CDC lists 10 most challenging public-health threats of 2014

by Brianna Crandall — December 31, 2014—For facilities and custodial professionals who are wondering which public health threats they should be concerned about in relation to cleaning, managing and safeguarding their facilities and the people within them, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a list of its 10 most important public health challenges of 2014 (“MISSION: CRITICAL – 2014 Year in Review“), topped by the agency’s unprecedented emergency response to the Ebola epidemic.

Mission: New Infectious Disease Threats

  1. Ebola: With 170 staff in the field and more than 700 people working on Ebola at any one time, CDC’s response to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the largest in the agency’s history. CDC says that Americans will be 100 percent safe only when Ebola is successfully stopped at its source.
  2. Antibiotic resistance: CDC has made important progress against antibiotic resistance, but it remains a serious threat. Combatting antibiotic resistance and preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) remains a critical initiative for 2015 in order to help prevent increased drug resistance. CDC notes that drug resistance can undermine both the ability to fight infectious diseases and much of modern medicine.
  3. Enterovirus D-68 (EV-D68): Enterovirus is a previously rare virus mostly affecting American children, and is particularly severe in children with asthma. CDC’s intense investigations into EV-D68 have been sped by a CDC-developed rapid lab test that can detect the virus.
  4. Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV): MERS-CoV, a new viral respiratory illness that was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012, showed a dramatic increase in cases during 2014. In light of the interconnected world of today, CDC has been preparing since 2012 for the possibility of MERS-CoV making its way to the United States.

Mission: Continued Fight against Infectious Diseases

  1. The HIV/AIDS pandemic: HIV/AIDS continues to be one of the world’s most important public health challenges, although CDC believes the tide is beginning to turn for the pandemic. CDC is a primary partner in the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which provides support to more than 60 countries to build capacity for their national HIV/AIDS programs, and through which CDC has helped save millions of lives.
  2. Polio: CDC says the world is on the brink of eradicating polio, although the organization warns of the risk of losing hard-won ground. CDC anticipates the elimination of this crippling disease as well as an estimated global savings of $40 billion to $50 billion over the subsequent 20 years.

Mission: Laboratory Safety

  1. Laboratory incidents: Numerous incidents during 2014 raised national awareness of the importance of laboratory safety. CDC applied important lessons learned to ensuring its laboratories are safe and effective, and advises that safety improvement is a continuous process.

Mission: Leading Causes of Death

  1. Cardiovascular diseases: Nearly 800,000 Americans die each year from cardiovascular diseases. In 2014, with support of key partners, the Million Hearts campaign encouraged widespread adoption and use of simple, evidence-based standardized treatment protocols for improving blood pressure control and reducing deaths from heart attack and stroke.
  2. Smoking: Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, killing more than 480,000 Americans each year. In 2014, CDC continued its national tobacco education campaign—Tips from Former Smokers—with hard-hitting new ads featuring secondary health conditions people may not realize are related to smoking. CDC says the powerful new ads have helped smokers quit by showing what it is like to live every day with disability and disfigurement from smoking.
  3. Fatal prescription drug overdose: A silent epidemic of fatal overdose kills 44 people every day in the USA. In 2014 CDC joined with partners to improve prescription monitoring, reducing unnecessary prescriptions of drugs that are dangerous when misused or abused.