Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

We Did Good on Ebola. It's the Spin that Got Us.

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 >>

Local Attorneys Gearing Up For Ebola Lawsuits

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 >>

Your Friday Afternoon Ebola Digest

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 >>

Contradictions, Mistakes and Bullshit Are What Worry Us in Ebola Response

Media Still Misstating Science on Ebola Transmission

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 >>

UPDATED: Second Dallas Healthcare Worker Has Ebola

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 >>

CDC Boss Frieden, "That Is Not in the Cards."

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 >>

Dallas Healthcare Worker Tests Positive For Ebola

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 >>

Ebola Story Is All About Who, What, Where and Whether To Tell Anybody

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 >>

Ebola in Dallas: What We Know

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 >>

Dallas Spokesman Says Reporters Scaring Residents at Apartments Where Ebola Patient Stayed

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 >>

Even the CDC Isn't Totally Sold on its Own Proclamations on How Ebola Is Transmitted

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 >>

Dallas ISD Puts Parents on High Alert for Ebola Symptoms as CDC Monitors Five Students

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: Ebola Has Landed in Dallas

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 >>

The CDC's Problems Are Deeper Than Mailing the Wrong Stuff, as They Proved in Dallas

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 >>

Health Officials Prepare for a Possible New Mosquito Virus

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 >>

Be Straight With Me. Is There Really Something I Can Do About a Tornado?

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 >>

The Flu in Dallas County is Killing About As Many People As It Usually Does

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 >>

A New CDC Report Says Wherever You're Going for Food Is Probably Doing It Wrong

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 >>

Is Dallas Getting Smarter in the Fight Against West Nile?

The Industry Unveils a New Tactic in the Dallas Fracking Debate: Calling Its Opponents Liars

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 >>

Researchers Say Texans' Drinking Costs America $16 Billion a Year, Should Have a Drink and Chill

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 >>

John Wiley Price is Right -- This Time -- to Support Health Director on Mosquito Spraying

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 >>

Here Are All The Reasons Why Texas Teenagers Can't Seem to Stop Getting Pregnant

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 >>

Raw Milk Bill Hung Up By Fuddy Duddies at the Texas Medical Association

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 >>

State Rep. Bill Zedler Wants to Shut Down Those Grody LGBT Centers at Texas Colleges

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 >>

Not So Fast: Morning News Op-Ed Calls for More Aerial Mosquito Spraying, but There Are Better Ways to Fight West Nile

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 >>

CDC Offers Weak Numbers on West Nile Spraying

Before we blanket ourselves with pesticides, we should clear some things up.

Dallas County's Aerial Spraying for West Nile not as Deadly to Mosquitoes as First Claimed

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 >>

The American Lung Association Gives Texas an 'F', Calls it the "Tobacco Industry's Playground"

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 >>

Aerial Spraying Against West Nile Needs Debate

We're getting only half the story about the risks and dangers of pesticides.

Congratulations, Texas, You Are 12th in Fat-Assedness

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 >>

Texas is Fat, and Getting Fatter, Says the CDC

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 >>

Tips for Having a Safe, Sterile July 4th Picnic...Even Though You Shouldn't

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 >>

Goya Foods Recalls Frozen Mamey Packages Linked to Salmonella Typhi

​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 >>

Killer Salsa: Why is the CDC Picking on Our Favorite Dips?

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 >>

Do Hot-Blooded Mexicans Not Need Winter Coats?

Why Blame The Food?

​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 >>

Chewing the Fat: CDC Says Shake the Salt

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 >>

Chewing the Fat: Measuring Every Chug

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 >>

DISD Now $316,000 Lighter

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 >>

In the Inner City, An Alternative to Abortion

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 >>

Shoot Up Your Kid

Sick, or Sick in the Head?

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 >>

The Plague

Bizarre fibers. Black sweat. Bugs under the skin. Welcome to the controversial world of Morgellons disease.

Clean Sweep

Take Back Your Saturday Morning at ZaSpa

Knocking Noggin

What is eggnog?

Hash Over

Beer bust; Buck banger

Unacceptable Risk

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?

Gimme gimme

City Hall has $22 million in federal funds to fix your neighborhood. Instead, it's spending the money on barrels of pork.