MMWR News Synopsis for September 1, 2016

Increased Gonorrhea Reporting — Utah, 2009–2014

CDC Media Relations
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Gonorrhea rates have significantly increased in the heterosexual population of Utah. Understanding the changing demographics of gonorrhea cases in Utah will help guide targeted gonorrhea testing, treatment, and public health interventions. Gonorrhea (caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae) is the second most commonly reported notifiable disease in the United States. Since 2011, the gonorrhea rate in Utah has increased substantially, with a much larger percentage increase among women than men (715 percent). The proportion of male patients self-reporting as males who have sex with males (MSM) has also decreased every year since 2009, indicating an expansion of heterosexual transmission of gonorrhea in Utah. This shift in the demographics of those infected with gonorrhea represents potential risk for transmission among previously unaffected sexual networks. Public health officials in Utah focus on promoting gonorrhea screening and ensuring all individuals who are diagnosed with gonorrhea receive appropriate treatment.
 

Grand Rounds: Preventing Suicide through a Comprehensive Public Health Approach

CDC Media Relations
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Suicide is a serious, but preventable, public health problem in the United States. There are many opportunities for prevention. We can work to reduce the number of people who consider suicide, the number who attempt suicide, and the number who die from suicide. Suicide is a significant public health problem in the United States, with over 42,000 suicides among persons over the age of 10 in 2014. The overall suicide rate has increased by 27 percent since 2000. Suicide is preventable by complementing mental health treatment with public health prevention strategies. A public health approach uses data to understand suicide; addresses the individual, family and community factors that contribute to suicide; reaches a broader segment of the population; and implements the best available prevention strategies. The risk for suicide can further be decreased by providing safe and appropriate communication to reduce stigma associated with seeking help from others and using supports, such as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-TALK).

Current Cigarette Smoking, Access to Cigarettes from Retail Outlets, and Quantity of Cigarettes Purchased Among Students Aged 13–15 Years — Global Youth Tobacco Survey, 45 Countries, 2013 and 2014

CDC Media Relations
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Limiting access to cigarettes among youths is an effective strategy to curb the tobacco epidemic by preventing smoking initiation and reducing the number of new smokers. The CDC used Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) data from 45 countries to examine the prevalence of current cigarette smoking, purchase of cigarettes from retail outlets, and type of cigarette purchases made among school students ages 13–15 years. The overall prevalence of cigarette smoking among this group ranged from 1.7 percent (Kazakhstan) to 28.9 percent (Timor-Leste). In most countries, more than half of youths reported access to cigarettes from a store, street vendor, or kiosk. In some countries assessed, over 2 in 5 youth cigarette smokers reported purchasing individual cigarettes. These findings could be used by countries to inform tobacco control strategies in the retail environment to reduce and prevent marketing and sales of tobacco products to youth.

Epidemiology of Varicella During the 2-Dose Varicella Vaccination Program — United States, 2005–2014

CDC Media Relations
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The routine two-dose varicella vaccination program further reduced varicella disease in the United States, particularly among school-aged children, the age group targeted for vaccination. The number of varicella cases has declined 85% since the two-dose vaccination program began in 2007. National varicella surveillance data from 2005–2006 (end of the one-dose program) through 2013–2014 documented the decline. Since the beginning of the one-dose program in 1996, the number of chickenpox cases has declined 97%. The largest declines in the number of cases are among age groups most likely to receive the second dose: children and adolescents aged 5–14 years. Almost 80% of states report case-based varicella data to CDC for use in national surveillance, but the completeness of reported data varies. Continued efforts to improve data reporting and completeness are necessary to more accurately describe varicella disease trends and epidemiology.
 

Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae Transmission in Health Care Facilities — Wisconsin, February–May 2015

CDC Media Relations
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Public health and other programs that include antibiotic stewardship and antimicrobial-resistance monitoring might benefit from data generated by molecular testing of multidrug-resistant organisms to enhance detection of transmission both inside and outside hospitals. Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) are multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacilli that can cause infections with high case fatality rates. CRE are emerging as epidemiologically important health care–associated pathogens in the United States. Comprehensive CRE surveillance detected a cluster of CRE infections among four hospital inpatients at two southeastern Wisconsin hospitals. At that time, staff at the two hospitals were not previously aware of the possibility of transmission of CRE among their patients. The use of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and whole genome sequencing to identify possible CRE transmission that can be subsequently investigated represents a novel approach to identifying clusters of infections caused by these uncommon and multidrug-resistant organisms.
 

Notes from the Field

• Cluster of Lymphogranuloma Venereum Cases Among Men Who Have Sex with Men — Michigan, August 2015–April 2016

QuickStats:

• Percentage of Physicians Who Have Electronic Access to Patient Health Information from Outside Their Medical Practice, by State — United States, 2015

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES