Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

Everybody In The Pool! But Please Leave The Poop Behind

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:04:00 +0000

Perhaps you've noticed a toddler's sagging swim diaper and wondered if it's really keeping the poop out of your neighborhood pool.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has the answer for you: no.

Last summer, researchers at the federal public health agency collected 161 filter samples from public swimming pools in the Atlanta area. More than half of those samples, 58 percent, were contaminated with E.

Parents Get Crib Sheets For Talking With Kids About Drinking

Nancy Shute — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:56:00 +0000
Parents often dread talking to tweens and teens about alcohol. So the government is here to help. Really.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration launched a campaign today that aims to get parents talking with their children about alcohol as early as age 9.
Age 9? Eek!
That early start is important because children start to look at alcohol more positively between ages 9 and 13, researchers say. About 10 percent of 12-year-olds have tried alcohol.

Teens Who Text And Drive Often Take Other Risks

Nancy Shute — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:39:00 +0000
Almost half of teenagers cop to texting while driving.

Cases Of Mysterious Valley Fever Rise In American Southwest

Rebecca Plevin — Mon, 13 May 2013 07:02:00 +0000
When she was just 6, Emily Gorospe became very tired and sick. The spunky girl, now 8, developed a fever that wouldn't go away, and red blotches appeared across her body.
"She's got so much energy usually," says Emily's mother, Valerie Gorospe. "Just walking from one part of the house ... she was drained." The little girl was also very pale. "She just didn't look like herself," Valerie recalls.
Emily, who lives in Delano, in California's Central Valley, was eventually diagnosed with valley fever, also known as coccidioidomycosis.

Price Break For Cervical Cancer Shots In Developing World

Thu, 09 May 2013 15:44:00 +0000
Cervical cancer takes its greatest toll in the countries whose economies and health systems are poorest.
Women in those places are less likely than those in rich countries to get regular Pap tests to detect the cancers when it can be treated effectively.
Of the 275,000 women who die of cervical cancer each year, more than 85 percent, or at least 234,000, are in low-income countries.
But a vaccine that can prevent cervical cancer could go a long way toward lowering the risk in those less developed countries.