MMWR – Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

1. Consumption of Cigarettes and Combustible Tobacco — United States, 2000–2011

CDC
Division of News & Electronic Media
404-639-3286

Increases in total consumption of non-cigarette smoked tobacco products have slowed the long decline in overall consumption of smoked tobacco products. Adult consumption of all smoked tobacco products declined just 0.8 percent between 2010 and 2011.  Whereas total cigarette consumption continued an 11-year downward trend with a 2.5 percent decline from 2010 to 2011, total consumption of other forms of smoked tobacco products was up more than 17 percent last year.  Sharp increases in total consumption of pipe tobacco (used for roll-your-own cigarettes) and cigarette-like cigars since 2008 have offset the continuing decline in total cigarette consumption. The availability of low-priced and less-regulated alternative products to smokers who might have otherwise quit smoking has blunted the public health impact that excise tax increases and uniform regulation might otherwise have had on preventing youth initiation, reducing consumption, and prompting quit attempts.

2. Public Health Interventions with Travelers with Tuberculosis — U.S. Ports of Entry, 2012

CDC
Division of News & Electronic Media
404-639-3286

A variety of legal and programmatic Tuberculosis (TB) control and prevention activities conducted by CDC quarantine stations support CDC’s mission to limit the spread of infectious disease from travelers. Effective collaboration between the network of CDC quarantine stations and international, state, and local public health practitioners can help reduce the spread of TB during travel. CDC quarantine stations provide national coordination of public health responses to TB in travelers by intercepting TB patients at ports of entry, issuing federal isolation orders, restricting travel, arranging safe transport for patients across state lines, referring immigrants with noninfectious TB conditions at ports of entry to TB clinics in their destination states, and identifying passenger-contacts for possible intervention. CDC recently revised its guidelines to optimize the cost-benefit ratio of airline TB contact investigations.

3. Infant Lead Poisoning Associated with Use of Tiro, an Eye Cosmetic from Nigeria — Boston, Massachusetts, 201

CDC
Division of News & Electronic Media
404-639-3286

Lead is highly toxic and can damage the brain, kidneys, bone marrow, and other body systems. Young children are especially susceptible to lead exposures because of their floor-hand-mouth activity, greater gut absorption, and developing central nervous systems. This report describes an eye cosmetic and Nigerian folk remedy known as “tiro” as a source of lead poisoning in a child aged 6 months, born in the United States to Nigerian parents. Healthcare providers and public health workers should ask about eye medications and cosmetics when seeking a source of exposure in children with elevated blood lead levels from immigrant populations. Although CDC recommends blood lead testing for internationally adopted and refugee children, blood lead testing in children of some immigrants might also be important because of the increased risk for exposure to lead-containing foreign products.  

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES