MMWR

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

1. Box – American Diabetes Month – November 2009

Press Contact: CDC
Division of Media Relations 
(404) 636-3286

No summary available.

2. Estimated County-Level Prevalence of Diabetes and Obesity – United States, 2007

Press Contact: CDC
Division of Media Relations 
(404) 636-3286

• Press Release

The information may help public health workers, health care providers, community organizations, and policymakers focus on high-risk regions to prevent type 2 diabetes and its complications as well as other chronic diseases linked to obesity, including heart disease, stroke, and some cancers. Wide sections of the Southeast, Appalachia, and some tribal lands in the West and Northern Plains have the nation’s highest rates of obesity and diabetes, according to estimates released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In many counties in those regions, rates of diagnosed diabetes exceed 10 percent and obesity prevalence is more than 30 percent. The estimates, in this week′s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, are the first to provide county-level snapshots of obesity across the United States. They also update diabetes county-level estimates released in 2008.

3. West Nile Virus Transmission via Organ Transplantation and Blood Transfusion – Louisiana, 2008

Press Contact: CDC
Division of Media Relations 
(404) 636-3286

Despite very effective blood donor screening, healthcare providers should be aware that transfusion transmission of West Nile Virus (WNV) still occurs, leading to adverse outcomes particularly in organ transplant patients and others with compromised immune systems. Blood donor screening methods for WNV have dramatically decreased blood donor-related transmission of WNV using nucleic acid testing (NAT). However, current screening methods are not sensitive enough to detect all WNV-infected blood donations. Blood collection centers usually test for WNV in pools but use single testing if WNV activity is high. Blood centers can improve detection of WNV-positive donations by more rapidly “triggering” to single testing during times of high WNV activity in their area. More rapid triggering is helped by frequent communication between blood centers about positive donors. Blood centers can work together to detect high WNV activity in a geographic area as early as possible.

4. Outbreak of Rickettsia typhi Infection – Austin, Texas, 2008

Press Contact: Doug McBride
Public Information Officer, Texas Department of State Health Services   
(512) 458-7524

An outbreak of murine typhus was confirmed in Austin/Travis county Texas in 2008, representing the emergence of the disease in a previously unaffected area. Although murine typhus, a fleaborne disease often transmitted to humans through contact with rats, is endemic in southern Texas, only two cases had been reported in central Texas during the past 10 years. Illness associated with this central Texas outbreak of 33 confirmed cases, 73 percent of whom were hospitalized, was comparable to previous outbreaks of murine typhus; however, the suspected vector (cat flea) and reservoir (opossum) were atypical for a suburban setting. Clinicians and the public should be aware of the symptoms, appropriate treatment and prevention measures, and the importance of promptly notifying local or state health officials of suspected cases of murine typhus.

5. Mumps Outbreak – New York, New Jersey, Quebec, 2009 (Previously Released)

Press Contact: CDC
Division of Media Relations 
(404) 636-3286

No summary available.

 

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES