COCA Email Updates: March 12 – March 26, 2012

Available for download:March 26, 2012 COCA Email Update

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COCA News and Announcements

Recent COCA Conference Calls/Webinars

Epidemiology and Clinical Features of Lyme Disease

2011-2012 Influenza Season: Antiviral Medication Recommendations

Additional COCA Conference Calls

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CDC News and Announcements

"Did You Know?" is a weekly feature from the Office for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support to highlight prevention activities. The series features research and program activity from CDC. Please access, use, and share this information broadly with your colleagues and partners.

CDC Scienceclips: Volume 4 – Mar 20 (CDC)
This week, Science Clips features scientific articles related to this month's Public Health Grand Rounds on the impact of excessive alcohol use, and evidence-based strategies to prevent it.

Public Health Preparedness

Emergency Preparedness and Response – (CDC)
Find resources for All Hazards and Specific Hazards preparedness.

Emergency Preparedness and Response Training Resources Page for Clinicians – (CDC)
Find online and in-person training centers and resources.

Natural Disasters and Severe Weather

Tornadoes: Being Prepared – (CDC)

Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Journal

EID is prepared by the CDC. EID Home Page
Volume 18, Number 4 – April 2012
Highlights in this issue include

• Influenza-associated Hospitalizations by Industry, 2009–10 Influenza Season, United States
• Comparison of Escherichia coli ST131 Pulsotypes, by Epidemiologic Traits, 1967–2009
• Lessons Learned during Dengue Outbreaks in the United States, 2001–2011
• Tuberculosis Screening before Anti–Hepatitis C Virus Therapy in Prisons

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)

MMWR publications are prepared by the CDC. Electronically Subscribe
March 23, 2012 / Vol. 61 / No. 11Download .pdf document of this issue

• World TB Day — March 24, 2012
• Trends in Tuberculosis — United States, 2011
• Tuberculosis Outbreak Associated with a Homeless Shelter — Kane County, Illinois, 2007–2011
• Progress Toward Global Polio Eradication — Africa, 2011
• Notes from the Field: Multistate Outbreak of Salmonella Altona and Johannesburg Infections Linked to Chicks and Ducklings from a Mail-Order Hatchery — United States, February–October 2011
• Announcement: International Course in Applied Epidemiology
• QuickStats: Age-Adjusted Motor Vehicle Accident Death Rates, by Sex and Type of Locality — United States, 2007–2009
• Notifiable Diseases and Mortality Tables

March 16, 2012 / Vol. 61 / No. 10Download .pdf document of this issue

• National Kidney Month — March 2012
• Reducing Bloodstream Infections in an Outpatient Hemodialysis Center — New Jersey, 2008–2011
• Tickborne Relapsing Fever in a Mother and Newborn Child — Colorado, 2011
• Announcements: National Poison Prevention Week, 50th Anniversary — March 18–24, 2012
• Announcements: World Water Day — March 22, 2012
• Announcements: Epidemiology in Action Course
• Announcements: CDC Launches National Tobacco Education Campaign
• Notifiable Diseases and Mortality Tables

Infectious, Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases

Influenza

Weekly Flu View – Mar 23 (CDC)
During week 11, 7.6% of all deaths reported through the 122-Cities Mortality Reporting System were due to pneumonia and influenza. This percentage was below the epidemic threshold of 7.9% for week 11.

Tuberculosis

Childhood tuberculosis neglected, despite available remedies – Mar 21 (WHO)
Tuberculosis (TB) often goes undiagnosed in children from birth to 15 years old because they lack access to health services - or because the health workers who care for them are unprepared to recognize the signs and symptoms of TB in this age group. With better training and harmonization of the different programmes that provide health services for children, serious illness and death from TB could be prevented in thousands of children every year.

World TB Day 2012: Stop TB in My Lifetime – Mar 19 (CDC)
Each year, CDC and others recognize World TB Day on March 24. Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the world's deadliest diseases. Learn more about TB risk factors that can increase the chance of developing TB disease.

Treatment for Latent TB Infection – Mar 19 (CDC)
Treatment of latent TB Infection greatly reduces the risk that TB infection will progress to TB disease. Certain groups are at very high risk of developing TB disease once infected. Every effort should be made to begin appropriate treatment and to ensure completion of the entire course of treatment for latent TB infection.

Travel Safety

Current Travel Warnings – Mar 19 (US Department of State)
Travel Warnings are issuedwhen long-term, protracted conditions that make a country dangerous or unstable lead the State Department to recommend that Americans avoid or consider the risk of travel to that country. A Travel Warning is also issued when the U.S. Government's ability to assist American citizens is constrained due to the closure of an embassy or consulate or because of a drawdown of its staff.

Food, Drug and Device Safety

FoodSafety.gov Reports FDA and USDA Food Recalls, Alerts, Reporting & Resources – Mar 23 (HHS/UDSA/FDA/CDC/NIH)
For recalls and alerts by both FDA and USDA, or to report a problem or make inquiries, visit FoodSafety.gov.

Studies: US gastroenteritis deaths, imported food outbreaks on rise – Mar 14 (CDC)
The number of US gastroenteritis deaths more than doubled in 8 years, with Clostridium difficile and norovirus as the two most common culprits, researchers reported at an infectious disease conference.
The study of gastroenteritis deaths is the first analysis of its kind in the last 20 years. Investigators from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) presented the findings at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases (ICEID) in Atlanta.

CDC research shows outbreaks linked to imported foods increasing – Mar 14 (CDC)
Foodborne disease outbreaks caused by imported food appeared to rise in 2009 and 2010, and nearly half of the outbreaks implicated foods imported from areas which previously had not been associated with outbreaks, according to research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, presented at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta.