Acute Health Effects After the Elk River Chemical Spill, West Virginia, January 2014.

Objectives: On January 9, 2014, approximately 10 000 gallons of a mixture of 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol and propylene glycol phenyl ether spilled into West Virginia's Elk River, contaminating the potable water supply of about 300 000 West Virginia residents. This study sought to describe acute health effects after the chemical spill.

Methods: We conducted a descriptive analysis using 3 complementary data sources: (1) medical records of patients who visited an emergency department during January 9-23, 2014, with illness potentially related to the spill; (2) West Virginia Poison Center caller records coded as "contaminated water" during January 9-23, 2014; and (3) answers to household surveys about health effects from a Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER) questionnaire administered 3 months after the spill.

Intentional and inadvertent chemical contamination of food, water, and medication.

Numerous examples of chemical contamination of food, water, or medication have led to steps by regulatory agencies to maintain the safety of this critical social infrastructure and supply chain. Identification of contaminant site is important. Environmental testing and biomonitoring can define the nature and extent of the event and are useful for providing objective information, but may be unavailable in time for clinical care.

Prevention of kidney injury following rhabdomyolysis: a systematic review.

Objective: To conduct a systematic literature review to evaluate evidence-based recommendations for the prevention of rhabdomyolysis-associated acute renal failure (ARF).

Data Sources: PubMed (1966-December 2012), International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Science Citation Index, and Cochrane databases (1970-December 2012) were searched. There were no language restrictions.

Effect of scheduling tramadol as a controlled substance on poison center exposures to tramadol.

Background: There is limited information on the effect of scheduling a drug as a controlled substance with comparable data from both a pre-scheduling and post-scheduling time period.

Objective: To investigate the temporal changes on poisoning cases involving tramadol in 4 states: 2 states where it has been scheduled and 2 where it is not scheduled.

Methods: Databases were searched for all cases involving tramadol reported from 2003 through 2009 at 6 regional poison centers that served Arkansas, Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia.