the most statistically significant variables that contributed to suicidal deaths; this observation is consistent with initial observations of the 2013 CDC mortality data analyzed in our previous studies.1 Based on this unique finding of education emerging as a strong and consistent variable in the comprehensive analysis of CDC data over an 11 year period, the authors hypothesize education attainment level segments are the most significant demographic predictor variable of suicide and a systematic approach to targeting continuing educational opportunities to patients with low education attainment levels paired with other high risk segments including but not limited to age, race, ethnicity, marital status and gender.

The HIV epidemic remains a public health threat in the U.S., and the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based prevention and care programs are critical to addressing significant HIV health disparities. The provision of technical assistance (TA) to program providers and evaluators is key for uptake of these programs. The University of California San Francisco Prevention Research Center (UCSF PRC) model for TA delivery uses topics and strategies adapted to address HIV health disparities for a global audience. This model specifically matches TA requests to a TA provider who has expertise in that area upon receiving a request through various communication channels. Areas of expertise include research methods, community engagement strategies, interventions, and Implementation Sciences. Our evaluation of diverse TA services indicates that on-demand TA is effective for light-touch requests and well-suited for moderate to intensive requests. The model is a promising, broad-reaching, and responsive alternative for providing TA to a multitude of HIV workforce recipients.

A Critical Analysis of New York City’s Calorie Labeling Law

An obesity epidemic has been currently affecting the health of many Americans. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the amount of obese U.S adults has nearly doubled over the last thirty years. Given that obesity significantly increases one’s risk of diabetes many refer to the obesity epidemic as the “obesity-diabetes” or  the “diabesity” epidemic.  New York City has been uniquely affected, ranking number 8 in cities with the highest rates of obesity and diabetes (Center for Disease Control and Prevention,2006). The main policy response to this epidemic has been to increase access to nutritional information with the hope that educating consumers about nutritional content will lead to healthier food choices. The New York City Board of Health have lead the way to combat these health threats by establishing three initiatives; ban on trans-fat, city registry of those with diabetes, and menu-labeling. The most notable has been the controversial implementation of the calorie labeling law(Article 81.50 )in July 2007, which requires that chain restaurants with 15 or more establishments to post calorie information on menu boards; affecting approximately 2,400 NYC restaurants making up, 10% of all fast service establishments. This paper will critically explore the impact of this law on consumers and fast food producers as well as examining the debates that have been surrounding (circulating around) the way in which municipal power has been used to address the obesity-diabetes epidemic.

This visual essay considers the links between medical research and securitization, and asks how they reconfigure local landscapes in East Africa. Humanitarian aid, including global medicine, has emerged as a 'military therapeutic complex', especially in African nations where the HIV/AIDS epidemic has drawn enormous contributions from states and transnational NGOs (Nguyen 2009; Fassin and Pandolfi 2010). One unintended effect of this therapeutic assemblage is a concern with security, particularly for US state institutions conducting research or providing treatment. US research facilities and laboratories are fenced, with access mediated by security guards and locked gates. State actors working overseas live in approved housing, bound by a complex set of regulations about safety and security. This essay and photographs reflect the ways in which physical structures transform local landscapes as part of the global health industrial complex and raise a number of questions about the politics of spaces, both private and public, in humanitarian projects.

Donald Trump likes to compare himself to another Republican President: Ronald Reagan. In one important aspect, Trump is actually correct. Both held the White House during the rise of viral pandemics. And both committed genocide by taking virtually no action nor responsibility for mobilizing the country in its wake.

