Online-only: Public health extras: News roundup on dental therapists, flu outbreaks, U.K. tobacco display bans and organ donor promotions ========================================================================================================================================= * Donya Currie ## Dental therapists provide effective care to millions of children Dental therapists provide safe, effective care to millions of children, according to a recent study. Researchers reviewed more than 1,100 reports documenting care provided by dental therapists and clinical outcomes of that care. They found such therapists can effectively expand access to dental care, especially for children, and the care provided is competent, safe and effective. “There is no question that dental therapists provide care for children that is high quality and safe,” said study lead author David Nash, DMD, EdD, MS, of the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry. “Given these findings, the profession of dentistry should support adding dental therapists to the oral health care team.” The study reviewed the history and practice of dental therapists in 54 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom and Malaysia. The review found no evidence indicating the public perception of dental therapists was negative in any country. The study, supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, was published as the report “A Review of the Global Literature on Dental Therapists: In the Context of the Movement to Add Dental Therapists to the Oral Health Workforce in the United States” and is available via [www.wkkf.org](http://www.wkkf.org). ## Maine prison flu outbreaks show need for preparedness Influenza outbreaks at two correctional facilities in Maine last year highlight the need for preparedness, according to a study in the April 6 *Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report*. The study documented a flu outbreak at a maximum security prison that can house about 920 inmates and employs up to 410 staff members, and a minimum security prison with up to about 220 inmates and 65 staff members. At the larger prison, public health officials received word in March 2011 that a 55-year-old male inmate with a history of diabetes, congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease fell ill and tested positive for influenza A. On the same day, public health officials learned of a 29-year-old inmate at the smaller prison who had died after rapid onset of respiratory symptoms. An autopsy revealed that patient tested positive for influenza B and also methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus pneumonia. Neither inmate had been vaccinated against influenza. The following day, March 9, 2011, state health officials were notified that about 40 inmates from the larger prison “reported for sick call with respiratory symptoms.” Corrections medical staff were overwhelmed, and state health workers were called in to help set up temporary clinics at both prisons, offering vaccination and antiviral medications. The study underscored “the importance of collaboration between public health and corrections officials to identify quickly and mitigate communicable disease outbreaks in these settings, where influenza can spread rapidly in a large and concentrated population,” the study’s authors wrote. They recommended correctional facilities offer flu vaccination to all inmates and staff during flu season, give educational sessions on reducing the spread of respiratory illness and make accessible the vaccination status of inmates and staff should an outbreak occur. The study’s authors also said the use of electronic medical records could help by pinpointing more quickly which inmates lacked vaccination. Prisons can be a particularly ripe breeding ground for infectious illness, they noted, because of a high prevalence of pre-existing medical conditions coupled with close living quarters. ## UK tobacco ban eliminates displays in supermarkets, shops A ban on tobacco displays in supermarkets and large shops recently went into effect in the United Kingdom, where stores now are required to cover cigarettes and hide tobacco products from public view. “We cannot ignore the fact that young people are recruited into smoking by colorful, eye-catching cigarette displays,” said British Health Minister Anne Milton. “Most adults started smoking as teenagers, and we need to stop this trend. Banning displays of cigarettes and tobacco will help young people resist the pressure to start smoking and help the thousands of adults in England who are currently trying to quit.” England’s tobacco plan aims to drive down smoking rates in the country, where more than 8 million people smoke and cigarettes are linked to more than 80,000 yearly deaths. Nearly two-thirds of current and former smokers say they picked up the habit before age 18. According to national health officials, 5 percent of children ages 11–15 are regular smokers, and more than 300,000 children younger than 16 try smoking each year. Also, 39 percent of smokers say they were regularly lighting up before the age of 16. “Preventing young people from starting to smoke is vital, and putting tobacco out of sight is a step towards putting them out of mind for the next generation,” said Jean King, Cancer Research UK’s director of tobacco control. The ban on tobacco displays went into effect April 6. Among other goals of England’s tobacco control plan, which was released in March 2011, are to examine whether plain packaging of tobacco products could help reduce smoking rates and to tax tobacco products “at levels that impact on smoking prevalence.” ## Advertising at DMV could double organ donor registration An on-site public health campaign at drivers’ licensing facilities in Michigan led to nearly a doubling of organ donor registration, according to a study to be published in the July issue of the Journal of Applied Communication Research. The campaign relied only on print promotional materials at driver licensing facilities rather than a multimedia approach. The behavior-promoting messages on posters and fliers at selected Michigan Department of Motor Vehicle Offices almost doubled donor registration rates at test sites, an important finding in light of the nationwide organ donor shortage. “There continues to be a gap between Americans who state they are favorable to organ donation and those who are actually registered donors,” said study lead author Andy King, a doctoral candidate at Purdue University’s Brian Lamb School of Communication. “There are many reasons people decide not to be donors, but for many people the reason they are not designated donors is because they don’t know how to sign up or they don’t remember to declare their intent to be donors in situations when they could.” Donate Life America of Richmond, Va., estimates only about 40 percent of U.S. adults have registered as organ and tissue donors, and more than 113,000 Americans were awaiting organ transplants as of April. The Michigan outreach effort used DMV sites because more than 80 percent of designated organ donors in the state registered at local DMV offices, according to the Michigan secretary of state’s office. In May, Facebook announced that users could add organ donation to their profiles, leading to 100,000 donation signups in a day, according to news reports. * Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association