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Show 4. Know your cholesterol and blood levels: cholesterol should be less than 200mg/dL, blood pressure should be less than 140/90mm Hg. 5. Maintain a healthy weight. 6. If you've reached menopause, ask your doctor about hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Targeted Screening for Childhood Lead Exposure in a Low Prevalence Area A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (March 14, 1997/Vol.46/No. 10) Lead is an environmental toxicant with serious adverse effects on children's behavior and development. Effects can range from decreased growth, hearing, and intelligence at low exposures to encephalopathy and death at high exposures. Because risk for lead exposure is associated with several different factors, it can vary greatly across relatively small areas. To establish the local prevalence and distribution of childhood lead exposure and develop local blood lead screening recommendations, the Salt Lake City-County Health Department offered free blood lead level (BLL) screening to all children ages 12-36 months enrolled at the seven Special Supplement Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinics in Salt Lake County, Utah during January-October 1995. Of the 5,168 children tested, those with high blood lead levels lived in a concentrated area of the city, and were likely to live in older homes with lead paint. Other factors found to increase BLLs include house dust, soil contaminated with lead from deteriorated lead-based paint, and residual lead fallout from vehicle exhaust. The findings in Salt Lake County demonstrate how evaluation of the local distribution of childhood lead exposure risk, targeting of services to those at great risk, and outreach to the public and to health-care providers can be combined effectively to reach children who require BBL screening. Because lead exposure can vary even within a small geographic area, as indicated in the findings in Salt Lake County, the CDC has developed guidelines to help state and local health departments determine whether to recommend universal or targeted screening within their jurisdictions and communicate those recommendations to the public and to pediatric health-care providers. Guidelines were drafted in April 1997. 1997: The Year in Review Abstracted from the Epidemiology Newsletter (January 1998), prepared by the Utah Department of Health, in connection with laboratories, physician's offices, local health departments, schools, and nursing homes throughout Utah The data collected records the epidemiological status of Utah during 1997. The findings are summarized as follows: Enteric Diseases Based on preliminary data, 1997 saw a decrease in almost all of the enteric diseases reported to the Bureau of Epidemiology. The only exception was E. coli 0157:H7, where the number of reported cases increased from 30 cases in 1996 to 58 cases in 1997. The number of cases of shigellosis continued to decrease from 307 cases in 1996 to 103 cases in 1997. Camphylobacteriosis decreased 8.3% from 243 cases in 1996 to 223 cases in 1997. Giardiasis decreased to 299 cases, and salmonellosis decreased by 47% to 279 cases in 1997. Viral Hepatitis Hepatitis A accounted for 556 cases in 1997, a 48% reduction from the year before. Of the total number of cases, 27 (4.8%) were found to be foodhandlers and, 114 (20.3%) were associated with day care centers. Hepatitis B cases decreased from 129 in 1996 to 93 in 1997. Of the reported cases, 64.5% were male and 54.8% were 20-29 years old. Fifty-two cases of perinatal hepatitis B carriers were identified. Hepatitis C reports confirmed a decrease to five cases, and one case each of hepatitis D and E were reported in 1997. HIV/AIDS The Bureau of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Refugee Health reported 151 AIDS cases and 83 new HIV positive individuals during 1997. The 151 reported AIDS cases represent a 19.7% decrease from the 188 reported in 1996. Meningitis Meningococcal disease remained virtually unchanged at 17 cases in 1997. The ages of reported cases ranged from 2 months to 73 years, 152 with the mean age of 22.5 years. Causes of |