Hoping it's not bad luck to say this so soon, knocking on wood, rubbing my figurative rabbit's foot (my wife won't let me carry a real one), but I think this city and maybe even the nation deserve praise for overwhelming equanimity in the face of the first American Ebola cases. What the response so ... More >>
The rhetoric from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital nurses in the last several days has been vehement. Nurses are anonymously alleging that the hospital did not take proper steps to prevent contamination and infection, which ultimately led to nurses Amber Vinson and Nina Pham contracting Ebola from ... More >>
Heading into a much needed weekend, here's the latest Ebola news of note: The condition of the patients. Nina Pham is now being treated at a National Institutes of Health facility in Maryland. She is listed as being in fair condition. While she was listed in good condition at Presbyterian, doctors ... More >>
News media continue to present a picture of Ebola transmission that is significantly inaccurate by omission. They assert much more certainty than the science justifies. The version repeated like a mantra in most accounts -- only direct physical contact with an infectious person -- is wrong on its fa ... More >>
Update 12:15 p.m.:Amber Joy Vinson, the second Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital nurse diagnosed with Ebola after helping treat Thomas Eric Duncan, is being moved to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced at a news conference late this morning ... More >>
Thomas R. Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, speaking on 7/31/2014: "It is not a potential of Ebola spreading widely in the U.S. That is not in the cards." "We have quarantine stations ... More >>
According to reports from multiple news outlets and the Centers for Disease Control, a healthcare worker -- reportedly a nurse -- who was in contact with Thomas Eric Duncan has tested positive for the Ebola virus. The test was performed by the Texas Department of State Health Services and is being c ... More >>
One great service Dallas could render to the rest of the country, should the dust ever settle on the local Ebola story, would be a thorough, no-holds-barred post mortem on information sharing. I am already hearing from people behind the scenes, speaking off the record, that there has been significan ... More >>
Newest updates will appear at the bottom of this post. September 20: Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan arrives in Dallas from Monrovia, Liberia via Brussels. Duncan made an intervening stop at Dulles International Airport near Washington D.C.. September 26: Duncan first visits Texas Health Pres ... More >>
A school bus parked in front of the Ivy Apartments yesterday afternoon and let out dozens of kids as reporters filmed B-roll and took photographs across the street. The news stations had already confirmed that this apartment complex in Vickery Meadows was where Thomas Eric Duncan stayed in Dallas be ... More >>
Today in multiple stories, our only and always comforting local daily, The Dallas Morning News, reiterates the official public line of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control: that physical contact with a person suffering symptoms of Ebola disease is the only mechanism of transmission by which the Ebol ... More >>
Early this morning, Dallas ISD received word from the Centers for Disease Control that five district students have been exposed to the Ebola virus. The students attend Emmett Conrad High School, Sam Tasby Middle School, Dan Rogers Elementary, and Hotchkiss Elementary. Jack Lowe Elementary, which is ... More >>
UPDATE, 3:44 p.m.: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that a patient at Dallas' Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital is the first case of Ebola confirmed in the United States. ORIGINAL POST: Dallas County Health and Human Services gave an update Tuesday morning on the status ... More >>
Sloppy handling of deadly viruses at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, including shipping a deadly virus to a lab by mistake, has spurred calls for an independent investigation of the agency. The head of of it concedes in a New York Times piece this morning there may be a "potential for hubris." ... More >>
You could be dealing with a mosquito-virus one-two punch this season. Along with West Nile, a new virus could rear its ugly head in Texas. It's name is chikungunya, and it's pronounced "chicken-goon-ya." This mosquito season already has one twist to it. Because of the drought, mosquitoes that carr ... More >>
Yesterday afternoon was scary. True story: I was at home. I go to the kitchen to watch the rain lash the driveway. I can hear the tornado sirens. Well, sirens. Then, the rain stops. Sirens stop. Silence. Suddenly, I hear the dreaded "sounded like a freight train" sound -- a kind of low rumbling wh ... More >>
It's flu season, a fact you've probably noticed if you've experienced a bout of achy, feverish misery, or if you've seen the equally feverish news reports on the mounting death toll in North Texas, which reached 21 yesterday. To put this all in context, we spoke with Dallas County Health Director Z ... More >>
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that each year food-borne disease causes nearly 50 million people to become sick, 128,000 to be hospitalized and 3,000 to die. More than half of these outbreaks originate in restaurants and delis, so the CDC sent health inspectors to local and ... More >>
Environmental activists, in spite of the lobbying of the energy industry and some sleight of hand by city staff, appear to be winning the fracking debate. The City Plan Commission has twice denied Trinity East Energy permits to drill on city parkland it leased for $19 million. Last week, it effectiv ... More >>
The professional buzz kills at the Centers for Disease Control have no shortage of sobering alcohol statistics to aid their campaign against excessive drinking: 14,000 people die each year in drunk-driving crashes; 36,000 are killed by alcohol-related liver disease, hypertension, and other chronic i ... More >>
Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price is exactly right to support Zachary Thompson, the county's embattled health director responsible for fighting West Nile disease. Zachary Thompson is exactly right to worry about the role of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a fede ... More >>
Congratulations, Texas! After a lot of hard work and many long nights, we're number one in the nation for repeat teen births. According to the Centers for Disease Control, which released a new report on April 2, in 2010, 22 percent of Texas teenagers aged 15-19 who gave birth were delivering their ... More >>
Dig raw milk? Right now to indulge unpasteurized, unhomogenized milk from cows and goats that are raised on pasture-based farms (you know, the way we all used to do it) individuals have to drive out to the farm and purchase it directly. That may be a fun weekend drive if you've got a convertible and ... More >>
The LGBT Resource Center at Texas A&M University, like its cousins at the University of Texas and the University of Houston, is an innocuous arm of school bureaucracy that offers an array of resources to gay and transgendered students. There is a guest speaker program, a lending library, networking ... More >>
On the op-ed page of The Dallas Morning News this morning, two local epidemiologists with national/international reputations weigh in for more aerial spraying to combat West Nile disease. Robert Haley, the Gulf War Syndrome expert, and James Luby, an expert on St. Louis encephalitis at UT Southweste ... More >>
Before we blanket ourselves with pesticides, we should clear some things up.
Don't scramble the county air force just yet. We need to do some serious reading and talking before the Dallas County does a repeat of last year's aerial spraying for West Nile disease. I have a copy of the final Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on last year's spraying. Sorry, can' ... More >>
Smoking rates in the U.S. are plummeting. According to the CDC, there were three million fewer smokers in 2010 than in 2005. The factors contributing to this decline are are fairly obvious: improved educational efforts; cessation programs; higher cigarette taxes; tighter state and local anti-smoking ... More >>
We're getting only half the story about the risks and dangers of pesticides.
New data on obesity is out, and according to some really smart people, we're all still fat. Unfortunately, it's hard to say if the problem is getting better or worse because the CDC established a new method for analyzing the data, and thus a new baseline, making comparisons with previous years meani ... More >>
It's an easy thing for a state to rationalize. Every year, the percentage of Texas residents who are technically obese inches up slightly. It's just by a percentage point or so, so maybe it's a rounding error or a gravitational anomaly that affects every Texans' scale. Besides, who doesn't overindul ... More >>
Salmonella hates America. Fight back! Eat indoors!About 48 million Americans get food-borne illness per year, and of that heaving-and-hurling 48 million, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That means roughly one in six Americans w ... More >>
Secaucus, New Jersey-based Goya Foods Inc., the dominant Latin American foods company, has recalled all its 14-ounce packages of frozen mamey pulp. The product is used to make milkshakes and smoothies. The packages were distributed in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, New Mexico, ... More >>
Ohmigod, that salsa killed Kenny!The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week did its best to dampen summer fun by linking salsa to food poisoning. According to the much-quoted press release, one out of every 25 cases of foodborne illnesses picked up at restaurants originates ... More >>
I think it was last week when I came across an AP story detailing the efforts of the San Antonio Restaurant Association to encourage healthier cooking at the city's Tex-Mex and Mexican eateries. Seems the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listed San Antonio behind only Detroit, Memphis a ... More >>
Those fun-loving sorts over at the CDC have one more thing you need to stop eating. A report released last month advises Americans to--surprise!--consume less salt. Americans eat 3,436mg of salt daily, compared to the CDC's recommendation of 2300mg. In response, Divine Caroline brings some timely ... More >>
Gotta wonder if the folks at the Centers for Disease Control will come out with a list of top party schools now. A new study released by the organization says the typical American binge drinker is a white male, aged 18-34. No kidding. The news comes courtesy of Drugs.com. They note that the CDC ... More >>
Last week came news that the Dallas Independent School District would be repaying federal grant money is was using rather inappropriately -- like, $316,000 worth of federal grant money. That dough, provided by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant, was supposed to go to HIV prevention e ... More >>
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that while African Americans make up 13 percent of the population, they also account for 37 percent of all abortions performed in the United States, and that while the abortion rate has declined slightly in recent years, rates are "declining more ... More >>
We would tell you what this is, but you might find it kinda, well, gross. OK, it's allegedly a Morgellons fiber taken from a kid's lip. Happy? Two weeks ago we reported on the mysterious skin disease known as Morgellons, which is defined by symptoms that include black sweat and colored fibers sprout ... More >>
Bizarre fibers. Black sweat. Bugs under the skin. Welcome to the controversial world of Morgellons disease.
Take Back Your Saturday Morning at ZaSpa
What is eggnog?
Beer bust; Buck banger
Texas health officials say that mandatory childhood vaccinations against hepatitis B will prevent the spread of life-threatening illness. But which is riskier--the disease or the vaccine?
City Hall has $22 million in federal funds to fix your neighborhood. Instead, it's spending the money on barrels of pork.