Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)

This report further confirms that tetrahydrocannabinol cartridges containing vitamin E acetate are strongly linked to e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injuries in Wisconsin.

The findings of this report reveal detrimental changes to perceived school safety and absenteeism and an increase in school connectedness among students immediately following a shooting in a nearby school.

Macaques in public settings, such as parks, often carry herpes B virus, and persons visiting areas with free-ranging macaques should avoid close contact with these animals.

Brain Injury Awareness Month, recognized each March, provides an important opportunity to bring attention to the prevention of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to promote strategies to improve the quality of life for persons living with TBI and their families.

The three most common methods of suicide among males and females during 2000-2018 were by firearm, suffocation, and poisoning. Throughout the period 2000-2018, suicide rates by all methods were higher among males than among females, with the greatest difference in the rates for suicide by firearm.

Rapid identification of a suspected case of pneumonic plague in the remote West Nile region of Uganda and the timely response by well-trained Ugandan health officials in the form of contact tracing, antibiotic prophylaxis, and community education prevented any additional cases of plague from occurring.

Nationally, there was a 17% increase in age-adjusted rate of traumatic brain injury-related deaths due to falls, highlighting the importance of preventing falls, especially among older adults.

Fourteen cases have been diagnosed in the United States, in addition to 39 cases among repatriated persons from high-risk settings, for a current total of 53 cases within the United States. U.S. government agencies and public health partners are implementing aggressive measures to slow and try to contain transmission of COVID-19 in the United States.

When taken daily, preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) reduces the risk of acquiring human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). PrEP is an important tool for preventing HIV among persons at substantial risk for HIV infection, including female sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender women, and persons who inject drugs.

In 2018, the Connecticut Department of Public Health was able to use syndromic surveillance to rapidly understand the magnitude of an outbreak of synthetic cannabinoid overdoses and provide timely information to state and local health departments.

This report describes that the percentage of children aged 0-17 years who received a well-child checkup increased from 75.8% in 2008 to 86.5% in 2018.

The case described in this report highlights the potential for people at risk for Legionnaires' disease to be exposed to Legionella through home water systems containing the bacteria and demonstrates the difficulty of removing the bacteria from residential settings.

Many adults who meet the criteria to be screened for lung cancer do not report recommended screening. Efforts to educate health care providers and patients might increase appropriate lung cancer screening.

CDC preliminary vaccine effectiveness estimates show 2019-20 influenza vaccines providing substantial protective benefit, particularly among children, who have been hard hit by influenza this season. Influenza vaccines are reducing the risk for having to go to the doctor with influenza illness by 45% overall and by 55% in children.

A comprehensive strategy combining comprehensive smoke-free laws and pricing strategies, as well as strategies such as raising the minimum legal sales age for tobacco products to 21 years, can help prevent and reduce youth tobacco product use.

The Million Hearts Hypertension Control Champions, a national recognition program, demonstrates that achieving high hypertension control rates is possible across a range of health care settings and among patient populations at high risk for having uncontrolled hypertension.

Informal, unpaid caregivers provide important support to family members, friends, and the health care system and might compromise their own health to provide this support.

In 2017, a person's blood donation in Missouri screened positive for antibodies to Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease. Based on the epidemiologic, clinical, and laboratory data, the reported case likely represents the first documented autochthonous case of Chagas disease in Missouri.

In 2018, among adults aged ≥25 years, women (69.4%) were more likely than men (61.2%) to have seen a dentist in the past year. The percentage of men and women who saw a dentist in the past year increased as education level increased.

Health care providers should remain vigilant about possible 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) exposures not only among returning travelers from China, but also among those in close contact with persons with 2019-nCoV in the United States.

During 2010-2017, a total of 5,387 dengue cases were reported from U.S. states and the District of Columbia; 93% were travel-associated.

State Medicaid programs that cover all evidence-based cessation treatments, remove barriers to accessing these treatments, and promote covered treatments to Medicaid enrollees and health care providers could reduce smoking, smoking-related disease, and smoking-attributable federal and state health care expenditures.

In December of 2018, Wyoming identified the state's first case of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) containing mcr-1, which is a gene that can make bacteria resistant to colistin, a drug that can be the last resort for some multidrug-resistant infections like CRE.

