The CDC's disease prevention efforts include educating the public on how to recognize and avoid contracting common infectious diseases, such as the flu and strep throat.
DISASTERS Hurricane Katrina approaches landfall on the Gulf coast. Very little on land or water was spared by the storm when it struck in 2005. (Image from NOAA) Hurricane Katrina caused devastating personal, social, economic, and cultural losses. This image shows homes destroyed by the storm in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. (Image from
The report found that the Gulf Coast population -- which includes counties in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and western Florida -- jumped by 150 percent since 1960 to about 14 million, as people shied away from coastal living in more crowded areas along the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.