Category: General
Haiti Cholera Response: Stories from the Field, Part 1
“Cholera has an interesting personality.” That’s what I told my friends when they asked why I was going to Haiti to help with CDC’s cholera outbreak response. Understandably, they were worried I might get sick. Like my friends, most people don’t know much about cholera, so they assume it’s a big, bad bug. And it Read More >
Posted on by 22 CommentsChange is in the Air
Change is a good thing: it brings new ideas and new opportunities. I’m excited about the new changes in my career as I transition from the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID) to the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR) within CDC. I joined OPHPR this August as the Read More >
Posted on by 9 CommentsDoing Good with Baked Goods: Student Helps CDC Support Ebola Research
Ebola often captures the interest of students who are preparing projects and reports. But I’ve found that rarely does it prompt someone to then raise funds on behalf of Ebola research. However, this is exactly what Ashely Enoch decided to do. For her senior project at Soap Lake Middle and High School in Washington, Ashely Read More >
Posted on by 2 CommentsClimate Change: Communicating Complexity
The influence of weather on infectious diseases has been recognized for centuries. In our own experience, we know that some diseases like influenza are more common in the winter or others thrive better in the tropics. The effects of climate – weather over long periods of time – on infectious diseases have been getting Read More >
Posted on by 2 CommentsTrichinellosis: “Bearly” Cooked
In late October 2007, a hunter in Northern California shot a black bear and brought the carcass home for a community feast the next day. At least 38 people ate a variety of dishes, some of which included bear meat which was not fully cooked. Within a week, people who had attended the event started Read More >
Posted on by 1 CommentSnails, Slugs, and Semi-slugs: A Parasitic Disease in Paradise
CDC plays a vital role supporting state health departments, particularly with management of rare or lesser-known pathogens. Recently, CDC’s Division of Parasitic Diseases (DPD) was contacted by the Hawaii Department of Health (HI DOH) for advice regarding three cases of presumed Angiostrongylus cantonensis (AC) infection. AC, commonly called the rat lungworm, is a parasitic worm Read More >
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