Tag Archive for 'Centers for Disease Control and Prevention'

Spread of swine flu is slowing down

Published on February 12, 2010 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

The U.S. swine flu epidemic is not over, but it is hopefully coming to an end.

Federal health officials aren’t quite ready to announce that the threat is gone and the outbreak has ended, but they did report that for the fourth week in a row, no states have reported widespread flu activity. Since October, U.S. cases have been decreasing since the end of October.

One expert said that the epidemic is almost over and there are some indications that lead many to believe that there will not be another wave during the year.

One reason for the decline in the epidemic is that the virus hasn’t shown any signs of mutating. Also, the vaccine against it seems to be very effective. Now, about half of the U.S. population have some immunity because they have been infected with it or received a vaccination.

There is also good news from the World Health Organization, which is observing an international decline and is discussing what measures to take to announce that the pandemic is over. Experts are not sure if it will continue to slow for the rest of the winter, but they are pretty sure it will.

The Harvard School of Public Health released a poll which found that 44 percent of Americans believe the outbreak is over.

Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that most states are continuing to have just occasional flu activity. This said, only three states had zero reports, and a CDC official warned that the swine flu is still here and is probably going to keep infecting people.

Around 15,200 have died from the swine flu since it reared its ugly head in April. Most of the deaths were in the U.S. This is a much lower amount than originally feared. The U.S. and Mexican governments have been commended for their actions by experts. Scientists have also been praised for their quick development of an effective vaccine.

Why so many new food recalls?

Published on June 30, 2009 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Early this year we were cautioned against eating pistachios and peanut butter, and then in April, the FDA strongly suggested that we not eat raw alfalfa sprouts. Now we are warned about a specific brand of cookie dough.

If you think there seems to be more recalls, you’re right! There were 214 food recalls in 2006, 247 in 2007 and 310 in 2008 according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Surprisingly, food manufacturers say this is not bad, it’s actually a good thing. Dr. Robert Brackett, chief science and regulatory-affairs officer for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, says “It may look like the food supply is getting less safe, but it actually means that we’re getting better at detecting the outbreaks.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has figures that appear to uphold Brackett’s findings, which reveal the decrease of food-borne illnesses as the food recalls have increased in the past few years.

The FDA’s associate commissioner for food safety, Dr. David Acheson, reports that the agency is getting more diligent when it comes to finding health dangers before any illness is reported. Acheson gave an example of this by mentioning the pistachio recall, explaining that the nuts were taken off the shelves before anyone got ill.

Having said all this, there are some lawmakers that are still concerned that the FDA isn’t doing all they can, so they are working on a new bill that will tighten regulations. This legislation would force food manufacturers to closely follow the distribution of their products, as the FDA would make more numerous visits to food manufacturing plants.

There are now more challenges than in the past because of the worldwide distribution of the food supply. There are more chances for contamination because of more stops from the farm to the home. 

Recently, the FDA has opened offices in China and India to keep in closer contact with food producers there. Fortunately new advances in surveillance technology has allowed the CDC to be able to track the genetic fingerprint of food-borne illnesses all over the nation, which lets the FDA caution Americans more quickly when it comes to possible health risks.

This said, even though there is increased oversight, the FDA advises that there will still be some recalls. Acheson says that “It’s not possible to be inspecting and testing every food item; you simply cannot do it.”