Asthma-Associated Emergency Department Visits During the Canadian Wildfire Smoke Episodes - United States, April- August 2023.

During April 30-August 4, 2023, smoke originating from wildfires in Canada affected most of the contiguous United States. CDC used National Syndromic Surveillance Program data to assess numbers and percentages of asthma-associated emergency department (ED) visits on days with wildfire smoke, compared with days without wildfire smoke. Wildfire smoke days were defined as days when concentrations of particulate matter (particles generally ≤2.

COVID-19 Surveillance After Expiration of the Public Health Emergency Declaration - United States, May 11, 2023.

On January 31, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared, under Section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, a U.

Increase in Acute Respiratory Illnesses Among Children and Adolescents Associated with Rhinoviruses and Enteroviruses, Including Enterovirus D68 - United States, July-September 2022.

Increases in severe respiratory illness and acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) among children and adolescents resulting from enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) infections occurred biennially in the United States during 2014, 2016, and 2018, primarily in late summer and fall. Although EV-D68 annual trends are not fully understood, EV-D68 levels were lower than expected in 2020, potentially because of implementation of COVID-19 mitigation measures (e.g.

Trends in Acute Hepatitis of Unspecified Etiology and Adenovirus Stool Testing Results in Children - United States, 2017-2022.

In November 2021, CDC was notified of a cluster of previously healthy children with hepatitis of unknown etiology evaluated at a single U.S. hospital (1).

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Chlamydia and Gonorrhea Tests Performed by a Large National Laboratory-United States, 2019 to 2020.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, disruptions were anticipated in the US health care system for routine preventive and other nonemergency care, including sexually transmitted infection care.

Methods: Using a large national laboratory data set, we assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the weekly numbers and percent positivity of chlamydia and gonorrhea tests ordered from the 5th week of 2019 to the 52nd week of 2020 in the United States. We compared weekly 2020 values for test volume, percent positive, and number of positives with the same week in 2019.

Changes and Inequities in Adult Mental Health-Related Emergency Department Visits During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the US.

Importance: The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected adult mental health (MH), with racial and ethnic minoritized groups disproportionately affected.

Objective: To examine changes in adult MH-related emergency department (ED) visits into the Delta variant pandemic period and identify changes and inequities in these visits before and during COVID-19 case surges.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This epidemiologic cross-sectional study used National Syndromic Surveillance Program data from US adults aged 18 to 64 years from 1970 to 2352 ED facilities from January 1, 2019, to August 14, 2021.

Pediatric Emergency Department Visits Associated with Mental Health Conditions Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic - United States, January 2019-January 2022.

In 2021, a national emergency* for children's mental health was declared by several pediatric health organizations, and the U.S. Surgeon General released an advisory on mental health among youths.

Pediatric Emergency Department Visits Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic - United States, January 2019-January 2022.

Emergency departments (EDs) in the United States remain a frontline resource for pediatric health care emergencies during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, patterns of health-seeking behavior have changed during the pandemic (1,2). CDC examined changes in U.S.

Mycobacterium porcinum Skin and Soft Tissue Infections After Vaccinations - Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, September 2018-February 2019.

During December 2018-February 2019, a multistate investigation identified 101 patients with vaccination-associated adverse events among an estimated 940 persons in Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio who had received influenza; hepatitis A; pneumococcal; or tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid, and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccines at the workplace during September 11-November 28, 2018. These vaccines had been administered by staff members of a third-party health care company contracted by 24 businesses. Company A provided multiple vaccine types during workplace vaccination events across 54 locations in these adjoining states.

Investigation of Bacterial Infections Among Patients Treated With Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived Products Marketed as Stem Cell Therapies.

Importance: The number of clinics marketing stem cell products for joint diseases, chronic pain, and most recently, COVID-19, has increased despite warnings from the US Food and Drug Administration that stem cell products for these and other indications have not been proven safe or effective.

Objective: To examine bacterial infections in 20 patients who received umbilical cord blood-derived products marketed as stem cell treatment.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This case series is a national public health investigation including case-finding, medical record review and abstraction, and laboratory investigation, including sterility testing of products and whole-genome sequencing of patient and product isolates.

Trends in COVID-19 Cases, Emergency Department Visits, and Hospital Admissions Among Children and Adolescents Aged 0-17 Years - United States, August 2020-August 2021.

