The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gives unique advice on wedding preparedness; dangerous mosquito bites announced by public health department; and keeping a food journal might help keep the weight off, too. These stories and more topping public health headlines today, Friday, July 13, 2012.
TIME — CDC Publishes Wedding Day Survival Guide
The Centers for Disease Control want you to be prepared for anything: hurricane, tornado, ebola virus outbreak, zombie apocalypse, even a wedding gone wrong. “Being in the throes of wedding season, many of us here at CDC realized that planning for a wedding isn’t that much different from planning for a disaster,” reads a post on the CDC’s Public Health Matters blog. ”Just remember: Get a Kit, Make a Plan, and Be Informed.” The three-step process is a must for all potential brides and grooms in order to avoid or defuse any potential nuptial emergency. Though it seems fanciful, is offers useful information. For example, the CDC recommends preparing a “bridal kit” and a “go-bag” with items like safety pins, extra makeup, a first aid kit, water, snacks, sedatives (seriously), extra cash, and important documents.
Kaiser Health News — Hospitals finding patients on Google, Facebook
When the University of Pennsylvania Health System sought new patients for its lung transplant service last year, it turned to Facebook and Google. The results of the $20,000 advertising campaign on the websites exceeded administrators’ expectations. During a few weeks in August and September, more than 4,600 people clicked on the ads and 36 people made appointments for consultations. One of those is now on the hospital’s lung transplant waiting list, and several others are being evaluated, hospital officials say. While the response may seem small, each transplant brings in about $100,000 in revenue.
Southern California Public Radio — ‘Treatment as prevention’ rises as cry in HIV fight
AIDS researchers, policymakers and advocates are increasingly convinced that treating HIV is one of the best ways of preventing its spread. The rallying cry is “treatment as prevention,” and it’s the overarching theme of this month’s International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C. The idea is that identifying people infected with HIV and getting them in effective treatment as soon as possible not only prevents them from getting sick but almost eliminates the risk they’ll pass the virus on to others. Last summer a big study showed that people with HIV are 96 percent less likely to pass the virus on if they faithfully take antiviral medicine. Momentum behind treatment-as-prevention has grown since then.
Patch — Medfield put on alert after EEE found in Easton
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) [on Wednsday] announced that Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) has been detected in mosquitoes in Massachusetts for the first time this year in testing done at the State Laboratory Institute. The mosquito samples were collected on July 9 in the town of Easton in Bristol County. Two of the four positive mosquito samples are in a mammal-biting kind of mosquito, a point of particular concern to health officials. “Today is our first indication this year that EEE is circulating in our environment, and it’s circulating early,” said DPH State Epidemiologist Dr. Al DeMaria. “This is also an important reminder for individuals to take simple, common-sense steps to avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes,” he said.
WebMD — Food journal: Write it down, shed more pounds
If you want to lose weight, you need to eat less — and if you want to eat less, it helps to write it down. When researchers studied the eating behaviors of female dieters they found that two of the most important tools linked to successful weight loss were a pen and notebook. Women who kept food journals and consistently wrote down the foods they ate lost more weight than women who didn’t. Skipping meals and eating out frequently, especially at lunch, led to less weight loss.
ABC — New drugs aimed at ending Alzheimer’s decline
Jim Fisher, a Vietnam veteran, was trying to buy his youngest son his first car. But when he was asked for his Social Security number, he hesitated and said he couldn’t remember it. He couldn’t remember his birth date either. That was nearly two decades ago. Because of his age – Jim was 49 at the time – dementia wasn’t even considered as the cause. Doctors diagnosed him with depression, believing it stemmed from his combat history. But treatment didn’t work, and Jim continued to decline.
