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Home > Archive > Politics and Medicine > June 2005 > CDC detectives study obesity outbreak in West Virginia
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CDC detectives study obesity outbreak in West Virginia
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| Roman Bystrianyk 2005-06-09, 11:53 am |
| Gina Kolata, "CDC detectives study obesity outbreak in West Virginia",
Lexington Herald-Leader, June 3, 2005,
Link: http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldl...te/11803022.htm
For the first time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has
sent a team of specialists into a state, West Virginia, to study an
outbreak of obesity in the same way it studies an outbreak of an
infectious disease.
Kerri Kennedy, the program manager at the West Virginia Physical
Activity and Nutrition Program, said the state had requested the
investigation by the centers.
"We were looking at our data," Kennedy said, and saw that "we are
facing a severe health crisis."
The state ranked third in the nation for obesity -- 27.6 percent of its
adults were obese as compared with 20.4 percent in the rest of the
country. And, Kennedy said, "our rate of obesity appears to be
increasing faster than the rest of the nation."
So the state asked the agency's disease detectives to tackle its
obesity problem, and a three-week investigation began on April 25. It
focused, Kennedy said, on two places that represented towns and cities
in the state -- Gilmer County, with 7,160 residents, and Clarksburg, a
city with 16,743 residents.
The investigative teams spent a week and a half in each place, going to
schools and asking about physical education programs and what sort of
food was provided. They went to workplaces, asking whether there were
policies to encourage physical activity. They went to randomly selected
grocery stores and restaurants, asking whether they offered fruits and
vegetables and skim or 1 percent milk.
The director of the centers, Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, said in a news
conference yesterday that this type of investigation was a first for
the agency.
"This has never happened in the history of the CDC," she said.
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| george conklin 2005-06-09, 5:59 pm |
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"Roman Bystrianyk" <rbystrianyk@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1118333641.564187.243080@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Gina Kolata, "CDC detectives study obesity outbreak in West Virginia",
> Lexington Herald-Leader, June 3, 2005,
> Link: http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldl...te/11803022.htm
>
> For the first time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has
> sent a team of specialists into a state, West Virginia, to study an
> outbreak of obesity in the same way it studies an outbreak of an
> infectious disease.
>
> Kerri Kennedy, the program manager at the West Virginia Physical
> Activity and Nutrition Program, said the state had requested the
> investigation by the centers.
>
> "We were looking at our data," Kennedy said, and saw that "we are
> facing a severe health crisis."
>
You cannot get a grant these days unless you declare a 'crisis.'
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| Skeptic 2005-06-18, 6:24 pm |
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"george conklin" <george@nxu.edu> wrote in message
news:xd0qe.1769$VK4.668@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>
> "Roman Bystrianyk" <rbystrianyk@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1118333641.564187.243080@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> You cannot get a grant these days unless you declare a 'crisis.'
Is obesity not a crisis? Have you seen the trends? Do you understand the
monstrous health costs it is costing us... and the increase of associated
disease?
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