Tons of work go into CDC's ounces of prevention

Article Abstract:

The goal of the Center for Prevention Services at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is to maintain low levels of diseases which are preventable by vaccination. The Center for Prevention Services employs 1,000 staff and has a budget of $400 million per year. Its employees work in Atlanta, at CDC itself, and in state and local health departments throughout the country. Surveillance of disease patterns is an important function of the agency that enables it to quickly respond, as in Brazil in 1986, when a discovery that one of the polio vaccine's components was not optimal led to rapid alteration of the vaccine, and improved polio prevention. When measles began to break out recently in the US, the question rose of whether the increase was due to ineffective vaccine, or to a failure to vaccinate. Based partly on data from physicians, the solution was a new dose schedule. More progress needs to be made in immunizing inner-city children and adults. The latter group should be protected against diphtheria and tetanus, with boosters every 10 years. Only about 20 percent of the people who need vaccination against influenza, including the elderly and ill, receive the preventive treatment. Hepatitis B vaccine, too, should be given to more high-risk individuals, including many in the health care sector. Pregnant women who are positive for hepatitis B surface antigen should be tested so their infants can be vaccinated. Tuberculosis is increasing in incidence; a target date of 2010 has been set for its elimination from the US. Quarantine functions of the Center for Disease Prevention include supervising health examinations of persons who apply for resident visas and overseeing the health of refugees. Some CDC staff members have full-time assignments to Thailand and West Germany, to supervise examinations there. The Quarantine Division also supplies information regarding international travel. Finally, the Center regulates the importation of nonhuman primates and attempts to prevent inadvertent importation of undesired animal forms, such as the Asian tiger mosquito. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Social aspects, Analysis, Evaluation, Communicable diseases, Vaccination, Vaccines, Epidemiological research, Cross sectional studies

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Focus on adolescent health enrolls school helpers

Article Abstract:

The Division of Adolescent and School Health of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) has issued a report as part of an effort to improve the health of children and adolescents. A Call to Action, as the report is titled, enlists the aid of schools toward this goal. The National Association of State Boards of Education and the American Medical Association joined with the Division to form the National Commission on the Role of the School and the Community in Improving Adolescent Health. It is felt that the rates of illness and death among children between 1 and 24 years of age due to certain behaviors is far too high. The 'behaviors' in question are motor vehicle accidents (33 percent of illnesses and mortality in this age group), unintended injuries such as falls or drowning (15 percent), homicide (10 percent), and suicide (10 percent). Sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancy are serious health problems in young people. Drug, alcohol, and tobacco use are also prevalent problems. The goals of the Commission are to identify major risks in young populations, monitor these risks, attempt interventions, and assess their effects. A Youth Risk Behavior and Surveillance System will gather data on risk behaviors among high school students. Other efforts are aimed at college students and young people who are not in school, many of whom are at risk as prostitutes or homeless people. Many risky behaviors cannot be addressed at this time, and the major focus of the Commission's efforts is against the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, the agent associated with AIDS). Funding to reach out-of-school youth has been taken from monies allocated elsewhere. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Health aspects, Mortality, Children, Social policy, Demographic aspects, Schools, Teenagers, Youth, Risk factors (Health), Child health, Health risk assessment

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CDC expands dental disease prevention role

Article Abstract:

The Dental Disease Prevention Activity (DDPA) unit of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which was begun in the late 1970s, aims its efforts at preventing baby bottle tooth decay, oral cancer, orofacial injuries, and the transmission of pathological agents carried in the blood to dental health practitioners. Baby bottle tooth decay is a pattern of decay of the maxillary incisors (long, upper teeth) that results from excessive time spent sucking on bottles, often for pacification. Teeth may be lost at early ages when speech is developing. The incidence of oral cancer is more than two times that of cervical cancer, and the death rate is almost twice as high. Yet both are cancers of 'accessible' parts of the body. Oral cancer is largely preventable through control of tobacco and alcohol use, and the DDPA is educating health professionals regarding the need for early detection and careful examination. It is also preparing a monograph on the subject. Prevention of the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, the virus associated with AIDS) and hepatitis B virus in dental settings has been a DDPA goal since 1985, but 40 percent of dentists have not been vaccinated against hepatitis B. Periodontal disease prevention, and the prevention of sports- and occupation-related orofacial injuries are two other DDPA priorities. More than $80 million in Preventive Health and Health Services grants was given to states by the CDC in 1987; some funds were used for water fluoridation projects. Complete water fluoridation and dental sealants could eliminate all dental caries. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

HIV (Viruses), HIV, Dental caries, Disease transmission, Water, Hepatitis B, Water fluoridation, Dental public health, Public health dentistry, Preventive dentistry

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