u s centers for disease control and prevention

Good health is contagious. The actions you take to improve your health can have a positive impact on others. Simple things like meeting up with a friend to go for a walk or making an appointment for an annual physical — and encouraging your family members to do the same — can make a difference. As we enter the flu season, I hope my passion for preventing the flu will be contagious. 

The Institute of Human Virology to use $23 million to improve disease infrastructure in Kenya, Nigeria

For kids, Halloween is one of the most fun days of the year. It can also be one of the scariest. And no, we aren't talking about those two neighbors in Mount Airy who turn their garages into a house of horrors each year.

The Hogan administration plans to require that all Maryland 1-year-olds and 2-year-olds be tested for lead poisoning, declaring the new rule is needed because thousands of youngsters are at risk for lasting health problems.

Federal health officials have added Maryland to the list of states where people by cucumbers contaminated with salmonella imported from Mexico.

One of the biggest issues we are facing today is childhood obesity.

Two Baltimore institutions will share in $11 million in new funding from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention aimed at preventing the spread of germs, which continues to be both a deadly and costly problem in health care settings.

The Carroll County Health Department has cut several staffed positions from various programs and eliminated its audiology department as a result of a $420,000 funding shortfall due to a state-mandated employee salary increase.

Suicide must be treated as a preventable illness — one that costs the nation dearly but is too often overlooked

Inspectors from the Centers for Disease Control, conducting a spot check last month of an Army laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, raised concerns that workers there were improperly storing samples of the bacteria that causes the plague.

Even the best sex education curricula might not cover topics like consent, good sex, and healthy relationships with the same vigor as HIV prevention. Contraception and STIs (other than HIV), which fit squarely within the realm of high school sex ed, are often times neglected. For those who go on to college, their schools are faced with a pool of students with varying degrees of sex education, much of it insufficient, and those schools are in a position to fill in those gaps.

Seniors are most likely to develop life-threatening complications from the flu, but Johns Hopkins researchers say they may have found a way to boost the power of the seasonal influenza vaccine to better protect them.

In real terms, a drug overdose is occurring every 19 minutes, with approximately 100 Americans, friends and loved ones, being taken too soon each and every day. That is why I, along with Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, reintroduced federal legislation to curb our nation's alarming overdose epidemic by cementing as a federal priority educating and training the public, first responders and caregivers of those at risk of overdose.

With many Maryland landlords failing to respond to the state's expanded regulatory effort to curb childhood lead poisoning, officials are mass-mailing pointed reminders this summer to tens of thousands of property owners to register their rental units or risk being fined.

Baltimore County child tests negative for measles after hospital visit

Because of all of the advances we've made with HIV, the disease has somewhat fallen off the general public's radar, creating, in our view, an extremely dangerous situation for those at greatest risk of contracting this virus. We believe the president's call to action last week will help reinvigorate enthusiasm for wiping out this disease.

Black lives only seem to matter to those who profit from racial division while crime victims and aborted fetuses are ignored

The Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine has received a $24.5 million federal grant to combat AIDS in Botswana.

Simple tests already used regularly to assess kidney function and damage could also help doctors predict who will suffer heart disease, researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have found.

Antibiotic-free meats

The Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground was one of several facilities to which an Army bio-defense organization mistakenly sent samples of live anthrax, officials said Thursday, and a private laboratory in Maryland was the first to report the problem to authorities.

Sunburn stickers remind people when to cover up and apply sunscreen to prevent skin cancer

May is National High Blood Pressure Education Month. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in three – or 67 million --- American adults suffer from high blood pressure. But even though hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a somewhat common malady, it is rarely given the attention it deserves by the general public.

Spring has returned to Harford County and with that comes a reminder about the risk of Lyme disease, the most common vector borne disease in the United States. With this in mind, the Harford County Health Department wants Harford County residents to be "tick aware", even in areas they may not consider themselves to be at risk. This means being more attentive from springtime through fall, when gardening, doing yard work or while recreating near wooded and grassy areas.

Sleep Awareness day at Carroll Hospital was a chance to learn about the importance of getting those Zs.

A Baltimore County resident affiliated with the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health has been diagnosed with tuberculosis, the second case in the county this week.

A Century High School student was recently diagnosed with Pertussis, more commonly known as whooping cough, which has been confirmed by the Carroll County Health Department.

Last week's report showing a jump in the number of teens using electronic cigarettes should set off alarm bells to parents, even as the report also highlighted

We've all stepped in it and seen it on our lawns, in parks and in public places. Dog feces is more than just a smelly nuisance; it is actually a health and environmental hazard.

Baby chicks and ducklings are among the cutest critters on the planet. But, adorable as they may be, getting them as pets is not a great idea ¿ for the kids or the animals ¿ for many reasons.

The Royal Caribbean cruise liner Grandeur of the Seas returned to Baltimore a day early on Monday after more than 200 passengers and crew members became sick.

A growing measles outbreak linked to Disneyland in Southern California has touched a nerve with health officials in Maryland and across the country who are warning about a rebound in diseases that had been rendered extremely rare.

American Lung Association gives state one A, two Ds and one F

The fight against the spread of the Ebola virus is now being fought in doctors' offices and urgent-care clinics in Maryland and across the country. Receptionists and doctors are now often asking patients questions about travel and other risks to pinpoint if there's a chance that the patient has been exposed to the often-deadly virus

Follow-up on Ebola, with Dr. Robert Gallo and president of the Baltimore-based Global Virus Network

Laurel Regional Hospital officials say they are following the state's Ebola protocol and making sure they are prepared to deal with any cases according to state and federal guidelines.

Byme Taylor, who moved to Laurel five years ago, lost several relatives, including his 31-year-old brother, a Liberian minister, to the Ebola virus. He said his brother, the Rev. Hezekiah Taylor, who was living with a younger sister, was set to get married in December and had planned to visit Taylor and his family here that same month.

Dan Rodricks finds the wrong villain in Ebola research debate.

Take $25 million and call Doctors Without Borders in the morning to cure a case of Ebola

There is no need for panic over Ebola, but there is need for concern about the CDC, writes Leonard Pitts Jr.

Doctors don't know why many women get breast cancer, the most commonly diagnosed cancer after skin cancer, according to the U.S. center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC's bumbling response to the first cases of Ebola in this country hardly inspires confidence

Seeking to allay fears after an Ebola patient was transported to Bethesda, Gov. Martin O'Malley said Friday state public health officials are on guard to contain the virus, though they will likely see more scares and possible cases.

To stem the threat from Ebola, close our borders now

The Hospital and Health Department are prepared for Ebola, however unlikely it might be

A local longshoremen's union in Baltimore temporarily stopped work loading domestically-used vehicles onto a ship bound for West Africa out of fear of Ebola on board, as an infected Dallas nurse is transferred to NIH in Bethesda.

Republican Rep. Andy Harris, the only doctor in Maryland's congressional delegation, called Thursday for the Obama administration to impose "some level of travel ban" to limit the spread of Ebola.

Students at Loyola University Maryland are among several across the nation drawing attention to on-campus sexual assault via a online campaign that encorages intervention and prevention.