Posted on 12/25/2018 10:05:56 PM PST by fwdude
WASHINGTON -- The most pressing health threats for Americans in 2018 included "steep and sustained increases in sexually transmitted diseases" and declining overall life expectancy blamed in large part on the opioid crisis.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's year-end roundup also noted that since August the agency has been coordinating with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Ministry of Health as the second-largest ebola outbreak in history sweeps through the region.
The World Health Organization reported last week that battling the ebola outbreak in the DRC "continues to be a complex challenge" as "pockets of community reluctance and the conflict setting continue to obstruct activities in some affected areas."
As of Dec. 18, 549 ebola cases have been reported in two provinces with a 59 percent fatality rate.
Overall in the U.S., the CDC tracked increasing mortality rates for seven of the 10 leading causes of death here. Drug overdoses accounted for 47,600 deaths, and opioids were the responsible drug in two-thirds of those.
“The opioid epidemic continues to be the public health crisis of our time, and this is reflected in the recent CDC mortality data," said CDC Director Robert Redfield.
Also attributed to the opioid epidemic is a tripling in cases of hepatitis C over recent years.
A March report on the opioid crisis showed a 30 percent increase in emergency room visits, with overdoses increasing among men and women and all age groups, and variances seen in rural vs. urban areas.
CDC also responded to several foodborne illness outbreaks over the year, including E. coli contamination of romaine lettuce that led to nationwide recalls, and formed a task force in November to respond to a marked increase in cases of acute flaccid myelitis -- a rare but serious nervous system condition that develops mostly in children after a mild viral infection.
The agency also noted a record-breaking increase in reports of sexually transmitted diseases, including nearly 2.3 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis. STDs increased for the fourth year in a row, the CDC reported in August, including gonorrhea nearly doubling among men.
“We are sliding backward,” Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, said at the time. “It is evident the systems that identify, treat, and ultimately prevent STDs are strained to near-breaking point.”
Gonorrhea has also become antibiotic-resistant, usually responding only to ceftriaxone.
“We expect gonorrhea will eventually wear down our last highly effective antibiotic, and additional treatment options are urgently needed,” said Gail Bolan, M.D., director of CDC’s Division of STD Prevention. “We can’t let our defenses down — we must continue reinforcing efforts to rapidly detect and prevent resistance as long as possible.”
CDC also released last month sobering data on the 34 percent increase in suicides from 2000 to 2016, jumps seen in nearly every state.
The top occupations of American men committing suicide were construction; arts, design, entertainment, sports, or media; and installation, maintenance, and repair. Among females committing suicide, the top occupations were arts, design, entertainment, sports, or media; protective service; and healthcare support.
For both genders, people who worked in education or libraries were least likely to commit suicide.
Nearly 80,000 Americans also died last year from influenza, and heart attacks, stroke and heart failure accounted for 415,000 deaths.
Sorry, just can’t care.
More people die in America due to Opioids, than die in the Central African Republic due to Ebola.
And the Opioid deaths are completely voluntary.
Drugs make you just not give a crap. About everything. We have an increasingly drugged up society, no wonder STD’s are skyrocketing.
All true, but I also think that drug use is increasing for the same reasons that alcoholism became so prevalent in the USSR - erosion of freedom, loss of the ability to self-determine, and a general loss of hope.
Actually, drugs make a person desperate for more drugs. It consumes them with fear. They can’t tolerate the thought that they can’t get drugs as needed. They are completely addicted - bound to the drugs.
The STD increase is driven by homosexual and bisexual men. Of course, the article does not mention this, because it is politically incorrect. The male suicide rate is over five times the female suicide rate. Of course, the article does not mention this, because it is politically incorrect.
That rate is like three times higher than Medicaid's share of the American health system.
Also important, the total deaths from opioids, including heroin, is a fraction of 1% of the total USA adult population.
Bottom Line - It is not unreasonable to believe that a country of 330 million free people has millions of people who cannot be helped or protected from their own reckless behavior.
What a horseshit post by PJM.
Another example of male privilege.
Those figures all make sense, in that those who have other, especially mental illnesses or a general inability to cope in the world or have somehow otherwise come to financial ruin are more likely to be on Medicaid, to be addicted, and to be despairing.
But that doesn’t mean that the rise of drug deaths shouldn’t be noted and addressed as best we know how. The flooding of a population with opium has been a form of war from one state to another for centuries now. Profiteers also help to create increased usage and addiction. Our popular culture has been used against us as well.
That said, indeed, the vast majority of Americans avoid such self-destructive behavior—or practice other forms of self-destruction.
I wish we could do more about these deaths - and about the underlying lives that were already lost. Sadly, we refuse to accurately name the problems. Voluntary death from suicide and voluntary death from opioids are both spiritual and cultural issues, and for far too many years the United States has been moving in the wrong direction on both fronts.
Oops, meant to also comment on STDs, but hit “post” instead of “enter”. STDs have the same underlying trigger, lack of a deeper meaning in their lives, as suicide and drugs.
dont bet on averages. If you dont participate in dangerous activities, then average life expectancy is higher for you. period... I dont like getting lumped in with meth heads, opiod addicts, lgbgxyz’’s, and sexual deviant’s. And fat cows who eat junk food and sit all day.
Down here ( Maryland) there are cases where people have been revived four times. All EMTs have to carry epipens .
Drugs make you just not give a crap. About everything. We have an increasingly drugged up society, no wonder STD’s are skyrocketing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
True. And we have a society that allows it to happen because nothing is your fault. There are no consequences anymore.
Just like the arsonist “fireman”, the
CDC conspired with Obola-the-Islamic-Impostor
to bring the FINEST Diseases into America
to murder its healthy innocents.
Medicaid prescriptions is not Medicaid users.
Many of these numbers come from kids and grand kids taking old granny to the doctor to make sure her prescription gets filled. The drugs are then either sold (as a great source of income) or used by themselves. If old granny is actually a cancer patient and really needs the drugs to ease her pain - well tough luck!
“We expect gonorrhea will eventually wear down our last highly effective antibiotic, and additional treatment options are urgently needed,” said Gail Bolan, M.D., director of CDC’s Division of STD Prevention.
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Sorry, Hollywood. I guess we’re stuck with prevention through self control and traditional moral values.
Absolutely. But you will be hard pressed to find that critical fact in the statistics.
It’s an interesting debate. Do low income, indigent people get more addicted because of their hopeless situation, or is their poverty a logical outcome of their careless, addictive penchant?
I would lean toward the latter. As a former cop, I’ve observed the worst of society, close up. The instant, no-holds-barred gratification demanded of some in society is also instantly self-destructive. They cannot see past the nose on their faces.
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