New collaborative studies being presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at the XIX International AIDS Conference confirm early treatment of HIV patients results in better outcomes, suggest use of viral load testing to detect treatment failure, and highlight factors associated with low rate of ART enrollment.

Original title: “New CDC studies point to better practices in timing, testing, and retention of patients in HIV anti-retroviral drug treatment (ART) in Africa”

Death rates from all cancers combined for men, women, and children continued to decline in the United States between 2004 and 2008, according to the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2008. The overall rate of new cancer diagnoses, also known as incidence, among men decreased by an average of 0.6 percent per year between 2004 and 2008.

Original title: “Report to the nation finds continuing declines in cancer death rates since the early 1990s”

Smartphones are showing promise in disease surveillance in the developing world. The Kenya Ministry of Health, along with researchers in Kenya for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that smartphone use was cheaper than traditional paper survey methods to gather disease information, after the initial set-up cost.

Original title: “Smartphones more accurate, faster, cheaper for disease surveillance”

The number of people who died from gastroenteritis (inflammation of the stomach and intestines that causes vomiting and diarrhea) more than doubled from 1999 to 2007, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Original title: “Deaths from gastroenteritis double”

A new influenza A virus discovered in fruit bats in Guatemala does not appear to present a current threat to humans, but should be studied as a potential source for human influenza, according to scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who worked with University of the Valley of Guatemala.

Original title: “New influenza virus discovered in Guatemalan fruit bats”

Blood levels of trans-fatty acids (TFAs) in white adults in the U.S. population decreased by 58 percent from 2000 to 2009 according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study published in the Feb. 8 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Original title: “CDC study finds levels of trans-fatty acids in blood of U.S. white adults has decreased”

Vaccinating infants against rotavirus has resulted in dramatic decreases in health care use and treatment costs for diarrhea-related illness in U.S. infants and young children, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Original title: “Rotavirus vaccination leads to large decreases in health care costs and doctor visits”

Babesia, a tickborne parasite of red blood cells, is being transmitted through blood transfusions, according to results of a collaborative study, led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, of data from the past three decades.

Original title: “U.S. blood supply vulnerable to parasitic infection spread by ticks”

The CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) today issued the First Periodic Review of Scientific and Medical Evidence Related to Cancer for the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program. This first periodic review provides a summary of the current scientific and medical findings in the peer-reviewed literature about exposures resulting from the Sept.11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City and cancer studies.

Original title: “First World Trade Center Scientific and Medical Review Released”

Americans who eat a diet high in sodium and low in potassium have a 50 percent increased risk of death from any cause, and about twice the risk of death from heart attacks, according to a study published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study was conducted by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emory University and Harvard University.

Original title: “High Sodium, Low Potassium Diet Linked to Increased Risk of Death”

CDC welcomes the report today from NIH that early HIV treatment can dramatically reduce the risk that an HIV-positive person will transmit the virus to their heterosexual partner. The study, known as HPTN 052, showed that early initiation of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) for HIV-positive people who were heterosexual led to a dramatic reduction in HIV transmission to the HIV-uninfected partner.

Original title: “Statement by CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H., on Early End of HPTN 052 Study”

Rates of death in the United States from all cancers for men and women continued to decline between 2003 and 2007, the most recent reporting period available, according to the latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer. The report also finds that the overall rate of new cancer diagnoses for men and women combined decreased an average of slightly less than 1 percent per year for the same period.

Original title: “Report to Nation Finds Continued Declines in Many Cancer Rates”

Babies born to women who take opioid pain killers such as codeine, oxycodone or hydrocodone just before or in early pregnancy are at increased but modest risk of birth defects, according to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Original title: “Opioid Pain Killers Linked to Increased Risk of Some Birth Defects”

Maternal cigarette smoking in the first trimester was associated with a 20 to 70 percent greater likelihood that a baby would be born with certain types of congenital heart defects, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Original title: “Smoking Early in Pregnancy Raises Risk of Heart Defects in Infants”

A series of studies published today in a supplement to the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases (CID) provide a unique look at the science that guided the Federal Government's response to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.

Original title: “New Articles Highlight the Science Behind Government's Response to 2009 H1N1 Pandemic”

Hospitalizations for three common waterborne diseases cost the health care system as much as $539 million annually, according to research presented today at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Original title: “Waterborne Diseases Could Cost over $500 Million Annually in U.S.”

From 2004 to 2008 the estimated number of emergency department visits linked to the nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers rose from 144,644 visits to 305,885 visits a year.

Original title: “Study Shows 111 Percent Increase in Emergency Department Visits Involving Nonmedical Use of Prescription Opioid Pain Relievers in Five-Year Period”

Over the past week, there have been several media reports describing unpublished findings from seasonal influenza vaccine studies conducted in Canada.

Original title: “Seasonal Influenza Vaccine and Risk of 2009 H1N1 Influenza”

The largest study of obesity during pregnancy and babies with heart defects in the United States finds that women who were overweight or obese before they became pregnant had an approximately 18 percent increased risk of having a baby with certain heart defects compared with women who were of normal body mass index (BMI) before they became pregnant.

Original title: “Obese and Overweight Women Have a Higher Risk of Giving Birth to Baby with Heart Defects”

Many people who have died from 2009 H1N1 influenza in the United States had co-infections with a common bacteria (Streptococcus pneumoniae, or pneumococcus) which likely contributed to their death, according to a report published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Original title: “Bacterial Co-Infections Common In Fatal Cases of Influenza”