In The News: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

As the latest and most transmissible COVID-19 variant, BA.5, spreads rapidly through the U.S. and Nevada in what has become the sixth wave of the pandemic, experts say that low vaccination rates have contributed to the continual morphing and spreading of the virus.
Just as we get to grips with one infectious disease, another makes its way into the headlines: Monkeypox.
Thanks to national smoking cessation campaigns in the United States, 61.7% of adult smokers who have ever smoked cigarettes have quit. That equals 55 million Americans. Yet smoking rates among healthcare workers, particularly male physicians, remains relatively high.

Throughout the two years of COVID-19, there was a familiar pattern: A rise in cases, followed by a rise in hospitalizations, and then a rise in deaths.

We’ve been dealing with COVID-19 for more than two years now. Now we’ve got monkeypox.
While it may not be earth-shattering news that smoking cigarettes could be the catalyst for an array of respiratory illnesses including throat and lung cancer, researchers at the University of Las Vegas University, Nevada (51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ), are reporting that there could be a new reason for smokers to be concerned.
While it may not be earth-shattering news that smoking cigarettes could be the catalyst for an array of respiratory illnesses including throat and lung cancer, researchers at the University of Las Vegas University, Nevada (51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ), are reporting that there could be a new reason for smokers to be concerned.
Male smokers are more likely to develop osteoporosis, suffer bone fractures and die early.
Smoking is a major risk factor for osteoporosis and risk of fracture, and men tend to smoke more than women, increasing their risk for osteoporosis, which has traditionally been thought of as a women's disease.
Male smokers break bones disproportionately and are more likely to develop osteoporosis, which causes bones to become porous and break easily.
You can add more risk of broken bones to the long list of health harms that smoking poses to men.

Federal and local public health agencies are recommending wearing a mask in public indoor settings now that Clark County has once again reached high community levels of COVID-19.