The Perils Of Problematic Prescribing: A Double Dose Of Warnings

Two new reports from the CDC show the dangers of overprescribing narcotics and antibiotics. Is there a way for doctors and consumers to make better decisions?

Charles Ornstein
By Charles Ornstein

Twice this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has pointed to the harm caused by aberrant and inappropriate prescribing by physicians. First, the CDC reported Monday that doctors are a primary source of narcotic painkillers for chronic abusers at the highest risk of overdoses.  Physicians edged out even family, friends and drug

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Publishing Data On New Disease Strains Draws Concern Of Intelligence Analysts

The new strain produces a type of deadly botulinum toxin for which there is no antidote. For that reason, California scientists and public health officials decided to redact the bacteria’s sequence information to prevent it from falling into terrorist hands.

Kathleen Vogel
By Kathleen Vogel

ITHACA, New York — Recently, scientists in California discovered a new strain of Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium responsible for the disease botulism. This discovery made national headlines because the scientists purposefully withheld publishing the bacteria’s genetic sequence. The new strain produces a type of deadly botulinum toxin for

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CDC: 221 Sickened By Synthetic Pot In Colorado

Investigators found two new variants of synthetic marijuana in Colorado, where people reported agitation, confusion and high blood pressure from it’s use.

Associated Press
By Associated Press

DENVER (AP) — Synthetic marijuana is believed to have sickened 221 people in Colorado during a monthlong outbreak this year, according to a federal report released Thursday. The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is based on a joint investigation with state health officials launched after Colorado hospitals started seeing

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Is Humanity Entering The ‘Post-Antibiotic Era’?

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria threaten to send us back to the days when a simple infection could be deadly.

Frederick Reese
By Frederick Reese

For millions in the United States, the onset of “nightmare bacteria” has adversely changed their lives. With at least 2 million infected and at least 23,000 people dying every year due to antibiotic-resistant bacterial, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated in a new report that the difficult-to-treat bacteria "pose a

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Why Are Middle-Aged White Women Overdosing On Prescription Painkillers?

A new report has found that women in the U.S. are dying from overdoses of pain medication at an alarming rate.

Carissa Wyant
By Carissa Wyant

New information from the Centers for Disease Control has found that women in the U.S. are dying from overdoses of pain medication at an alarming rate. A sharp increase in the deaths of women from drugs such as OxyContin, Vicodin and methodone has been reported, according to findings released last week. “Mothers, wives, sisters and daughters are

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Politics Gets In The Way Of Effective HPV Vaccinations

The prevalence of HPV infections in teenaged girls has dropped 56 percent since the introduction of a vaccine in 2006.

Frederick Reese
By Frederick Reese
A public health nurse demonstrates drawing flu vaccine from a bottle at the Oklahoma City-County Health Department in Oklahoma City, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

The prevalence of human papillomavirus, or HPV, infections in teenaged girls between 14 and 19 years of age has dropped 56 percent since the introduction of a vaccine in 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday. Despite the controversy surrounding the vaccine, HPV vaccination has been found to be overwhelmingly

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