Georgia public health teams are investigating an outbreak of E. coli in Stephens County that sickened almost a dozen people who ate at a barbecue restaurant in the first week of May.

 

As of May 23, District 2 Public Health, the Stephens County Health Department and the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) identified 10 Georgians and one South Carolina resident who were infected with E. coli 0157:H7 after eating at the BBQ Shack in Toccoa. An additional seven people were probably infected, although their illnesses haven’t been confirmed with lab results.

 

Cherie Drenzek, D.V.M., DPH state epidemiologist, said public health officials consider outbreaks of this strain of E. coli to be public health emergencies since the infections can have severe clinical complications.

 

“This is a big one, as far as E. coli outbreaks go. It’s kind of an all hands on deck situation,” Drenzek said.

    

    

 

Drunk driving kills about 10,000 Americans every year and public health and safety groups across the U.S. are always looking for new ways to keep people from operating motor vehicles after they've had too much to drink. But one recent suggestion received an unusual lack of support from several major public safety groups.

 

This month, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), an independent federal agency that reviews travel safety issues, urged states to lower their legal limits for drunk driving from .08 percent blood alcohol content (BAC) to .05 percent, the first change to the law since the limit decreased from .10 percent to its current level nearly 15 years ago.

 

In a news conference discussing the recommendations, NTSB Chair Deborah Hersman said the goal is to eliminate alcohol-impaired driving by targeting drivers who drink but think they are not a danger.

 

"We know drivers are significantly impaired at .05. There is no debate about that," she said. Lowering the BAC limit "has the effect of everyone drinking less."

    

    

 

Imagine a classroom full of elementary school students running and jumping next to their desks, coached by Olympic athletes as they pretend to run hurdles in an Olympic race in just a few minutes between lessons.

 

That was the scene for students at Mary Lin Elementary School in Atlanta on May 16 when they were visited by Olympic decathlon gold medalist Ashton Eaton, Olympic hurdler Queen Harrison and Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) Commissioner Brenda Fitzgerald, M.D., as they tested GoNoodle, a suite of interactive games that features running, stretching, dancing and deep breathing activities.

  

HealthTeacher, which produces Go Noodle and other Web-based health games and apps for kids, designed the program to be a free, easy way for teachers to add physical activity to their classrooms without having to create additional lesson plans or activities.

    

    

 

City of Atlanta employees have shed hundreds of pounds and gained national recognition while doing so. On May 20, a group of workers joined Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed on Katie Couric's national talk show to discuss their citywide effort to adopt healthier lifestyles.

 

About 800 city employees joined the mayor's weight loss challenge, a six-week endeavor to improve their diet and exercise habits. Reed said encouraging employees to change their lifestyles has not only improved health and morale in the workplace, but it has helped the city save money in health care costs.

 

"We have saved $7 million since 2010 by encouraging healthy lifestyles," Reed told Couric.

    

    

 

 

Those contributions go to the Georgia Department of Public Health's (DPH) Drive for Sight Program, which supports partners who provide low vision education, rehabilitation and treatment services for people who are blind or visually impaired.

 

Subie Green, president of The Center for the Visually Impaired (CVI), uses the funding for children's vision screenings, eye exams for adults in need, training for those who have lost vision and public education about eye donation.

 

"Drive for Sight makes it possible for many Georgians with vision loss to learn the skills they need to be successful at school and work, and to live in their own homes instead of care facilities," said Green. "I'm inspired by the commitment of our clients to become and remain independent, to stay involved and to be contributing members of our communities -- all because of the $1 donations from Georgia drivers renewing their driver's licenses."

    

    

World Health Organization (WHO) will mark World No Tobacco Day on May 31, highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption. This year's theme is "ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship."

 

According to WHO, tobacco kills up to half of its users. Tobacco also kills nearly 6 million people each year, 600,000 of whom are nonsmokers dying from breathing secondhand smoke. Unless urgent action is taken, the annual death toll could rise to more than 8 million by 2030.

 

On a national level, CDC's Tips from Former Smokers campaign is building public awareness of the damage caused by smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke with its hard-hitting tobacco education campaign, geared toward motivating smokers to quit and keeping nonsmokers from starting.

    

    

 

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