CDC Works for You 24/7 Blog Archive

CDC’s Outbreak Summer Blockbuster

There are times when many outbreaks hit all at once. CDC disease detectives are working in communities and responding to outbreaks of hantavirus in California; a bad West Nile Virus season; Salmonella food contamination in cantaloupes and now mangoes; Legionnaires’ disease in Chicago; H3N2 virus in pigs; and plague in Colorado. 

Dr. Cara Burns and Her Work to Help Eradicate Polio

Dr. Cara Burns has served as Team Lead of the Polio Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory, Polio and Picornavirus Laboratory Branch, Division of Viral Diseases, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease at CDC since 2007.

Meet Dr. Arnold Castro – Outstanding Laboratorian, February 2012

Dr. Arnold received this honor from the Laboratory Science, Policy and Practice Program Office (LSPPPO) in the Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services (OSELS) at CDC.

 

 

How CDC is Working to Fight Malaria

Meet Dr. S. Patrick Kachur, who oversees CDC’s Malaria Branch. Not only is the Malaria Branch the oldest program at CDC but with more than 60 staff, it’s the largest group of malaria scientists in North America. We recently talked to Dr. Kachur about his work.

 

 

Can Polio Be Eradicated For Good?

Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal disease that is completely preventable through vaccination. In fact, polio was eradicated in the Americas by 1994 through large scale vaccination efforts.

 

Meet Benjamin Silk, CDC Disease Detective

Dr. Benjamin Silk is a lieutenant commander with the U.S. Public Health Service and an expert on tracking the bacteria listeria that can cause foodborne sickness and death.

 

 

 

Real Life Disease Detectives - Dr. Ben Silk

Dr. Benjamin (Ben) Silk has 16 years of experience in public health surveillance, field epidemiology, and applied research related to infectious disease prevention and control.

 

 

 

Real Life Disease Detectives - Dr. Carolyn Bridges

Dr. Carolyn Bridges describes her work at CDC.  Dr. Bridges joined the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1996 where she was assigned to work on influenza.

 

 

 

Real Life Disease Detectives - Dr. Fatimah Dawood

 Dr. Fatimah Dawood describes her work at CDC.  Dr. Dawood is a medical epidemiologist with the Influenza Division at CDC. She came to CDC in 2008 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer assigned to CDC’s Influenza Division where she worked on analyses of the burden of influenza among children in the United States, risk indicators for influenza-associated pneumonia in children, and the epidemiology of the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic in the United States and Australia.

 

Real Life Disease Detectives - Dr. Dan Jernigan

Dr. Dan Jernigan is a senior medical officer in the CDC Influenza (Flu) Division.  He serves as a principle investigator for flu research.  Additionally, he has led disease investigation teams for national and international responses including bioterrorism-related anthrax, the emergence of West Nile virus, SARS, the 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza.

 

Real Life Disease Detectives - Dr. Jennifer McQuiston

Watch Dr. Jennifer McQuiston as she describes her work at CDC. CDC helps to protect people all over the world from new outbreaks of viruses, foodborne diseases, and environmental hazards.

 

Can Fear be a Contagion? Can Mass Fear Lead to Public Panic?

No one is immune to fear, but what causes fear can be different for each person. Fear is a negative sensation or feeling that arises when someone becomes aware of a threat.  How much fear a person feels depends on whether the threat seems directed at them personally or not, how bad the threat seems, and how soon or likely it is.