Birth Rates of Teens and Unwed Women Increases

For the first time in years, rates of birth to teens and unwed women are on the increase.  Alarmingly, low birth weight is at its highest level in four decades.  Pre-term babies have increased some 20%, the highest since 1990.  The study concludes that black and Hispanic women are typically disadvantaged relative to their white counterparts.

Steep increases since 1990 in the percentage of mothers who gained too little or too much weight (less than 16 pounds or more than 40) during pregnancy – up from 24 percent to 33 percent of all births.

Children’s Flu Vaccination Day

Tuesday, November 27, the CDC is sponsoring Children’s Flu Vaccination Day. This is coinciding with National Influenza Vaccination Week.  Follow this link to find influenza activity across the United States for the week of November 11 through November 17, 2007.

The 2007-2008 influenza season is just beginning, and nationwide,
influenza activity is currently very low. So far, only two states are
reporting local influenza activity. In the United States, influenza
activity can begin as early as October and continues through May. Each
year, on average, from five to 20 percent of the U.S. population is
infected with influenza, with influenza estimated to result in 36,000
deaths and more than 200,000 hospitalizations from flu-related
complications in a typical year.

Abortion Surveillance Reported by the CDC

The CDC has published its yearly findings for legal abortions in the year 2004. The numbers are staggering. A total of 839,226 abortions were performed in 2004. That number is down 1% from 2003, which was 848,163 abortions performed. Follow the link below to get the full article. The CDC does an excellent job in breaking down the demographics of women getting an abortion.
My politics lie in the middle of the road, I usually try to call situations as I see them. I am sure the Right will pick up on this and use it politically. While the left ignores the numbers all together. Unfortunately what is lost in the statistics, are the stories of each one of these abortions.

A total of 839,226 legal induced abortions were reported to CDC for 2004 from 49 reporting areas, representing a 1.1% decline from the 848,163 legal induced abortions reported by 49 reporting areas for 2003. The abortion ratio, defined as the number of abortions per 1,000 live births, was 238 in 2004, a decrease from the 241 in 2003. The abortion rate was 16 per 1,000 women aged 15–4  years for 2004, the same since 2000. For the same 47 reporting areas, the abortion rate remained relatively constant during 1998–2004. In 2003 (the most recent years for which data are available), 10 women died as a result of complications from known legal induced abortion. No death was associated with known illegal abortion.

The highest percentages of reported abortions were for women who were known to be unmarried (80%), white (53%), and aged <25 years (50%). Of all abortions for which gestational age was reported, 61% were performed at <8 weeks’ gestation and 88% at <13 weeks.

Unstable Housing Increases HIV Risk

The CDC has found a correlation between unstable housing and an increase risk of acquiring HIV.

The findings, published in a special issue of the journal AIDS and Behavior, found:

– Homeless or unstably housed people were two to six times more likely to “have recently used hard drugs, shared needles or exchanged sex” than similar low-income people who were stably housed.

– Receipt of housing assistance enabled homeless people with substance use and mental health problems to achieve stability over time reducing risky behaviors.

– Over a 12-year period, housing status and receipt of housing assistance consistently predicted entry and retention in HIV medical care, regardless of demographics, drug use, health and mental health status, or receipt of other services.

Lyme disease at all time high

The CDC has issued a news release announcing that Lyme disease has nearly doubled since 1991. This increase in the number of cases involves ten states; Northeastern, Mid-Atlantic, and North-Central states. Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin had the most cases.he report says that during 2003-2005, a total of 64,382 Lyme disease cases were reported to CDC from 46 states and the District of Columbia. In 1991, there were fewer then 10,000 cases.

Early symptoms of infection include fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans. Left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system.

Updated CDC fact sheet on HIV/Aids

The CDC has published an update to the HIV/Aids fact sheet, follow the link to the CDC website.

In the United States, HIV infection and AIDS have had a tremendous effect on men who have sex with men (MSM). MSM accounted for 72% of all HIV infections among male adults and adolescents in 2005 (based on data from 33 states with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting), even though only about 5% to 7% of male adults and adolescents in the United States identify themselves as MSM [1, 2].