Grand Rounds - Archives

2012

August High-Impact HIV Prevention

This session of Grand Rounds explored High-Impact HIV Prevention in the United States.
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July Global Tobacco Control: A Prevention "Best Buy"

This session of Grand Rounds explored the control of tobacco use—the leading preventable cause of premature death and disease worldwide. 
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June Breaking the Silence – Public Health's Role in Intimate Partner Violence Prevention

This session of Grand Rounds explored Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), a serious, preventable public health problem that affects millions of Americans. The term "intimate partner violence" describes physical, sexual, or psychological harm caused by a current or former partner or spouse. IPV can vary in frequency and severity. It occurs on a continuum, ranging from one episode to chronic, severe battering.
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May The Growing Threat of Multidrug-Resistant Gonorrhea

This session of Grand Rounds will explore the development of antibiotic resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae as a growing public health concern because the United States gonorrhea control strategy relies on effective antibiotic therapy. Since antibiotics were first used for treatment of gonorrhea, N. gonorrhoeae has progressively developed resistance to the antibiotic drugs prescribed to treat it: sulfonilamides, penicillin, tetracycline, and ciprofloxacin.
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March Preventing Excessive Alcohol Use: What Public Health Can Do

Excessive alcohol use, including underage drinking and binge drinking, is responsible for 80,000 deaths and 2.3 million years of potential life lost in the U.S. each year. This powerful session of Public Health Grand Rounds explored the public health impact of excessive alcohol use and evidence-based strategies to prevent it, with specific attention to the role that state and local public health agencies play in addressing this important public health problem.
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February Preventing 1 Million Heart Attacks and Strokes by 2017: the Million Hearts Initiative

Heart disease and stroke are, respectively, the first and fourth leading causes of death in the United States. Cardiovascular disease alone is responsible for 1 of every 3 deaths in the U.S. and costs the nation $444 billion per year in health care expenses and lost economic productivity. To reduce this burden, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), CDC, CMS, and a broad range of public and private-sector partners have launched the Million Hearts™ initiative to enhance cardiovascular disease prevention activities with proven, effective, and inexpensive clinical and community interventions.
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January “The Science Base for Prevention of Injury and Violence”

Worldwide, 5.8 million people die each year from injuries. More than 180,000 fatal injuries occur in the U.S. alone. Motor vehicle crashes, falls, homicides, suicides, domestic violence, child maltreatment, and prescription drug overdoses are just some of the tragedies we hear about every day that affect us all, regardless of sex, race, or economic status.
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2011

September “Reducing Severe Traumatic Brain Injury in the U.S.”

Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is a serious public health problem that affects approximately 1.7 million Americans every year. Of all injury deaths in our country, one in three cases are TBI–related, and an estimated 5.3 million Americans are living with a TBI–related disability.
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August “Newborn Screening: Improving Outcomes”

In the last five decades, newborn screening has become a well–defined, nationwide prevention program. Each year, more than 4 million newborns in the United States are screened for hearing loss and certain genetic, endocrine, and metabolic disorders.
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July “Electronic Health Records: What’s in it for Everyone?”

Electronic health records (EHRs) allow for the systematic collection and management of patient health information in a form that can be shared across multiple health care settings. By providing easier access to patients’ medical records, EHRs can help improve healthcare quality, efficiency and safety. (Read more)

June “Child Maltreatment: Creating a Healthier Future Through Prevention”

Beyond the inherent moral implications, child abuse is a crime, a tragedy, and a significant public health burden. In the United States, approximately 1 in 5 children have experienced some form of maltreatment, including physical and sexual abuse and the often overlooked danger of neglect. (Read more)

May “Lyme Disease: Challenges and Innovations”

Lyme disease is one of the most rapidly emerging infectious diseases in North America and Europe. In 2009, nearly 30,000 confirmed and more than 8,500 probable cases of Lyme disease were reported to the CDC in the United States alone. (Read more)

April “Sodium Reduction: Time for Choice”

The vast majority of US adults consume more than double the recommended maximum of sodium, which is a direct cause of hypertension, a condition that affects nearly 1 in 3 Americans. (Read more)

March “TB & HIV: A Deadly Duo”

As we commemorate Dr. Robert Koch’s 1882 discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes TB, we are reminded of the many advances over the past 129 years in TB control. (Read more)

February “Prescription Drug Overdoses: An American Epidemic”

The United States is in the grip of an epidemic of prescription drug overdoses. Over 27,000 people died from overdoses in 2007, a number that has risen five-fold since 1990 and has never been higher. Prescription drugs are now involved in more overdose deaths than heroin and cocaine combined. (Read more)

January “Rabies Elimination in the 21st Century? ”

Rabies, a viral zoonotic disease, can be spread to humans through bites or scratches from infected wild or domestic animals. Without prompt and proper wound cleansing and immunization, rabies can lead to death in humans — more than 55,000 people worldwide die from this disease every year. Fortunately, rabies is a vaccine-preventable disease. The most cost-effective strategy for preventing rabies in people is by eliminating rabies in dogs through vaccination. However, recent increases in human rabies deaths in parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America suggest that rabies is re-emerging as a serious public health issue. (Read more)

2010

December “Targeted Paths to HIV Prevention ”

On June 5, 1981, the MMWR became the first scientific publication to report cases of a mysterious disease that came to be known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). During the next 30 years, this pandemic claimed as many as 25 million lives. (Read more)

November “Malaria Eradication: Back to the Future”

Approximately half of the world′s population is at risk of malaria. In 2008, malaria caused an estimated 243 million cases of malaria and 863,000 deaths. Although cases occur across the globe, 85% of the world′s malaria deaths occur in Africa, where the disease accounts for up to 40% of public health expenditures. (Read more)

September “Why H1N1 Still Matters”

Sixteen months after reports of a potentially fatal new influenza virus took the world and media by storm, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an end to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic on August 10, 2010. Although the Phase 6 alert has been lifted and H1N1 is no longer the dominant influenza virus it once was, evidence from prior pandemics suggests that the virus will come to model the behavior of seasonal influenza and continue to circulate for years to come. (Read more)

August “The Importance of Monitoring Vitamin D Status in the U.S.”