Background: Standard protocols for Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) were adopted and being used in a global scale for surveillance of many bacterial food-borne diseases. Matched PFGE bands are considered according to values of retention factors (rFs) regardless of co-migration of different DNA fragments (having equal or very close molecular weight). Molecular epidemiology is turning toward whole genome sequencing (WGS) which its results are compared using different DNA sequence alignment methods. Although, WGS results can be digested In-silico, PFGE and WGS data are being compared separately. Methodology: To link results of both methods, we describe a new image analysis algorithm that enables identification of how many DNA fragments co-migrate during PFGE. We built a database that compares results of the previously mentioned algorithm to In-silico obtained digestion models (from WGS). Reliability of the image analysis algorithm was also assessed In-silico using novel computer simulation approach. From WGS, 1,816 digestion models (DMs) were obtained as recommended by PulseNet international. Simulation codes were designed to predict PFGE profiles when DMs are separated at 5% PFGE resolution in addition to expected co-migration levels. Results: PFGE simulation has shown that about 35% of DNA fragments co-migrate at 5% PFGE resolution. Similar result was obtained when wet-lab PFGE profiles were analyzed using image analysis algorithm mentioned earlier. In terms of number of PFGE typable DNA fragments, 45,517 were typable (representing 46.54% out of 97,801). Previously mentioned typable fragments (in terms of typable sizes) comprised 91.24% of the sum of nucleotides of all chromosomes tested (7.24 billion bp). However, significant variations were shown within and between different digestion protocols. When image analysis results were compared to DMs, results returned by geltowgs.uofk.edu database revealed reasonable relatedness (Dice coefficient of variation was 0.44) to the most related DM. Conclusions: Identification of co-migration levels will reveal the third dimension of PFGE profiles. This will provide a better way for evaluating isolate relationships. Linking old PFGE results to WGS by means of simulation demonstrated here will provide a chance to link hundreds of thousands of PFGE epidemiological data accumulated during the last 24 years to the new WGS era. Evaluation of population dynamics of pathogenic bacteria will be dee per through place and time. Selection of restriction enzymes for PFGE typing will have a powerful In-silico evaluation tool.

Monkeypox virus is a zoonotic disease endemic to Africa. In 2017, we confirmed a case of human monkeypox virus in Sierra Leone by molecular and serologic methods. Sequencing analysis indicated the virus belongs to the West African clade and data suggest it was likely transmitted by wild animals.

The healthy communities movement can provide insight into population health efforts in the United States, particularly in the context of recent health care reform. The movement has evolved from multisector partnerships that focused on improving the health, well-being, and quality of life for people and the social determinants of health to partnerships that focus more on chronic disease prevention, health equity, and environmental change. Evaluating the effects of community programs on population health has been challenging for a number of reasons. More metrics need to be developed for population health that will address inequities and focus policies on long-term health effects.

We isolated Sindbis virus (SINV) from the enzootic mosquito vectors Culex torrentium, Cx. pipiens, and Culiseta morsitans collected in an area of Sweden where SINV disease is endemic. The infection rate in Cx. torrentium mosquitoes was exceptionally high (36 infections/1,000 mosquitoes), defining Cx. torrentium as the main enzootic vector of SINV in Scandinavia.

On April 21, 2021, this report was posted as an MMWR Early Release on the MMWR website (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr). Although COVID-19 mRNA vaccines demonstrated high efficacy in clinical trials (1), they were not 100% efficacious. Thus, some infections postvaccination are expected. Limited data are available on effectiveness in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and against emerging variants. The Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) and a local health department investigated a COVID-19 outbreak in a SNF that occurred after all residents and health care personnel (HCP) had been offered vaccination. Among 83 residents and 116 HCP, 75 (90.4%) and 61 (52.6%), respectively, received 2 vaccine doses. Twenty-six residents and 20 HCP received positive test results for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, including 18 residents and four HCP who had received their second vaccine dose >14 days before the outbreak began. An R.1 lineage variant was detected with whole genome sequencing (WGS). Although the R.1 variant has multiple spike protein mutations, vaccinated residents and HCP were 87% less likely to have symptomatic COVID-19 compared with those who were unvaccinated. Vaccination of SNF populations, including HCP, is critical to reduce the risk for SARS-CoV-2 introduction, transmission, and severe outcomes in SNFs. An ongoing focus on infection prevention and control practices is also essential.