Although COVID-19 generally results in milder disease in children and adolescents than in adults, severe illness from COVID-19 can occur in children and adolescents and might require hospitalization and intensive care unit (ICU) support (1-3). It is not known whether the B.1.

Heat-Related Emergency Department Visits During the Northwestern Heat Wave - United States, June 2021.

Record high temperatures are occurring more frequently in the United States, and climate change is causing heat waves to become more intense (1), directly impacting human health, including heat-related illnesses and deaths. On average, approximately 700 heat-related deaths occur in the United States each year (2). In the northwestern United States, increasing temperatures are projected to cause significant adverse health effects in the coming years (3).

Syndromic surveillance of vaccine-associated adverse events in U.S. emergency departments.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explored use of emergency department (ED) visit data, during 2018-2020, from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program to monitor vaccine-associated adverse events (VAE) among all age groups. A combination of chief complaint terms and administrative diagnosis codes were used to detect VAE-related ED visits. Postvaccination fever was among the top 10 most frequently noted diagnoses.

Changes in Seasonal Respiratory Illnesses in the United States During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic.

Background: Respiratory tract infections are common, often seasonal, and caused by multiple pathogens. We assessed whether seasonal respiratory illness patterns changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We categorized emergency department (ED) visits reported to the National Syndromic Surveillance Program according to chief complaints and diagnosis codes, excluding visits with diagnosed SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Update: COVID-19 Pandemic-Associated Changes in Emergency Department Visits - United States, December 2020-January 2021.

During March 29-April 25, 2020, emergency department (ED) visits in the United States declined by 42% after the declaration of a national emergency for COVID-19 on March 13, 2020. Among children aged ≤10 years, ED visits declined by 72% compared with prepandemic levels (1). To assess the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on EDs, CDC examined trends in visits since December 30, 2018, and compared the numbers and types of ED visits by patient demographic and geographic factors during a COVID-19 pandemic period (December 20, 2020-January 16, 2021) with a prepandemic period 1 year earlier (December 15, 2019-January 11, 2020).

Emergency Department Visits for COVID-19 by Race and Ethnicity - 13 States, October-December 2020.

Hispanic or Latino (Hispanic), non-Hispanic Black or African American (Black), and non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN) persons have experienced disproportionately higher rates of hospitalization and death attributable to COVID-19 than have non-Hispanic White (White) persons (1-4). Emergency care data offer insight into COVID-19 incidence; however, differences in use of emergency department (ED) services for COVID-19 by racial and ethnic groups are not well understood. These data, most of which are recorded within 24 hours of the visit, might be an early indicator of changing patterns in disparities.

Transmission Dynamics by Age Group in COVID-19 Hotspot Counties - United States, April-September 2020.

CDC works with other federal agencies to identify counties with increasing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) incidence (hotspots) and offers support to state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 (1). Understanding whether increasing incidence in hotspot counties is predominantly occurring in specific age groups is important for identifying opportunities to prevent or reduce transmission. The percentage of positive SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results (percent positivity) is an important indicator of community transmission.

Changing Age Distribution of the COVID-19 Pandemic - United States, May-August 2020.

As of September 21, 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had resulted in more than 6,800,000 reported U.S. cases and more than 199,000 associated deaths.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Emergency Department Visits - United States, January 1, 2019-May 30, 2020.

On March 13, 2020, the United States declared a national emergency to combat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). As the number of persons hospitalized with COVID-19 increased, early reports from Austria (1), Hong Kong (2), Italy (3), and California (4) suggested sharp drops in the numbers of persons seeking emergency medical care for other reasons. To quantify the effect of COVID-19 on U.

Update: Characteristics of a Nationwide Outbreak of E-cigarette, or Vaping, Product Use-Associated Lung Injury - United States, August 2019-January 2020.

Since August 2019, CDC, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), state and local health departments, and public health and clinical stakeholders have been investigating a nationwide outbreak of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) (1). This report updates patient demographic characteristics, self-reported substance use, and hospitalization dates for EVALI patients reported to CDC by states, as well as the distribution of emergency department (ED) visits related to e-cigarette, or vaping, products analyzed through the National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP). As of January 14, 2020, a total of 2,668 hospitalized EVALI cases had been reported to CDC.