Emerging disease syndromic surveillance for Hurricane Katrina evacuees seeking shelter in Houston's Astrodome and Reliant Park Complex.

Transmission of infectious diseases became an immediate public health concern when approximately 27,000 New Orleans-area residents evacuated to Houston's Astrodome and Reliant Park Complex following Hurricane Katrina. This article presents a surveillance system that was rapidly developed and implemented for daily tracking of various symptoms in the evacuee population in the Astrodome "megashelter." This system successfully confirmed an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis and became a critical tool in monitoring the course of this outbreak.

Professionalism and ethics in the public health curriculum.

As the public's health-care needs increase in complexity, renewed attention is being given to the ethical dimensions of public health decision-making and the development of public health ethics as a bounded area of teaching and research. This article provides an overview of approaches to public health ethics and decision-making, and suggests ways to incorporate the professionalism competencies into the teaching of public health practice. The teaching of ethics language, concepts, and tools for decision analysis helps to prepare students for the inevitable ethical choices they will have to make in their professional practice.

Asthma: the impact of policies on breathing easier.

Asthma's impact on health, quality of life, and the economy is substantial, and asthma rates are increasing. Currently, there is no way to prevent the initial onset of asthma, and there is no cure. However, people who have asthma can and do lead high quality, productive lives if they control their asthma by taking medication and, as appropriate, avoid contact with environmental "triggers.