New report chronicles the low wages of child care workers; Johns Hopkins black lung review still unfinished; California nurses go on strike; and OSHA calls on retailers to protect their workers during Black Friday.
Environmental Health
Listen in on small businesses discussing draft OSHA infection control regulation
A select group of small business representatives will meet with OSHA this week to discuss a possible new regulation to protect workers from infectious diseases. OSHA has been convening these panels since 1997, but it will be the first time that we’ll be able to listen in on the discussion.
Latino workers face higher fatality rates on the job; health care workers in Spain blame inadequate protective gear for Ebola infection; California law aims to prevent violence in health care settings; and the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the 10 deadliest occupations.
Perdue Farms announces that it has slashed its use of antibiotics in poultry.
Infectious Diseases & Vaccines
CDC: Ebola worsening in West Africa; little risk to general US population
As the Ebola epidemic in West Africa worsens, CDC sends staff to affected countries and issues a travel alert, but stresses that the disease “poses very little risk to the general US population.”
Drug Safety
Researchers develop innovative way to detect fake malaria drugs that could save lives, deter counterfeiting
It looks like a simple piece of paper and it’s nearly as cheap, ideally costing just pennies. But despite its small size, it’s poised to make an enormous impact and potentially save thousands of lives.
Vaccine safety is one of those topics that has become so tragically mired in misinformation and myth that there can never be enough supporting evidence. So, here’s some more.
One of our public health heroes, Ciro de Quadros, 74, a public health physician from Brazil died last week. We need his attitude, skills, and persistence more than ever today.
Despite our best preparedness efforts, a real-life flu pandemic would require some difficult and uncomfortable decisions. And perhaps the most uncomfortable will be deciding who among us gets priority access to our limited health care resources. How do we decide whose life is worth saving?
New happenings on public health intersecting with activities of U.S. espionage agencies.