Tagged: health

There must be thousands of St. Louisans struggling through day three of a new year's resolution not to smoke.  In fact, Barry Freedman, Project Manager for Communities Putting Prevention to Work with the St. Louis County Department of Health says a survey of St. Louis smokers shows that nearly 60% say they'd like to quit in the next six months.  

St. Louis is joining the National Children's Study, the largest long-term study of child health ever conducted in the United States.

The study will follow 100,000 children nationwide from before birth to age 21.

Local study leader Louise Flick of Saint Louis University's School of Public Health says more than 4,000 children from St. Louis City, Jefferson County, and southwestern Illinois will be asked to participate.

Saint Louis County is seeing a surge in cases of pertussis.

More commonly known as “whooping cough,” pertussis is highly contagious, spreading through the air via small droplets when infected people cough, sneeze or talk.

One hundred and eighty-five cases have been reported in the county so far this year – two-thirds of them in the past six weeks.