Interesting links

Things are crazy here while we prepare for the CSTE Annual Conference, but here are a couple of links to satisfy your public health craving:

• Big Decline in Heart Attacks If All States Had Smoking Bans - an interesting article from Bloomberg saying that heart attacks would drop by 18,000 per year. Isn't that an incentive to implement smoking bans. 39 states currently have some sort of smoking ban.
• No Benefit in Delayed Immunization - That's right, folks, another immunization article asserting that vaccinating your kids against deadly and debilitating infectious diseases is a good thing! This one is from the Wall Street Journal.
• British Medical Council Bars Doctor Who Linked Vaccine With Autism - Dr. Andrew Wakefield has been banned from practicing medicine after his widely known Lancet journal article was retracted recently. This New York Times article discusses the recent news.
• In E. Coli Fight, Some Strains Are Largely Ignored - I will admit that I haven't finished reading this article, but it basically discusses how some strains of e. coli are tested for in labs and some are not, and the implications of this situation. Should be a good read.
  

Happy reading, readers!

Links and Lyme

First, some web links:

1. The Produce Safety Project is calling for food safety reform, says this article in Cattle Network (yes, Cattle Network). The report recommends improved data collection, creating a cabinet-level agency for food safety, and use best practices from Europe.
2. A little food safety reminder, speaking of reform: We can all reduce our risk of foodborne illness with a little supermarket safety, and this article from CBS News can tell you how.
   
3. This article raises the red flag that only 58% of Idaho's 2-year-olds are vaccinated to current recommendations. This situation is not exclusive to Idaho; other pockets of the U.S. have extremely low vaccination rates.
4. It's that time of year when the risk of contracting Lyme disease increases with our outdoor activities. Read some articles about Lyme disease and how to prevent contracting it: 1 from The Signal, 1 about a rally to promote Lyme disease awareness, a page from CDC, and the American Lyme Disease Foundation, an advocacy organization. The bottom line is cover up and use a bug spray with DEET to prevent tick bites.
5. And while we're at it, here's some info about West Nile Virus and CDC's "Fight the Bite!" campaign. Bug spray, guys! It's worth it!

Health care reform: Public health gets into the mix

Now that the health care reform bill is law, the money is out there and waiting to be spent. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care law, previously H.R. 3590, provided for a $15 billion prevention fund. Nonprofit organizations and public health officials are now looking to allocate those funds, and there is quite a bit of competition for the money.

This article from MSNBC and this one from Kaiser Health News discusses some of the pulls from different organizations. Paul Jarris, Exec Director of ASTHO (Association for State & Territorial Health Officials), is pushing for a big chunk of the fund to go directly to state and local health departments, who are hurting from the economy, having to cut back services and experiencing severe capacity problems. This table from ASTHO shows the various public health funding opportunities in the law.

Take a look - it's a lot of money, and a lot of organizations and agencies deserve some of it. But... a lot don't. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

H1N1 - vaccine, lessons learned

Reuters has posted an article saying there are 71 million doses of H1N1 vaccine left in the U.S. That's right, readers, million. Holy cow! (Or should I say chicken... get it?)

And here is a USA Today editorial on 5 lessons to be learned from the pandemic. Some points are well-taken; for example, the feds can't do it all. State and local health departments and other responders are vital to the fabric of our public health infrastructure and are critical to maintain in order to bolster preparedness.

Here are lessons learned from Jeffrey Levi, of Trust for America's Health, as posted on The Huffington Post. He, again, mentions public health department resources and the need to increase resources to be able to adequately respond to a situation such as the H1N1 pandemic.

Overall, the county is significantly more prepared to respond to a pandemic now than we were a few short years ago, but there are still major gaps in our core public health capabilities that must be addressed if we're going to be able to protect the American public from future threats.

Here are lessons learned from CIDRAP, the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. This article also highlights infrastructure and capacity but touches on risk factors for pregnant women and obese populations as well.

And here is a previously-posted Op-Ed by Richard Wenzel in the NY Times about what has been learned from the H1N1 pandemic.

Happy reading, and feel free to post your own lessons learned!

Qatar's growing health problems

The NY Times reports on chronic disease and other health problems suffered by Qataris in the Middle East. Very interesting how the American lifestyle has spread to other countries that are gaining in wealth.