In 2009, human Dobrava-Belgrade virus (DOBV) infections were reported on the Black Sea coast of Turkey. Serologic and molecular studies of potential rodent reservoirs demonstrated DOBV infections in Apodemus flavicollis and A. uralensis mice. Phylogenetic analysis of DOBV strains showed their similarity to A. flavicollis mice-borne DOBV in Greece, Slovenia, and Slovakia.

Although many who study emerging infections subscribe to social-production-of-disease theories, few have examined the contribution of social inequalities to disease emergence. Yet such inequalities have powerfully sculpted not only the distribution of infectious diseases, but also the course of disease in those affected. Outbreaks of Ebola, AIDS, and tuberculosis suggest that models of disease emergence need to be dynamic, systemic, and critical. Such models--which strive to incorporate change and complexity, and are global yet alive to local variation--are critical of facile claims of causality, particularly those that scant the pathogenic roles of social inequalities. Critical perspectives on emerging infections ask how large-scale social forces influence unequally positioned individuals in increasingly interconnected populations; a critical epistemology of emerging infectious diseases asks what features of disease emergence are obscured by dominant analytic frameworks. Research q...

Approximately 11.5 million people reside in the 42 counties and 39 Mexican municipalities located along the U.S.-Mexico border, and 86% of those people reside in 14 pairs of sister cities, metropolitan areas divided by the international border (1). Border residents share similar resources and environmental problems: issues of great concern include air quality, water quantity and quality, and animal control. The communities along the border are economically and socially interdependent, with more than 1 million legal northbound crossings every day. The need to establish cooperation between the United States and Mexico for improving health has led to collaborative initiatives between the public and private sectors (1). The principal health problems at the U.S.-Mexico border are characterized by disparities in health systems (2), which result from the lower health standards and socioeconomic conditions of Mexican border communities compared with U.S. border communities.

Environmental factors at the community level may play a role in the development and maintenance of obesity. Because many US families frequently eat meals outside of the home, restaurants are an environmental factor that can affect their health. The purpose of this project was to test the feasibility of a community-based restaurant initiative that targets families and young children. Somerville, Massachusetts, is an ethnically diverse, densely populated city. Approximately 44% of elementary school children in Somerville are overweight or obese. The restaurant initiative described here was conducted as part of a larger community-based environmental intervention, Shape Up Somerville: Eat Smart, Play Hard (SUS), designed to improve energy balance by making small changes in all aspects of a child&#39;s environment. Restaurant initiative activities were establishing criteria for approval as an SUS restaurant; conducting brief one-on-one interviews with 15 restaurant owners and managers; r...

Background Racial/ethnic minority groups have higher risks for disease resulting from obesity. Community Context The University of California, Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health partnered with community organizations to disseminate culturally targeted physical activity and nutrition-based interventions in worksites. Methods We conducted community dialogues with people from 59 government and nonprofit health and social service agencies to develop wellness strategies for implementation in worksites. Strategies included structured group exercise breaks and serving healthy refreshments at organizational functions. During the first 2 years, we subcontracted with 6 community-based organizations (primary partners) who disseminated these wellness strategies to 29 organizations within their own professional networks (secondary worksites) through peer modeling and social support. We analyzed data from the first 2 years of the project to evaluate our disseminat...

In 2013–14, the Smithsonian-affiliated David J. Sencer Museum at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, hosted an original exhibition with an eyecatching title: “Health Is a Human Right: Race and Place in America.” Given the American government’s entrenched resistance to health-related human rights claims, the staging of an exhibition with this title at a museum described as the public face of CDC was striking. Taking this apparent disjuncture as point of departure, this article examines the origins, aims, and content of the “Health Is A Human Right” exhibition, which attracted nearly 50,000 visitors. Drawing on qualitative research findings, the article engages three interrelated questions: First, how can this exhibition, in this particular locale, be reconciled—if at all—with the absence of any firm right to health commitment in the United States? Second, what does the exhibition reveal about the “social life” of health-related human rights claims? Finally, what might we learn from the exhibition about the potential role of museums and museology in sparking public engagement with health and human rights issues, especially in settings where human rights have some rhetorical power but lack legal or political traction?