From 2010-2013 to 2014-2017, the percentage of emergency department visits for acute viral upper respiratory tract infection that had an antimicrobial given or prescribed decreased from 23.4% to 17.6%.

The number of new cases of type 1 and type 2 diabetes in U.S. children and adolescents increased at constant rates from 2002 through 2015, and the rates of increase were generally higher in racial/ethnic minority populations than in whites.

New guidelines from CDC and the National Tuberculosis Controllers Association for the treatment of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) recommend shorter regimens (three to four months) over longer regimens (six to nine months) for most patients living in the United States.

Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report

CDC, multiple other federal agencies, state and local health departments, and other partners are implementing aggressive measures to slow transmission of 2019-nCoV in the United States, be ready if widespread transmission occurs, and work on medical countermeasures.

The adult immunization schedule is updated every year and provides a guide for health care providers to make sure adults ages 19 years or older get all the vaccines they need when they need them.

A new combination vaccine to prevent diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, Haemphilus influenzae type b disease, and hepatitis B has been licensed, but won't be available before 2021.

The child and adolescent immunization schedule is updated every year and provides a guide for health care providers to make sure children and adolescents from birth through age 18 years get all the vaccines they need when they need them.

Deaths involving fentanyl analogs, such as carfentanil, have increased the severity of the opioid overdose epidemic in Florida.

Human rabies is preventable by early recognition of potential exposures and receipt of postexposure prophylaxis. Bats are the main source of rabies in the United States.

Although the percentage of Hispanic adults aged 18-64 years who had a usual place to go for medical care was higher in 2018 (74.1%) than in 2008 (67.3%), Hispanic adults remained the least likely to have a usual place to go for medical care.

An accidental residential-area release of anhydrous ammonia gas, used as an agricultural fertilizer, resulted in multiple emergency department evaluations and further hospitalizations, including some for cases of respiratory failure.

The recent discovery of Lyme-infected ticks at the location of an outdoor wilderness program in North Carolina highlights the importance of vectorborne disease prevention.

Erratum: Vol 68, No 49

The first report by CDC to use syndromic surveillance data to monitor trends in suicidal thoughts and self-harm behaviors revealed that emergency department visits for suicidal thoughts or self-harm increased 25.5% from January 2017 to December 2018.

Erratum: Vol 68, No 45

This report describes the percentage of persons who had a stomach or intestinal illness that started in the past two weeks, by sex and age group, according to a 2018 National Health Interview Survey.

Locally tailored evidence-based human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention programs, especially those for blacks and African Americans in jurisdictions targeted by the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative, are critical for reducing HIV-related disparities and achieving the goals of EHE.

Trends in opioid prescribing in 11 states during 2010-2016 indicate improvements in both physician prescribing practices. These encouraging trends may have resulted from federal and state policies instituted in these states.

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is observed each year on February 7 to highlight the continuing disproportionate impact of human immuno¬deficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome (AIDS) on the U.S. black or African American population.

Vitamin E acetate, which has been detected in tetrahydrocannabinol -containing e-cigarette, or vaping, products, is strongly linked to the e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury outbreak; however, evidence is not sufficient to rule out the contribution of other chemicals of concern, including chemicals in either THC- or non-THC-containing products, in some reported EVALI cases.

CDC updates demographic characteristics, self-reported substance use, and hospitalization dates for e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury patients reported to CDC, as well as the distribution of emergency department visits related to e-cigarette, or vaping, products.

Pregnant women need to receive vaccines during pregnancy to keep themselves and their infants safe. Barriers to receiving vaccines, such as lack of insurance coverage, need to be removed so mothers and infants can be protected.

This report says diagnoses of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-2 remain low in the United States, and the current HIV testing approach could be updated to streamline efficiencies.

New Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations allow more flexibility for use of either tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid, and acellular pertussis (Tdap) or tetanus and diphtheria toxoids (Td) vaccines in three scenarios where only Td had been previously recommended, most notably for tetanus booster doses recommended every 10 years for all adults.

This report describes that birth defects potentially related to Zika virus infection during pregnancy increased fourfold in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, areas with widespread local transmission of Zika virus during the study period.

This report describes infant mortality rates for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties by race and Hispanic origin.