Although births to younger teens aged 15 to 17 years have declined, they still represent over a quarter of teen births - nearly 1,700 births a week, according to this month's Vital Signs.

Original title: “Younger teens still account for 1 in 4 teen births - Press Release”

Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) joins the World Health Organization(WHO) and other public health partners in recognizing World Health Day, which this year spotlights vector-borne diseases.

Original title: “World Health Day”

The CDC and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) have confirmed a diagnosis of Lassa fever in a person returning to the United States from West Africa. The patient was admitted to a hospital in Minnesota on March 31 with symptoms of fever and confusion. Blood samples submitted to CDC tested positive for Lassa fever on April 3. The patient is recovering and is in stable condition.

Original title: “Lassa Fever Reported in U.S. Traveler Returning from West Africa - Press Release”

National Public Health Week (NPHW), an initiative of the American Public Health Association (APHA), is April 7-13. The 2014 NPHW theme, "Public Health: Start Here," focuses on how public health starts at home, from maternal health to nutrition and emergency preparedness. Each day this week focuses on a different area of public health.

Original title: “CDC Supports APHA National Public Health Week - Media Advisory”

CDC Foundation's Business Pulse: Global Health Security highlights what CDC is doing to protect businesses from global health threats and describes how business leaders can take action to protect their workforces in the United States and abroad.

Original title: “CDC Foundation's Business Pulse on Global Health Security Now Available Online - Media Advisory”

The number of calls to poison centers involving e-cigarette liquids containing nicotine rose from one per month in September 2010 to 215 per month in February 2014, according to a CDC study published in today's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Original title: “New CDC study finds dramatic increase in e-cigarette-related calls to poison centers - Press Release”

CDC media briefing on autism spectrum disorder

Original title: “CDC media briefing on autism spectrum disorder - Transcript”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in collaboration with health officials in Missouri and Tennessee have identified six new cases of people sick with Heartland virus: five in Missouri and one in Tennessee. The new cases, discovered in 2012 and 2013, are in addition to two discovered in 2009 and are described today in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Original title: “CDC Reports More Cases of Heartland Virus Disease - Press Release”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1 in 68 children (or 14.7 per 1,000 eight-year-olds) in multiple communities in the United States has been identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Original title: “CDC estimates 1 in 68 children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder - Press Release”

CDC hosted a media briefing to discuss new national healthcare-associated infection estimates.

Original title: “CDC media briefing on healthcare-associated infections - Transcript”

CDC will host a telephone-only media briefing to discuss the MMWR surveillance summary on the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders.

Original title: “CDC Telebriefing: CDC releases new autism spectrum disorder data - Media Advisory”

Forty years of data on a major cause of food poisoning now is available to the public, the food industry, and researchers in a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data, collected by state and federal health officials, provides a wealth of information on Salmonella, the top foodborne cause of hospitalizations and deaths in the United States. - Press Release

Original title: “Salmonella data now at your fingertips - Press Release”

Today, CDC released two new reports that detail national estimates of HAIs and report on national and state-specific progress toward preventing HAIs. These reports show that progress is being made, but three-quarters of a million infections still threaten hospital patients.

Original title: “Hospital Infections: Some Progress, but More Work Needed”

On any given day, approximately one in 25 U.S. patients has at least one infection contracted during the course of their hospital care, adding up to about 722,000 infections in 2011, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This information is an update to previous CDC estimates of healthcare-associated infections.

Original title: “Despite Progress, Ongoing Efforts Needed to Combat Infections Impacting Hospital Patients - Press Release”

CDC will host a media briefing to discuss two new publications: one, a New England Journal of Medicine article updating previous national healthcare-associated infection estimates, and the other a 2012 annual report detailing national and state-specific healthcare-associated infection prevention progress over time.

Original title: “CDC to present new national estimates and state-by-state data on healthcare-associated infections in U.S. hospitals - Media Advisory”

On Monday, March 10, a Drexel University student tragically died from serogroup B meningococcal disease. CDC's laboratory analysis shows that the strain in Princeton University's serogroup B meningococcal disease outbreak matches the strain in the Drexel University case by "genetic fingerprinting." This information suggests that the outbreak strain may still be present in the Princeton University community and we need to be vigilant for additional cases.

Original title: “Meningococcal Disease Update - Media Statement”

Dozens of groups dedicated to eliminating colorectal cancer as a major public health problem joined together at the National Press Club to hear new data related to progress in reducing deaths from colorectal cancer and to launch an effort to increase the nation's colorectal cancer screening rate to 80 percent by the year 2018.

Original title: “Dozens Of Groups Meet In Washington, D.C. To Commit to Eliminating Colorectal Cancer As a Public Health Problem - Press Release”

Flow restrictors are intended to work with current child-resistant packaging, such as child safety caps, to help keep young children from getting into medicines when adults aren't looking.

Original title: “Flow Restrictors May Help Prevent Medication Poisonings in Young Children - Digital Press Kit”

Transcript for the telebriefing on this month's the CDC Vital Signs report which looks at prescribing practices and variations, and calls on all U.S. hospitals to improve antibiotic-prescribing practices.

Original title: “CDC Telebriefing: New Vital Signs Report - Are Prescribing Practices Putting Hospital Patients at Risk? - Transcript”

Most people who abuse prescription opioid drugs get them for free from a friend or relative - but those at highest risk of overdose are as likely to get them from a doctor's prescription, CDC researchers reported today in a research letter, "Sources of Prescription Opioid Pain Relievers by Frequency of Past-Year Nonmedical Use: United States, 2008-2011," in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine (JAMA Internal Medicine).

Original title: “Physicians are a leading source of prescription opioids for the highest-risk users - Press Release”