Category: Disease Outbreak
The Anatomy of an HIV Outbreak Response in a Rural Community
In a small, rural town in Southern Indiana, a public health crisis emerges. In a community that normally sees fewer than five new HIV diagnoses a year, more than a hundred new cases are diagnosed and almost all are coinfected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). How was this outbreak discovered, and what caused this widespread Read More >
Posted on by 9 CommentsWhat Global Polio Eradication could mean for your Health Security
Globalization has brought global health right to our door-step. In a world where everything from global trade to international travel is on the rise, the infectious disease threats of one region of the world can easily become public health threats present in your own backyard. Read More >
Posted on by 1 CommentAn Unsuspected Treat Contaminated with Listeria. How about them Caramel Apples?
By Mandip Kaur and Brendan Jackson Oh, how sweet it is to enjoy a caramel apple when autumn sweeps in! Maybe you like yours topped with nuts? Sprinkles? How about chocolate? But who knew that this past fall, certain caramel apples would be contaminated with the dangerous Listeria monocytogenes bacteria (here, Listeria for short), and Read More >
Posted on by 15 CommentsMapping for Ebola: A Collaborative Effort
One of the difficulties faced by teams responding to the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is identifying individuals and communities residing in remote areas. Existing maps of these regions either do not exist or are inadequate or outdated. This means that basic data like location of houses, buildings, villages, and roads are not easily Read More >
Posted on by 25 CommentsOn the Ground in Nigeria: Ebola Response
By Lisa Esapa, CDC-Nigeria For the last few months, there has been a constant buzz about Ebola among my friends and colleagues in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. Everyone had a theory about if, when, or how Ebola would come to Nigeria. When we heard about a probable case in Lagos, my heart sank. Lagos Read More >
Posted on by 5 CommentsNeighbors Helping Neighbors
When the Fairfax County Health Department (FCHD) in Virginia put out a call for volunteers to help conduct a tuberculosis (TB) contact investigation, Rosalia Parada, a long time Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) volunteer, jumped at the chance to serve her community. The investigation was sparked when news of three students from Robert E. Lee High School Read More >
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