Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The CDC Discovered Poop in Public Swimming Pools

Everyone's worst public pool fears are true, and just in time for summer. On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study showing that 58 percent of public pool samples taken from around Atlanta yielded E. coli (not the bad kind), which live in the gut. The frequency of ... More >>

Salmonella Outbreak In Trader Joe's Peanut Butter

Trader Joe's is recalling their Valencia Creamy Salted Peanut Butter made with sea salt after a series of salmonella outbreaks linked to the product. Customers who have purchased the product can bring it into any Trader Joe's store for a full refund. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention re ... More >>

This Week in Disgusting Disease Outbreaks: Swine Flu

This news shouldn't put a damper on your weekend activities, unless you really had your heart set on going to an ag fair -- like all of these that take place in New York. The Centers for Disease Control has reported that there's been an outbreak of swine flu strain -- with 145 diagnosed cases sinc ... More >>

Are You Going To Die From Whooping Cough?

If you have been following the news, you are probably aware of the whooping cough outbreak, and probably wonder why there is an outbreak in the first place, considering there's been a vaccine for the disease for some 70 years. But you are probably also wondering: WTF is whooping cough and is it go ... More >>

Oops! 37 Percent of U.S. Births Unintended

In 1982, 37 percent of U.S. births were unintended, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And guess what? In 2010, 37 percent of U.S. births, the latest year for CDC stats, were ALSO unintended. Meaning: Public health authorities have kindasortaTOTALLY failed at preventing ... More >>

As Whooping Cough Spreads, Schumer Demands Free Vaccinations

WebMD describes whooping cough as a "disease that causes very severe coughing that may last for months." It is a respiratory infection that can spread rapidly if untreated. And, in recent weeks, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that cases have been popping up across the co ... More >>

Zombie Apocalypse: Upstate Woman Tries To Eat Cop; Bath Salts NOT Suspected (Just Kidding)

It's official: snorting bath salts makes you want to eat people.Full disclosure: we've never done it. But there's a reason -- snorting bath salts apparently makes you want to fucking eat people!The latest bath salt-inspired cannibal is a fellow New Yorker from Utica, who -- after attempting to eat a ... More >>

Pregnant? Then Get an STD Test, for God's Sake

A lot of pregnant women don't get tested for sexually transmitted diseases. But a lot of pregnant need to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases, according to just released Centers for Disease Control stats. Out of some 1.3 million American women who had blood work during pregnancy, only 59 p ... More >>

Happy April! Time To Pay Attention To Your Genital Warts Again!

​It's April, which means one thing: it's time to sit back, take in the spring air, and become even more aware of whatever may be itching you down there.The Centers for Disease Control officially has declared April "Sexually Transmitted Disease Awareness Month," so if a short and curly hasn't poppe ... More >>

Should You Worry About New York's Rising Autism Rate?

Today is World Autism Awareness Day, which happens to come shortly the Centers for Disease Control announced that 1/88 children nationwide has an autism spectrum disorder -- a 23 percent increase since the last report was released in 2009. Long term, this represents a 78 percent increase from data g ... More >>

Raw Milk Products Accused of Causing Disease Outbreaks

​ The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently published a study with stats that might give raw-milk supporters pause. The CDC report states that the rate of disease outbreaks caused by raw milk and products related to it is 150 times greater than outbreaks linked to pasteurized milk.

Bread Trumps Chips as the Biggest Source of Salt in Our Diet

​Where does most of the salt in our diet come from? Not from potato chips, pretzels, popcorn, or pizza, according to a government report released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

New York City Rat Bites: Be Afraid

​One hundred New Yorkers are bitten by rats every year. Clearly, that's 100 too many. But mercifully, rat bites are down this year -- only 29 people have reported being attacked by rats so far in 2011. Have the rats become complacent, or have humans simply developed better defenses? The only t ... More >>

