June, 2011 | The Pump Handle

Public Health Practice June 5, 1981: CDC reports “the possibility of a cellular-immune dysfunction related to a common exposure”

June 5, 2011 Liz Borkowski, MPH 4Comment

Thirty years ago today, the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published a report of five young men with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia who were treated at three different hospitals in Los Angeles, California. The authors observed that all five patients had no known common contacts, but had in common the fact that they “reported having […]

Environmental Health Why US coal miners are still developing black lung disease

June 3, 2011 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 4Comment

In Hawk’s Nest Redux, Ellen Smith reports that an apalling number of the 29 deceased Upper Big Branch coal miners had black lung disease. The autopsy evidence was reported at the end of one chapter of the investigation report prepared by an independent panel of investigators commissioned by the Governor of West Virginia.* Smith compared […]

Food Safety & Nutrition More Misguided Budget-Cutting: Hobbling the Food Safety Modernization Act

June 2, 2011 Liz Borkowski, MPH 2Comment

In Germany, 17 people have died and more than 1,500 sickened by a particularly virulent strain of E. coli. Der Spiegel explains that this rare E. coli serotype, O104:H4, is especially virulent; after infection by as few as 100 bacteria, many patients develop hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can result in kidney failure and even death. […]

OSHA OSHA standards are game-changers, David Michaels tells American Industrial Hygiene Association members

June 1, 2011 Elizabeth Grossman

by Elizabeth Grossman “With what’s on the table in Washington now, you may think the technical phrase is ‘job-killing OSHA standards’ but standards save lives,” said David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor of Occupational Safety and Health, in his address to the American Industrial Hygiene Association meeting in Portland, Oregon on May 18th. “OSHA doesn’t […]