MMWR

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

State-Specific Prevalence and Trends in Adult Cigarette Smoking – United States, 1998-2007

PRESS CONTACT: Terry Pechacek, Associate Director for Science
Office on Smoking and Health
(770) 488-5493

Despite declines in adult smoking prevalence over the past decade, the rates of decline will very likely be too slow in almost all states other than Utah to achieve the Healthy People 2010 objective for reducing adult cigarette smoking prevalence to 12 percent or less unless comprehensive, evidence–based tobacco control programs—including expanded access to cessation services, such as quit lines— are fully implemented in all states.  According to 2007 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data, smoking prevalence among adults varied substantially among the 50 states, District of Columbia, and the U.S. Territories including Guam, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands. Current smoking prevalence was almost twofold higher in states such as Kentucky (28.3 percent), West Virginia (27 percent), and Oklahoma (25.8 percent) compared to smoking prevalence seen in Utah (11.7 percent) and California (14.3 percent). Variations in adult smoking prevalence across the United States and the U.S. Territories can be attributed to factors such as differences in population demographics, differing levels of tobacco control programs and policies, and variations in tobacco industry marketing and promotion. Trend analyses indicated that smoking prevalence declined in 44 states, DC and Puerto Rico from 1998–2007 with six states having no declines in prevalence during this time.

Investigation of a Genotype Cluster of Tuberculosis Cases – Detroit, Michigan, 2007

PRESS CONTACT: CDC
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
(404) 639-8895

Findings published by CDC show the importance of ensuring that every person with TB disease is successfully identified and treated. The City of Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion, Michigan Department of Community Health, and CDC investigated a genotype cluster of eight TB cases in Detroit, MI. TB genotyping helps distinguish persons with TB disease involved in the same chain of transmission. The cluster emerged in December 2004, when the first patient was diagnosed with drug–susceptible TB. This patient subsequently acquired multidrug resistant (MDR) TB. Seven additional genotype–matched TB cases were identified, including a pediatric MDR case and one TB–related death. Genotyping proved extremely useful; the investigation revealed ongoing transmission among a larger group of patients than was originally identified. This report details factors that resulted in treatment interruptions for TB patients and the challenges of treating TB with limited public health resources.

Simian Malaria in a U.S. Traveler – Suffolk County, New York, 2008

PRESS CONTACT: Division of Media Relations
(404) 639-3286

Laboratory diagnosis of simian malaria infection in humans by light microscopy are difficult to make, thus select malaria parasites isolated from ill travelers returning to the U.S. from Asia or South America can be sent to the CDC for confirmation by molecular testing.  This report describes the first recognized, imported human case of Plasmodium knowlesi, a simian malaria species, in the United States in several decades. Although simian malaria infections in humans were once thought to be rare, recent reports from Malaysia and the surrounding countries suggests that P. knowlesimay be emerging as an important zoonotic human pathogen. Cases of simian malaria infections can go unrecognized, because of their morphologic similarity to one of the four malaria species classically known to infect humans. Molecular analyses of select malaria parasites isolated from ill travelers returning to the U.S. from Asia or South America are needed to confirm the diagnosis of and more accurately assess the burden of simian malaria parasite infections in humans.

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES