County Versus Country

Infectious disease deaths are down overall in America, but University of Washington researchers have identified holes and shifts in that progress.

New research in JAMA tracks county-level infectious disease deaths from 1980-2014. Mortality rates fell 18.7%, to 34.10 per 100,000 persons, with men experiencing the steepest decline.

Lower respiratory infections topped the list for most deadly; diarrheal disease was the only cause of death that increased over the study period. HIV mortality, the third deadliest, began decreasing in 1994 but its toll shifted from wealthy West Coast countries to the South’s poorest.

CIDRAP