The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is tightening previous infection control guidance for healthcare workers caring for patients with Ebola, to ensure there is no ambiguity.

Original title: “Tightened Guidance for U.S. Healthcare Workers on Personal Protective Equipment for Ebola - Fact Sheet - Media Statement ”

New layers of screening at airports that receive more than 94% of West African Travelers

Original title: “Enhanced Ebola Screening to Start at Five U.S. Airports and New Tracking Program for all People Entering U.S. from Ebola-affected Countries- Press Release”

Prohibiting smoking in all government subsidized housing in the United States, including public housing, would save an estimated $497 million per year in health care and housing-related costs, according to a CDC study published in Preventing Chronic Disease.

Original title: “Almost $500 million could be saved annually by making subsidized housing smoke-free - Press Release”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued the first national Model Aquatic Health Code, guidelines that public pool operators can follow to help keep swimmers healthy and safe and that state and local health departments can use when they create or update public pool regulations.

Original title: “CDC issues guidance to improve health and safety at public pools - Media Advisory”

Clinical TB lab first to meet enhanced safety review

Original title: “New safety protocols in place, first CDC lab resumes transfer of inactivated materials out of high-containment laboratory - Media Statement”

Each year, the U.S. spends nearly $9,000 for the health of every American -- far more than what the governments of other countries spend on the health of their citizens - yet life expectancy and health outcomes are generally worse for Americans than for citizens of other developed nations in North America and Europe.

Original title: “How Americans can get a better return on their health care investments - Press Release”

Transcript for Vital Signs telebriefing: Overprescribing of opioid painkillers is a major cause of the prescription drug overdose epidemic in the United States. In 2012, health care providers in some states prescribed far more painkillers than those in other states.

Original title: “Vital Signs - Prescription Drug Overdose - Transcript”

Health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for opioid painkillers in 2012 - many more in some states than in others - according to a Vital Signs report released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that highlights the danger of overdose.

Original title: “Opioid painkiller prescribing varies widely among states - Press Release”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded more than $840 million to continue improving emergency preparedness of state and local public health and health care systems. These systems are vital to protecting health and saving lives during a disaster.

Original title: “HHS grants bolster health care and public health disaster preparedness - Press Release”

Today, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to recommend a preference for using the nasal spray flu vaccine (i.e., LAIV) instead of the flu shot (i.e., IIV) in healthy children 2-8 years of age when it is immediately available. ACIP is a panel of immunization experts that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Original title: “Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends a preference for using the nasal spray flu vaccine - Media Statement”

More smokers would quit if state Medicaid programs covered more cessation treatments and removed barriers to coverage, according to a CDC study published in today's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. All 50 states and the District of Columbia cover cessation treatments for at least some Medicaid enrollees. Efforts to expand state Medicaid coverage for all smoking cessation treatments and the removal of coverage barriers have shown mixed progress over the past five years.

Original title: “Uneven progress in expanding state Medicaid coverage for smoking cessation - Press Release”

REQUIRED

Original title: “New TB Screening Guidelines Overseas Save U.S. Estimated $15 Million - Press Release”

A new Vital Signs report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that clinicians in some hospitals prescribe three times as many antibiotics than clinicians in other hospitals, even though patients were receiving care in similar areas of each hospital.

Original title: “Improving Antibiotic Prescribing in Hospitals Can Make Health Care Safer - Press Release”

Americans eat out at fast food or dine-in restaurants four or five times a week. Just one of those meals might contain more than an entire day's recommended amount of sodium. CDC has strategies for health departments and restaurants to work together to offer healthier choices for consumers who want to lower their sodium intake.

Original title: “Reducing sodium in restaurant foods is an opportunity for choice - Press Release”

Yesterday, President Obama reaffirmed the United States' commitment to an AIDS-free generation by signing into law the PEPFAR Stewardship and Oversight Act of 2013.

Original title: “President Obama Signs Reauthorization of PEPFAR”

Every year as many as 10 million U.S. children risk side effects from antibiotic prescriptions that are unlikely to help their upper respiratory conditions. Many of these infections are caused by viruses, which are not helped by antibiotics.

Original title: “New guidance limits antibiotics for common infections in children - Press Release”

An agenda for the meeting can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/acip/. The agenda will include three votes: considerations for use of meningococcal conjugate vaccine MenACWY-CRM in infants and young toddlers at increased risk for meningococcal disease; the 2014 Child/Adolescent Immunization Schedule; and the 2014 Adult Immunization Schedule. Both the child/adolescent and adult immunization schedules are updated annually. The 2014 adult immunization schedule incorporates changes approv

Original title: “CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Meeting - Media Advisory”

Once labs detect dangerous infections, it's crucial for the correct information to get to health departments quickly and in a format that allows them to recognize disease outbreaks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) efforts to speed this process and ensure that the best and most complete information about disease cases is reported is paying off, according to new data released in today's issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

Original title: “Better, Faster Lab Reports Help States' Outbreak Response - Press Release”

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded more than $916 million to continue improving preparedness and health outcomes for a wide range of public health threats within every state, eight U.S. territories, and four of the nation's largest metropolitan areas.

Original title: “HHS grants to bolster disaster preparedness for health care, public health - Press Release”

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted today, 13 to 0, in favor of recommending FluBlok during the 2013-2014 influenza seasons for vaccination of persons 18 through 49 years of age with egg allergy of any severity.

Original title: “CDC advisory committee recommends an influenza vaccine option for persons with egg allergy - Media Advisory”