As part of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) HIV prevention strategic plan
through 2010,1 4 national goals were identified to reduce by half the new HIV infections in the
United States. One of the 4 goals is to strengthen the national capacity to monitor the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic to better direct and evaluate prevention efforts. In
response to these goals, the CDC awarded funds to state health departments to develop and
implement a surveillance system to monitor behaviors that put people at risk for HIV infection
in metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) with high incidence of human immunodeficiency virus
infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). Three target populations
making up the majority of HIV/AIDS cases were selected for surveillance including: men who
have sex with men, injection drug users and heterosexuals living in high risk areas (defined
by poverty and HIV/AIDS incidence). Each year a different population was interviewed and
analyzed in a 3 year rotating cycle.

Dadaab Refugee camp in Garissa County, Kenya, hosts nearly 340,000 refugees in five subcamps (Dagahaley, Hagadera, Ifo, Ifo2, and Kambioos) (1). On November 18 and 19, 2015, during an ongoing national cholera outbreak (2), two camp residents were evaluated for acute watery diarrhea (three or more stools in ≤24 hours); Vibrio cholerae serogroup O1 serotype Ogawa was isolated from stool specimens collected from both patients. Within 1 week of the report of index cases, an additional 45 cases of acute watery diarrhea were reported. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and their health-sector partners coordinated the cholera response, community outreach and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) activities; Médecins Sans Frontiéres and the International Rescue Committee were involved in management of cholera treatment centers; CDC performed laboratory confirmation of cases and undertook GIS mapping and postoutbreak response assessment; and the Garissa County Government and t...

More than 80% of African Americans in Oregon reside in the Portland metropolitan area; African Americans comprise 1.7% of the state&#39;s population. Although relatively small, the African American population in the state experiences substantial health disparities. The African American Health Coalition, Inc was developed to implement initiatives that would reduce these disparities and to promote increased communication and trust between the African American community and local institutions and organizations. One of these initiatives is an annual Wellness Week featuring an African American Wellness Village. The Wellness Village uses a model of cultural sensitivity to provide access to free health screenings, links between health care organizations and African American community members, and health education and information. The African American Health Coalition, Inc obtained a Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) 2010 grant to sustain this programming. The Wellnes...

Acknowledgements: The authors acknowledge with sincere gratitude the considerable support provided by our colleagues within the Division of Violence Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the development of the underlying framework of the STRYVE national initiative and its components, all of which are described in this Foundational Resource. We acknowledge the contributions offered by Sandra Alexandra, Theresa

Broad strategies for reducing the burden of heart disease and stroke in the United States are identified in A Public Health Action Plan for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (1), the American Heart Association’s Community Guidance (2), and other policy documents (3). These guides call for a spectrum of interventions extending from primordial prevention to end-of-life care, but they do not specify how best to allocate limited resources. Not only are data on effect sizes lacking for certain intervention pathways, but the contributing risk factors and social determinants interact in dynamically complex ways that defy simple calculation.

In 2013, UNRWA conducted a DM campaign, "Life is Sweeter with Less Sugar" to increase healthy lifestyle awareness and improve health care management of DM among Palestine refugees. Patients with DMI or DMII & hypertension for ≥ 1 year, and willing to participate were randomly selected from the 8 largest health centers in the five fields of operations, total 30. Health Centers conducted weekly group educational, healthy cooking, and exercise sessions for six months. Body measurements, blood tests and patients' attendance were collected on monthly basis. UNRWA has been providing health care for patients with diabetes and hypertension in its health centres since 1992. Diabetes care includes screening of high-risk groups, diagnosis and treatment. Treatment includes promoting a healthy lifestyle and medical assistance such as insulin therapy. A total of 122,400 diabetic patients were registered with UNRWA health centres in 2013 in five