prevention | Blogs

Six Ways to Ruin Your Summer Fun!

A group of children at a pool learning to swim.

Ahhh, summer… when the weather’s nice, the birds are singing and the ways to endanger your health are many. Here are six things that can ruin your summer fun and simple steps that you can take to prevent them from happening. 1. Don’t Get Overheated It doesn’t matter whether you’re physically fit or young and Read More >

July 8, 2019 by Blog Administrator3 Comments

General, Injury, preparedness, prevention

drowning, Environmental Health, extreme heat, food poisoning, food safety, heat cramps, Heat Exhaustion, Heat Stroke, mosquitoes, personal health, pool safety, public health, sunburn, Sunscreen, ticks, water safety

Breathe Easy, Part 2: How to Properly Use a Respirator in an Emergency

Close-up photo of a man putting on a respirator.

In the course of preparing for an emergency you might decide to buy a pack of respirators from your local hardware store, thinking that they are ready to use out of the box. However, before you can rely on one of these devices to protect you, there are some important selection and use criteria to Read More >

June 17, 2019 by Jaclyn Krah Cichowicz, MA, Health Communications Specialist, NIOSH National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL); Christopher Coffey, Ph.D., Associate Director for Science, NPPTL; and Jonathan Szalajda, MS, Deputy Director, NPPTL5 Comments

Flu, General, natural disasters, preparedness, prevention, response

carbon monoxide, emergency preparedness, Environmental Health, filtering facepiece respirator, N95, NIOSH, personal health, Prepare Your Health, respirator, smoke

Food for Thought: What Hurricane Sandy Can Teach Us about Food Allergy Preparedness

Elizabeth O’Connell knows that only way to prevent a food-allergy reaction is to avoid the problem food. For her that means having to interpret precautionary language, like “may contain,” and double check ingredients labels in a race to keep up with her teenage son. Elizabeth’s now teenage son has had a severe food allergy for Read More >

May 20, 2019 by Blog AdministratorLeave a comment

General, Injury, preparedness, prevention

allergies, anaphylactic, epinephrine, food allergy, Food Allergy Action Plan, Foodborne, Hurricane Sandy, personal health

10 Years Later: The Lasting Impacts of the H1N1 Flu Pandemic Response

This highly magnified transmission electron microscopic (TEM) image depicted numbers of virions from a novel influenza H1N1 isolate.

As coincidence would have it, Dr. Stephen Redd was wrapping up an influenza (flu) pandemic planning meeting on April 15, 2009, when someone on the phone reported that a new (or novel) influenza A virus had infected a 10-year-old boy in California. Things moved fast after that. The Response Two days after CDC confirmed the Read More >

April 15, 2019 by Blog Administrator16 Comments

Flu, preparedness, prevention, response

Emergency Operations Center, flu, H1N1, influenza, Influenza Risk Assessment Tool, pandemic, Pandemic Severity Assessment Framework, personal health, public health, seasonal flu, Stephen Redd, vaccine

Keeping Work with Select Agents Safe, Secure

A CDC scientist is wearing a protective airtight suit, equipped with a helmet and face mask. She is seated, pipetting specimens in a laboratory.

Although potentially dangerous, work with select agents and toxins provides important scientific discoveries that have led to improved detection, prevention, diagnostic, and treatment options for diseases. Select agents and toxins are also considered to be some of the most threatening to the health and safety of people, plants and animals. While there is always some Read More >

April 1, 2019 by Blog Administrator2 Comments

Disease Investigation, General, prevention, response

biosafety, Environmental Health, Federal Select Agent Program, laboratory, public health, toxin

After the Storm: 3 Types of Post-Disaster Poisonings to Know, Prepare For

A portable generator placed outside and in a dry area on the ground.

National Poison Prevention Week (March 17-23) was started in 1962 to encourage Americans to “learn of the dangers of accidental poisoning and to take such preventive measures as are warranted by the seriousness of the danger.” Fifty-seven years later, those threats—and probably some new ones—to personal and public health persist. They can also be prepared Read More >

March 18, 2019 by Blog Administrator1 Comment

General, natural disasters, preparedness, prevention, response

carbon monoxide, e. coli, Emergency Action Plan, Environmental Health, flood, food poisoning, Foodborne, Hurricane, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, National Poison Prevention Week, personal health, Poison Control Center, prescription medication, salmonella, Up and Away

Category: prevention