If You Eat a Lot of Salt, You May Want to Eat a Lot of Bananas

​Salt. Poor salt. Although studies have shown that it may or may not actually raise the risk of heart disease, it still gets a bad rap among nutritionists and politicians alike. But while that's unlikely to change anytime soon, there is a bit of good news for fans of the beleaguered seasoning. ... More >>

Generation HIV: Young Gay Men At Risk

There's one group that is seeing HIV rates accelerating: twentysomething gay men

Why America's E. Coli Response Makes Germany's Look Like Scheiße

​Each week, Death by Science gets on its hands and knees and crawls around, searching the dark world of science and technology. Often terrifying, sometimes humbling, our discoveries will make you call your best bud and go, "Wha--?" This week, we examine why Germany's E. Coli outbreak has been ... More >>

Virginity Is Hot, Lesbianism Is Hotter, and Some Adults Will Never Have Sex

​Teens are either having less sex, or lying about it more. According to a somewhat surprising new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, the percentage of 15 to 24-year-old men who "had never had any form of sexual contact with anoth ... More >>

Peter Vallone, Fluoride-Hating Councilman, Wants Your Teeth to Rot

​A city councilman from Queens apparently wants your your teeth to rot and fall out. The Daily News says Councilman Peter Vallone is planning to introduce a bill that would end New York's 45-year practice of adding fluoride to its tap water, citing safety concerns and comparing the miner ... More >>

Whooping Cough, There It Is: 2010's Big Epidemic.

​While "Whooping Cough" sounds like something you catch on The Oregon Trail right before your oxen die of dysentery from trying to cross the river, it's actually a deadly cold that's currently killing babies in California right now at a rate not seen since 1955. Why's this happening, and how d ... More >>

Ask the Critics: What's the Worst Case of Food Poisoning You've Ever Had?

Guess who's coming to dinner?​When you tell people you're a food writer, the subject of food poisoning almost invariably rears its head (or flagellum). I'm often asked about the worst case of food poisoning I've ever had, or told--in gory detail--about the state of others' gastrointestinal tra ... More >>

Today in Insects: The Return of West Nile

​ It's an itchy week in New York. First bedbugs, now this: poison mosquitoes. City Room is reporting today that West Nile virus, which you'd probably forgotten about, is back in action. It's been found in Old Town on Staten Island, East Williamsburg/Bushwick (run, hipsters!), and South Jamai ... More >>

Danny Glover Gets Arrested Protesting Food Corp.; Ed Burns' Favorite Places to Eat in NYC

​Stop & Shop has voluntarily recalled its frozen artichoke and spinach dips due to potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, which can cause a serious and even fatal infection in babies, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems. [BusinessWeek] Danny Glover was arrested ... More >>

Go East, Young Mexican

There's something about a hemispheric love connection

Last weekend for free flu shots

Centers for Disease Control Weekly Influenza Activity Estimate​With demand at far below capacity and an increased supply of vaccine on hand, the Department of Health is offering free H1N1 flu shots this weekend for all New Yorkers over the age of 4. Last weekend's 7,000 vaccinations, which ... More >>

Swine Flu EMERGENCY PANIC Declared by Paterson

​Though the CDC has stopped collecting swine-flu-specific info from states, Governor Paterson has apparently seen enough, including 75 s-f deaths since this whole PANIC kicked off, and has declared a swine flu emergency. What does that mean? The state will start allowing less-qualified medica ... More >>

Swine Flu Vaccine PANIC: Do We Have Enough, and Will It Kill Us?

Swine flu vaccines will be in New York schools next week -- unless they run out: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius admits there's not enough to go around at present. "Demand is ahead of the yield," she says; Senator Joe Lieberman says there are 30 million doses available, as oppo ... More >>

CDC Says 10% of New York Caught Swine Flu; So Where's the PANIC?

