“The Voice of the CDC” is reopening publications, but experts worry that they haven't heard

NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Science Publications on Thursday returned from a forced two-week break in two papers examining the health effects of wildfires in Hawaii and California.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has resumed weekly reporting morbidity and mortality rates by the Trump administration. Pause As part of a “pause” on regulations, guidance, announcements, press releases, social media posts and website posts.

The CDC gradually resumed some communications and reports, but MMWR silencing, as it knows, prompted a chorus of concern from public health leaders and several lawmakers.

“The outbreaks are not contained as scientists are being ordered to stop talking about them,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, in a statement Wednesday night. He said in a statement calling for the reopening of things.

MMWR issues typically run pages 20-25 and contain four or more reports on disease investigations, health trends, or other public health developments. Thursday Publications It was slimmer than usual: there were only 8 pages and two short reports.

Research into the health effects of wildfires

One of the reports It was last year Maui wildfire. Researchers were measuring the blood of responding firefighters and looking for just fluoroalkyl substances or PFAs. Artificial chemicals are associated with cancer and other health problems.

Previous studies have shown that firefighters have high levels of some PFA in their blood. Thousands of firefighters I sued Manufacturers and companies that make fire equipment and foam are sought the damage of exposure.

The new study looked at about 180 firefighters and 80 other county employees. Firefighter blood was found to have high concentrations of some PFA, but most were below the medical threshold, which poses the need for further testing. The authors acknowledged that it was difficult to know whether the flames contributed, as researchers did not have baseline measurements of people studying before the 2023 fire.

Second article I saw a hospital emergency department visit last month. Los Angeles wildfires. It turns out that visits fell by 9% in the first six days of the wildfire.

This is consistent with other studies that showed a decrease in ER visits shortly after natural disasters. The decline may be due to evacuations that have caused people to leave Los Angeles or receive medical care from outside the hospital. Information from hospitals in the surrounding counties is not included in the new report.

Journal has never taken two weeks off

Before the journal took a break, the CDC was expected to publish an article about the bird flu outbreak soon. A CDC spokesman didn't say why the article wasn't published this week, but said he was “still in the pipeline.”

Dr. Tom Frieden, CDC director for the Obama administration, is pleased to see the journal return, but “does not include reports on the spread of avian flu in animals and people, as well as new tensions in the spread of MPOX.” or other emerging health threats.”

Dr. George Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, wants to see physical issues that researchers, local health authorities and others have the information they need “to make data-driven decisions.” I said I was thinking.

MMWR is called the “Voice of the CDC.” It has been published weekly since 1961 and is the main way for agents to detail illness investigations, share public health recommendations, and communicate other health information.

I never had a two-week break.

Usually, journals released every Thursday have over 147,000 electronics Subscriber – Readers primarily being doctors, nurses, educators, researchers and public health scientists.

In many cases, articles turn into news for the public

A paper published in June 1981, about a previously healthy Gay Los Angeles man who suffered from lung infections, First published report It records diseases that have become known as AIDS. Reported in April 2009 by the Journal The first two cases This has become known as the H1N1 “swolf flu” pandemic.

In 2020, during the first Trump administration, MMWR became the focus of concerns about political interference in the CDC's scientific research. White House officials believed that CDC scientists were undermining Trump by trying to make the Covid-19 pandemic look worse than before.

Dr. Charlotte Kent, editor of the journal at the time; He later told Congress The administration has pushed her to delay the publication of at least one article, and told her to remove any emails indicating political interference.

“If a political decision determines which threats highlight which health threats we all make them less safe,” said Resolve's president to save Life, a nonprofit organization that addresses international public health issues. One Frieden said: “We hope that the new administration will see value in the CDC's public information on health threats each week without political interference.”

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