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Showing posts with label Tom Frieden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tom Frieden. Show all posts

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Work resumes at federal public health agencies

Today's post was shared by CIDRAP and comes from www.cidrap.umn.edu

 CDC Building

Congressional agreement on a funding bill that reopened government yesterday got the gears turning again with several key public health tasks, such as flu surveillance, science communication, and lab testing.
Within hours of President Obama's signing of the legislation, some of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Twitter accounts crackled to life again, including one used by its director, Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, who wrote, "So relieved to have the best and brightest back to work protecting and promoting health. Hope for no relapse…"
Government employees who had been furloughed were asked to return yesterday. At the CDC all but 4,000 of about 13,000 employees were furloughed. A few were called back to manage a Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak linked to three Foster Farms processing facilities in California.
Barbara Reynolds, PhD, who directs the CDC's division of public affairs, was the point person who fielded media queries while many of her colleagues were furloughed. She told CIDRAP News yesterday that the CDC is operating as it did before the shutdown, and that its scientists and health officials can resume needed travel and attend meetings.
Throughout the day yesterday, the CDC posted several notices on its Web site signaling that its activities were returning to normal. It posted a notice that its weekly FluView surveillance reports would return today, but in an abbreviated form, after a 2-week absence.
The lack of reports created an...
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Thursday, September 19, 2013

CDC: Antibiotic-resistant bugs sicken 2 million a year

Concern for the spread of infections has lead to a heightened sense of concern in the workplace. New electronic hand washing faucets, and the sprouting up of hand cleansing stations. Workers compensation continue to pay the price for the spread of infections. Today's post was shared by CIDRAP and comes from www.cidrap.umn.edu


The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today that antibiotic-resistant pathogens sicken 2 million Americans a year and listed the three most urgent threats as Clostridium difficile, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), and Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

The agency's first all-encompassing report on antibiotic disease threats spans 114 pages and ranks the pathogens in part to spur a multipronged effort to prioritize and battle the problems. Antibiotic-resistant microorganisms play a role in 23,000 deaths each year, the CDC said.
At a media briefing today, CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, said the landmark report provides a snapshot of the antibiotic-resistant organisms that have the biggest impact on human health. He said the numbers are very conservative estimates that don't take into account infections that occur outside hospitals, such as nursing homes and dialysis centers.

The numbers are worrisome, because so few antibiotics to battle the new pathogens are in the development pipeline, he said. "If we don't take action early, the medicine cabinet will be empty for patients with life-threatening infections."

The CDC ranked the antibiotic-resistant organisms based on seven criteria: health impact, economic impact, how common the infection is, 10-year projection of how common it will become, ease of spread, antibiotic availability, and prevention barriers. It also grouped the organisms into three groups, based on threat level.

Topping the list is C...
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