Podcasts: Portable Health and Safety Information for a Digital World

CDC creates audio and video programs you can listen to and view on your computer or MP3 player at your convenience.

Are you planning international travel and wondering if you need a shot? Do you monitor your child's – and your own – health? Are you a pet owner, physician, sports fan, or public health administrator? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you might be interested in listening to or viewing a CDC podcast.

Podcasts are audio or video files that you can download "on demand" from the Internet and listen to or view at any time, on a computer or personal MP3 device. Despite the name similarity to Apple Computer's iPod®, a podcast listener does not have to own an iPod. You can listen or view a podcast using any portable digital audio/video player or any PC or Mac that has digital audio/video player software.

CDC creates podcasts on health and safety topics for the general public, as well as some targeted to health care professionals and the clinical community. Several are available in Spanish. Recent CDC podcast titles include:

• Protect Your Baby from Group B Strep [PODCAST - 6:23 minutes]
• Asthma – What You Need to Know [PODCAST - 1:19 minutes]
• Mold [PODCAST - 3:36 minutes]
• Breast Cancer – Early Diagnosis [PODCAST - 1:56 minutes]
• Supporting a Healthy Planet [PODCAST - 8:43 minutes]
• Salt Matters: Preserving Choice, Protecting Health [PODCAST - 4:16 minutes]
• Medications and International Travel [PODCAST - 2:35 minutes]
• Teen Pregnancy — What You Need to Know [PODCAST - 1:19 minutes]
• Sexual Violence [PODCAST - 2:03 minutes]

The flexibility of podcasts makes them popular. You can access the information whenever you choose, save it to your computer and player, even forward the file to a friend or colleague. Since CDC began offering podcasts, podcasts the most popular downloads include:

• Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) [PODCAST - 4:57 minutes]
• Hand Hygiene Saves Lives: Patient Admission Video [PODCAST - 5:29 minutes]
• 2009 H1N1 ACIP Vaccination Recommendations [PODCAST - 5:18 minutes]
• Healthy Feet are Happy Feet [PODCAST - 2:23 minutes]
• General Instructions for Disposable Respirators [PODCAST - 2:19 minutes]

To review all of the podcasts created or hosted by CDC, visit the podcast Web page.

Subscribe to Podcasts via RSS Feed

You can automatically receive new programs without having to go to CDC's Web page to download them. After you subscribe to a series, you automatically receive a list of updates via the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed every time it refreshes. You may choose to have new audio/video files automatically saved to your computer and digital player. For details, see RSS Feeds and RSS Help.

More Information

• If you're new to podcasting, see Podcast Help.
• If you're wired and ready to listen, browse CDC's index of health and safety podcasts.