To calculate the burden of 2009 pandemic influenza A (pH1N1) in the United States, we extrapolated from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Emerging Infections Program laboratory-confirmed hospitalizations across the entire United States, and then corrected for underreporting. From 12 April 2009 to 10 April 2010, we estimate that approximately 60.8 million cases (range: 43.3-89.3 million), 274,304 hospitalizations (195,086-402,719), and 12,469 deaths (8868-18,306) occurred in the United States due to pH1N1. Eighty-seven percent of deaths occurred in those under 65 years of age with children and working adults having risks of hospitalization and death 4 to 7 times and 8 to 12 times greater, respectively, than estimates of impact due to seasonal influenza covering the years 1976-2001. In our study, adults 65 years of age or older were found to have rates of hospitalization and death that were up to 75% and 81%, respectively, lower than seasonal influenza. These results confirm the necessity of a concerted public health response to pH1N1.

Sexually transmitted infections continue to impose a substantial cost burden on the payers of medical care in the United States. The burden of STIs would be even greater in the absence of STI prevention and control efforts.

The dual-POC test may help save cost in resource-poor settings where disease prevalence (and loss to follow-up) is high, while substantially reducing overtreatment.

The Treponemal-First option costs slightly more and results in more unnecessary treatment.

Given the increasing prevalence of syphilis and HIV among pregnant women in China, prenatal HIV screening programs that also include syphilis screening are likely to be substantially more cost-effective than HIV screening alone and prevent many more adverse pregnancy outcomes.

The effect on housing prices of proximity to different types of parks is estimated using a unique data set of single-family homes sold between 1990 and 1999 in Greenville, South Carolina. While the value of park proximity is found to vary with respect to park size and amenities, the estimates from this study are larger than previous studies. The greatest impact on housing values was found with proximity to small neighborhood parks, with the positive impact of proximity to both small and medium-size parks extending to homes as far as 1500 feet from the park.

No abstract

Although disparities in STDs across the eight Americas are generally similar to the well-established disparities in STDs across race/ethnicity, the grouping of counties into the eight Americas does offer additional insight into disparities in STDs in the United States. The high STD rates we found for black Middle America are consistent with the assertion that sexual networks and social factors are important drivers of racial disparities in STDs.