Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

About: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a government organization based out in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Public health. The organization has 58238 authors who have published 82592 publications receiving 4405701 citations. The organization is also known as: CDC & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Per-contact risk of human immunodeficiency virus transmission between male sexual partners.

Abstract: The risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission from various types of homosexual contact, including oral sex, is of biologic, epidemiologic, and public health importance. The per-contact risk of acquiring HIV infection from specific acts was estimated in a prospective cohort study of 2,189 high-risk homosexual and bisexual men, conducted in San Francisco, California; Denver, Colorado; and Chicago, Illinois, in 1992-1994. During 2,633 person-years of follow-up, 60 seroconversions were observed. The estimated per-contact risk of acquiring HIV from unprotected receptive anal intercourse (URA) was 0.82 percent (95% confidence interval: 0.24, 2.76 percent) when the partner was known to be HIV+ and 0.27 percent (95% confidence interval: 0.06, 0.49 percent) when partners of unknown serostatus were included. There was heterogeneity in per-contact risk, with nine seroconversions occurring after only one or two episodes of URA. The per-contact risk associated with unprotected insertive anal and receptive oral sex with HIV-positive or unknown serostatus partners was 0.06 and 0.04 percent, respectively. URA accounted for only 15 percent of all reported sexual activity by seroconverters. As lower-risk practices become more common, they may play a larger role in propagating the epidemic and should also be addressed by interventions targeting high-risk homosexual and bisexual men.

Pharmaceutical Overdose Deaths, United States, 2010

Abstract: risk reduction, be it cancer risk, cardiovascular risk, or progression of COPD. This potentially makes a negative outcome of screening counterproductive because it might be viewed as an incentive to continue smoking. However, smoking cessation remains difficult in any setting. Adherence is low and the outcome of screening has little longterm influence on smoking behavior. It recently has been shown that cardiovascular risk in smokers is increased, and this increase holds for any CAC score. Whereas the increased risk in smokers might suggest cardiovascular screening is not worthwhile in this population, the same study showed that mortality still increases substantially with higher CAC scores, even in smokers. These findings are corroborated by results from others, even in the setting of nongated chest CT scans used for cancer screening. Although the cardiovascular risk is increased on average, there is wide variation among smokers, which makes screening potentially useful to specifically detect those at high risk. Because smoking and CAC are independent risk factors, prediction will improve and not worsen when smoking and CAC and non-CAC are combined. Computed tomography technology currently used for lung cancer screening is limited by lack of electrocardiography gating. While this limitation reduces its value for excluding coronary calcium, the presence of larger amounts of calcium can be reliably detected, and the absolute risk of cardiovascular disease in individuals with high CAC scoring on screening scans is increased. Therefore, screening CT scans can readily establish increased risk. The real question is not whether to use the additional information provided by lung cancer screening but whether a highly positive result will be able to trigger treatment that can actually reduce this increased risk. For osteoporosis, quantitative CT of the lumbar spine had been superior to DEXA for measuring bone architecture and density. Technical and financial reasons have led to the widespread use of DEXA and to the decline of CT as an investigative tool. While osteoporosis assessment is generally performed on the lumbar spine, the thoracic spine is also affected and is readily assessable by chest CT. Direct implementation is hampered by the limited data available from most individuals, but it is not a reason why CT of the thoracic spine should not be able to detect osteopenia or osteoporosis. Although it is debated as to whether early diagnosis of COPD is useful, COPD and emphysema are independent predictors of lung cancer; therefore, detection may aid a more personalized and cost-effective lung cancer screening regimen. Independent of whether or not one supports CT-based lung cancer screening, extending this screening to other diseases that can be detected early by chest CT will provide valuable epidemiological data at least. At best, it may contribute to secondary prevention of some of the most debilitating diseases in the developed world.

Prevalence of knee symptoms and radiographic and symptomatic knee osteoarthritis in African Americans and Caucasians: the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To report contemporary estimates of the prevalence of knee-related osteoarthritis (OA) outcomes in African Americans and Caucasians aged > or = 45 years. METHODS: Weighted prevalence estimates for knee symptoms, radiographic knee OA, symptomatic knee OA, and severe radiographic knee OA were calculated for age, ethnic, and sex subgroups, in 3018 participants (33% African Americans, 38% men) in the baseline examination (1991-97) of The Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project, a population-based study of OA in North Carolina. Radiographic knee OA was defined as Kellgren-Lawrence radiographic grade > or = 2, severe radiographic knee OA as grades 3 and 4, and symptomatic knee OA as knee symptoms in a knee with radiographic OA. RESULTS: Knee symptoms were present in 43%, 28% had radiographic knee OA, 16% had symptomatic knee OA, and 8% had severe radiographic knee OA. Prevalence was higher in older individuals and women. African Americans had slightly higher prevalence of knee symptoms, radiographic knee OA, and symptomatic knee OA, but significantly higher prevalence of severe radiographic knee OA compared to Caucasians. CONCLUSION: Policy should be directed to increasing education of the public and the medical community about the high prevalence of these conditions, especially in these subgroups, to decrease their impact and ultimately prevent them.

Epidemiology of Nosocomial Fungal Infections, with Emphasis on Candida Species

Abstract: Currently, about 180 hospitals participate in the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) system. From January 1980 through April 1990, 27,200 fungal isolates causing nosocomial infections were reported from these hospitals; Candida species accounted for 19,621 (72.1%) of these isolates. Immunocompromised patients are at particularly high risk for candidemia. In patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia, treatment with vancomycin and/or imipenem appears to be an independent risk factor for candidemia; colonization of stool by Candida species may be another important predisposing factor in these patients. Rapid detection of invasive candidemia in these high-risk patients is particularly important to the improvement of rates of survival. Methods for rapid detection, such as the measurement of mannan (the major cell-wall polysaccharide of Candida), may be useful for diagnosing invasive candidiasis and for monitoring the response of this infection to antifungal therapy. Further studies of risk factors and the development of new methods for rapid diagnosis and monitoring should help decrease the morbidity and mortality associated with nosocomial fungal infections.