MMWR News Synopsis

Global Epidemiology of Tuberculosis and Progress Toward Meeting Global Targets — Worldwide, 2018

CDC Media Relations
404-639-3286

Worldwide, tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death from a single infectious disease and is especially deadly for people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. While recent trends point to modest progress towards global TB targets, more focus and commitment is needed to find, cure, and prevent TB. A recent CDC evaluation of global progress towards achieving the objectives of the World Health Organization’s End Tuberculosis Strategy reveals modest decreases in the number of people with TB and the number of TB-related deaths. In 2018, an estimated 10 million people had new or relapsing cases of TB, and 1.5 million TB-related deaths occurred, representing 2% and 5% declines from 2017, respectively. There was substantial progress in TB preventive treatment initiation among people with HIV, with numbers almost doubling from 2017 to 2018. Further efforts are needed by public health partners to decrease TB incidence and deaths and to increase the numbers of people receiving TB curative and preventive treatment in order to meet the global targets for 2035 and end the public health burden of TB.

Tuberculosis — United States, 2019

CDC Media Relations
404-639-3286

Progress towards eliminating tuberculosis (TB) in the United States has slowed, underscoring the need to ramp up TB prevention efforts. Provisional 2019 data from CDC’s national TB surveillance system show the lowest number of TB cases in the United States on record, but the pace of decline has slowed in recent years. TB cases declined 1.1% between 2018 and 2019 (from 9,021 to 8,920 cases), while TB rates declined 1.6% (from 2.8 to 2.7 cases/100,000 people). TB elimination requires maintaining and strengthening current TB control priorities while expanding targeted testing and treatment for high-risk people with longstanding, untreated latent TB infection. CDC is working with public health partners and primary care providers to encourage testing and treatment for latent TB infection as a routine and integral part of healthcare for at-risk patients.

Drug and Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths – United States, 2017–2018

CDC Media Relations
404-639-3286

From 2017 to 2018, U.S. overdose death rates involving all opioids, prescription opioids, and heroin decreased 2%, 13.5%, and 4.1%, respectively. However, deaths involving synthetic opioids (excluding methadone) increased by 10%. CDC reports that in 2018, there were 46,802 opioid-involved overdose deaths in the United States. While the opioid-involved overdose death rate decreased 2.0% from 2017 to 2018, 69.5% of all drug overdose deaths still involved an opioid. Overdose death rates involving prescription opioids decreased by 13.5%, and overdose death rates involving heroin decreased by 4.1% from 2017 to 2018. Although these decreases are encouraging, the overdose death rate involving synthetic opioids increased by 10.0% in that same time period, and synthetic opioids were involved in more than 67.0% of all opioid overdose deaths in 2018.

Variation in Adult Outpatient Opioid Prescription Dispensing by Age and Sex — United States, 2008–2018

CDC Media Relations
404-639-3286

Efforts to improve opioid prescribing need to consider the unique needs of women and older adults while using multimodal approaches to pain management. This report examines differences in opioid prescription fill rates among different demographic groups. Using retail pharmacy dispensing data from IQVIA, national trends in opioid prescription fill rates for adult outpatients were examined from 2008 through 2018. Overall findings indicate that opioid prescription fill rates were significantly higher among women of all ages and adults aged 65 years and older. Even while there was an overall decline in opioid prescription fill rates during this time period, disparities persisted. These findings highlight efforts to improve opioid prescribing, and the need for healthcare providers to consider the unique needs of women and older adults when it comes to pain management.

Delayed Identification of Infants Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing — Minnesota, 2012–2016

Scott Smith
Information officer, Minnesota Department of Health
Office phone: 651-201-5806
scott.smith@state.mn.us

Health disparities and inequities contributed to significant delays in the diagnosis of hearing loss among infants in Minnesota. Public health initiatives that target certain populations could improve timely identification. reduce the risk for language delay, and enhance outcomes in children who are deaf or hard of hearing. The findings of this report show Delays in the diagnosis of hearing loss among infants in Minnesota were more often found among infants with a low birth weight, infants born to mothers under the age of 25, and infants born in rural areas. Early Hearing Detection and Intervention programs can use this data to guide the design and application of targeted public health recommendations and actions. These recommendations and actions can improve outcomes for children who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Surveillance and Containment Measures for the First 100 Patients with COVID-19 in Singapore — January 2–February 29, 2020 (Early Release on March 13, 2020)

CDC Media Relations
404-639-3286

Initial Investigation of Transmission of COVID-19 Among Crew Members During Quarantine of a Cruise Ship — Yokohama, Japan, February 2020 (Early Release on March 17, 2020)

CDC Media Relations
404-639-3286

World TB Day — March 24, 2020

• National Toxic Substances Incidents Program —Nine States, 2010–2014

Public-health and safety professionals who prepare for or respond to chemical incidents can use the findings in this report to understand the patterns and causes of these incidents, which can improve prevention efforts and preparation for future incidents and injuries. In 2010, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) initiated the National Toxic Substance Incidents Program (NTSIP); it was retired in 2014. Nine state health departments provided chemical incident surveillance data from 2010-2014 that can be used to prepare for and prevent chemical incidents and injuries. During 2010–2014, participating state health departments reported 22,342 incidents, of which 13,529 (60.6%) met the case definition for acute toxic substance incidents, and included 5,134 injured people, of whom 190 died. NTSIP incidents were 1.8 times more likely and injured people were 10 times more likely to be associated with fixed facilities than with transportation. Natural gas, carbon monoxide, ammonia, and chemicals used in illegal methamphetamine production were the most frequent substances in fixed-facility incidents. The most frequently injured people were members of the public (43.6%), including students. Injured first responders, particularly police, frequently were not wearing any chemically protective equipment. Respiratory system problems (23.9%) were the most frequently reported symptoms among injured people and, in a related finding, volatilization was the most frequent type of release in incidents with injured people.

• • Percentage of Adults Aged 50–75 Years Who Met Colorectal Screening Recommendations — National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2018

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