CU Anschutz In The News

Lisa McKenzie, a clinical assistant professor at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus, has found that benzene concentrations in the air around oil and gas operations in Colorado are about twice as high as they are in Denver, whose air isn’t exactly pristine. “The closer you live to an oil and gas site, the higher your risk of cancer … and the higher your risk for respiratory and neurological effects,” she said.

Typically, hospitals can get an idea of what the flu season will be like by looking to Australia, whose winter flu season is during the Northern Hemisphere’s summer, said Michelle Barron, medical director of infection prevention at UCHealth [and professor of medicine at CU School of Medicine].

If you’re traveling, consider staying at a hotel rather than with relatives, unless everyone in the group is very low risk and has plenty of space to spread out, said Dr. Andrés Henao, internal medicine physician, infectious disease specialist, and director of the UCHealth Travel Clinic at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

Dr. Daniel Pastula, a neuroinfectious disease physician at UC Health University of Colorado Hospital [and CU School of Medicine associate professor of neurology], said the outdoor element of ski trips is generally safe during a pandemic, but the virus could spread if people congregate in places such as lift lines, lodges, restaurants and bathrooms. “I think you can ski smartly and safely. Again, not completely eliminating the risk, but really reducing it,” he said. Pastula listed now-common safety measures for skiers to follow, among them staying outdoors as much as possible, avoiding crowds and staying home when sick.

“The tests have to be used when they’re supposed to be used,” said Andrea Prinzi, a clinical microbiologist at the University of Colorado, Anschutz. “That’s when they’re going to help you the most.”

“We wanted to know how this kind of decision making takes place,” says senior study author Diego Restrepo, Ph.D., professor of cell and developmental biology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, in a release. “How, for example, do you decide to swing or not swing at a fastball in baseball?”

“Wow,” said Dr. Matthew K. Wynia, an infectious disease specialist and director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado. He noted that the editorial did not explicitly mention Mr. Biden, but said it was clearly “an obvious call to replace the president.”

The things that make Colorado a healthy place, like the abundant opportunities for outdoor exercise, aren’t equally available to people who work lower-paying jobs and don’t have the money or free time to enjoy them, said Patricia Valverde, a faculty member at the Colorado School of Public Health’s Latino Research and Policy Center. And who works in low-wage jobs, which also tend to be more dangerous and may not offer health insurance, isn’t random, she said.