We understand there is a difference between "counter-intuitive" and "bullshit," but we're not sure which applies to the Centers for Disease Control's claim that 800,000 New Yorkers caught swine flu this year. That's one-tenth of the city's population. We realize that many of the cases have been in ... More >>

WHO Declares Level 6 Swine Flu PANICdemic; Fist Bumps Suggested

We seem to be experiencing a swine-flu comeback. After the assurances of the mayor and health commissioner that "underlying conditions" were behind the few deaths we'd seen in the city, things were pretty quiet for a while. Then we heard about an eighth death ("the first of a person older than 65") ... More >>

Dead Toddler Appears Free of Swine Flu, But PANIC Persists

New York officials are saying that the 18-month-old whose death triggered a new round of swine flu PANIC, Jonathan Zamora of Queens, did not have swine flu, at least as determined by analysis of nasal swabs. To be extra sure they are sending tissue samples to the CDC. amNY reports that this announc ... More >>

New York's Top Health Official to Head CDC

New York's Commissioner of Health, it will be announced today, is about to become head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Dr. Thomas Frieden will replace the acting head of the Centers, Dr. Richard E. Besser. We mainly know Frieden for his health education campaigns, such as those concerning H ... More >>

First Native U.S. Citizen Swine Flu Death; Pig, Handshakes Affected

We've been hoping to put this swine flu thing to rest, but events prevent it. The first native-born U.S. citizen has died from a suspected case -- not an immigrant like the little boy who was our first stateside death, but a 33-year-old teacher in Texas. She has been identified as Judy Trunnel (pic ... More >>

Swine Flu PANIC Lessens Despite Level 5 Upgrade and Joe Biden

The World Health Organization upgraded the worldwide swine flu panic to Level 5, but out our way people are still walking around as if nothing much were happening, though another local school, Bishop Kearney in Bensonhurst, has been closed. Twitterers are getting sick, not from swine flu but of it: ... More >>

Swine Flu PANIC Update: 2 Brooklyn Schools Close

Two more schools are closing due to SSF (suspected swine flu), this time in Brooklyn: St. Brigid's in Bushwick and Good Shepherd in Marine Park. The CDC number of confirmed U.S. cases holds steady at 64 at its website, but the CDC's acting director has told a news conference that it's now actually 9 ... More >>

Swine Flu in Queens, Elsewhere in U.S.; Mexico Death Toll Over 100

A sickness that people get from having direct contact with pigs has now spread to kids in New York. Yesterday the Centers for Disease Control confirmed that eight children at a Queens prep school have contracted swine flu, a strain of flu common in pigs and extremely rare in humans. Only twelve tota ... More >>

New York Swine Flu Cases Up to 28; More Mexican Deaths

The CDC now has New York's new swine flu cases at 28. The Mayor confirms the news. The U.S. total is now 40. The outbreak is said to be affecting the stock market. The Times is taking reader questions about the virus, to be answered later by their health reporter Pam Belluck. Michigan may be added ... More >>

CDC Warns Against Toxic Satellite Fuel

'Superbug' Hits NYU

The Slut Shot

Will the HPV vaccine encourage sexual freedom or right-wing lunatics?

Transit Talks: Death Un-Benefit

Down With the Flu

Bush takes a shot at answering the big question about vaccine

No Sex, Please. We're Eating

Feds say teens are screwing less but gaining more weight. Is there a link?

Blind on Blind

NY Times Editors 'Inadvertently' Fail to Mention They're Promoting a TV Show the Company Produced

Bio-Whatchamacallit

Tom Ridge's 'Crazy' Plan to Watch the Sky for Spores

Round Up the Unusual Suspects

A New Health-Emergency Law Raises Concerns for the Immune Compromised

Kling Free

Viral Sponge Terror a Hoax

The Great Down-Low Debate

A New Black Sexual Identity May Be an Incubator for AIDS

Apathy, Lack of Funds Imperil AIDS Prevention

Top American AIDS Official Calls Rate of New Infections 'Unacceptably High'

Emergency Call

How AIDS Is Hurting Black Communities

STD Explosion

The CDC Worries About a New Surge of AIDS Among Gay Men

Unnatural Disasters

How Humans Are Behind the Weather Weirdness