Vitamin D has become one of the most controversial nutrition issues of the day. While the vitamin’s role in preventing bone diseases such as osteoporosis is well documented, recent studies suggest that increased intake of vitamin D may also reduce the risk of various cancers, diabetes, and heart disease – a possibility that has many heralding it as a “miracle vitamin”. However, not only are these studies being called into question for their failure to show a direct cause and effect, but there is also evidence that excess intake of vitamin D can be toxic. (Read more)

July “Strategies for Improving Global Child Survival”

With an estimated 8.8 million deaths of children under 5 years of age each year, the challenges of achieving health among the world’s children are rooted in myriad economic, cultural and geographic barriers - 51% of all child deaths occur in Africa and 42% in Asia, while only 7% occur in the rest of the world. .(Read more)

June “The Childhood Obesity Epidemic: Threats and Opportunities”

According to the 2007-2008 NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey), obesity now affects 17% of all children and adolescents in the United States - triple the rate from just one generation ago. America’s obese children are at an alarmingly heightened risk for elevated blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, and becoming obese adults. The financial cost of childhood obesity tips the scales at 3 billion dollars annually.(Read more)

May “Chlamydia Prevention: Challenges and Strategies for Reducing Disease Burden”

With over 1.2 million cases reported annually, Chlamydia trachomatis infection (chlamydia) is the most commonly reported notifiable disease in the U.S. Chlamydia, a sexually transmitted infection, can lead to a host of serious reproductive health problems in women, including infertility and pelvic inflammatory disease. The burden of infection is highest among adolescents and there are also substantial racial disparities, with non-Hispanic blacks disproportionately affected.

Chlamydia is easily detected and treated, but recommended annual screening remains underutilized. Lack of awareness, social stigma, barriers to finding and treating sex partners of infected women, and difficulties in measuring public health impact all present challenges and opportunities for chlamydia prevention programs. (Read more)

April “Preventing Adverse Health Effects from Nanotechnology”

Nanotechnology is the science of developing materials at the atomic, molecular or micro-molecular level. From smartphones to skincare, there are currently over 1,000 commercial products containing nanomaterials, with applications as far ranging as the fields of medicine, engineering, electronics and energy production.

This session of Public Health Grand Rounds focused on the current state of knowledge in nanotechnology and discussed concerns about the harmful impact that exposure to some nanomaterials may have on humans and the environment. (Read more)

March “Radiological and Nuclear Disaster Preparedness”

Are we, as a nation, prepared for a radiological or nuclear attack?

With concern over continued terrorist threats at home and abroad, “dirty bombs”, and the nuclear armament of rogue states, this question is just as relevant today as it was on September 1l. Due to limited resources, emergency management officials from many U.S. cities and states rely on the federal government to intercede in the event of such a catastrophe. However, the federal government is also limited in the support it can provide to states, not to mention that federal radiation programs are often not well integrated with state public health offices. To minimize these gaps, the federal government must enhance collaboration with state public health offices and ensure that the integration of these radiologic preparedness programs with other preparedness activities is effective. (Read more)

February “Folic Acid in the Prevention of Birth Defects”

Every year, approximately 300,000 children around the world are born with neural tube defects (NTD), a failure of closure of the neural tube either in the cranial region or along the spine that result in anencephaly and spina bifida respectively.  Infants born with anencephaly usually die within a few days of birth, and those with spina bifida typically live with various life-long disabilities and often experience mobility limitations. (Read more)

January “Polio Eradication in India”

The polio crisis of the early 20^th century has been largely forgotten in the U.S. due to the creation of the Salk vaccine and the effective immunization campaigns of the 1950s. Unfortunately, the wild poliovirus (WPV) still remains a real public health threat in many corners of the world. (Read more)

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2009

December “Foodborne Diseases: Better Prevention with Better Public Health Information”

On Thursday, December 17, CDC's National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric Diseases (NCZVED) presented the fourth Public Grand Rounds session entitled "Foodborne Diseases: Better Prevention with Better Public Health Information." (Read more)

November “The Public Health Impact of Tobacco Product and Advertising Regulation”

On Wednesday, November 18, CDC's Office of Smoking and Health presented the third session of Public Health Grand Rounds entitled “The Public Health Impact of Tobacco Product and Advertising Regulation." (Read more)

October “Eliminating HAIs: A Primer”

On Thursday, October 15, Dr. Frieden introduced the second session of the Public Health Grand Rounds entitled “Eliminating HAIs: A Primer”, a presentation on healthcare-associated infections presented by Chesley Richards, MD, Deputy Director DHQP. (Read more)

September “Getting to Zero Traffic-related Deaths”

On Thursday, September 17, Dr. Frieden kicked off the first session of the Public Health Grand Rounds entitled “Getting to Zero Traffic-related Deaths”, a presentation on motor vehicle safety sponsored by the Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention (DUIP), National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC). (Read more)

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