European Union wants tougher tobacco warnings

LUXEMBOURGThe European Union moved further on Friday toward a major clampdown on tobacco, with member states backing plans for bigger and bolder health warnings on cigarette packs and bans on most flavorings like menthol.

Under the proposals, mandatory warnings would take up 65 percent of tobacco packaging and be more prominent, with the inclusion of gruesome pictorials.

Friday's plan of the member states now goes for negotiation to the European Parliament, where even tougher curbs on the use of tobacco might be sought.

"We have an opportunity today to step up to the mark, or we can walk away and fail our children," said Irish Health Minister James Reilly.

EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg said the crackdown was aimed at reducing smoking-related deaths, which stand at around 700,000 a year in the 27-nation bloc.

The members want to stop youngsters being swayed into smoking by new, fancy packaging or exciting flavors that could get them hooked. Therefore, Friday's plan also included minimum sizes for packs to counter the 'lipstick' packaging that is the rave these days.

The ministers weakened somewhat Borg's initial proposals, but the major points survived, including a ban for tobacco products including flavors such as strawberry or menthol since they fear it eases the entry into smoking for youngsters.

Whatever the overall EU regulations become, individual member states would be allowed to impose even tougher rules as they please.

The blueprint was decided despite the opposition of four nations that are more lenient toward smoking: Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania.

Borg said he hopes to get 2.4 million smokers to kick the habit in the next five years based on tougher regulations. The European Commission says 28 percent of the EU's 500 million citizens still smoke.

Tobacco companies increasingly rely on their packaging to build brand loyalty and grab consumers since it is one of the few advertising levers left to them since authorities already have curbed their presence in magazines and on billboards and TV.

"The main thrust is that tobacco should look like tobacco and not like perfume or a candy, and that tobacco should taste like tobacco," said Borg.

The EU has said that treating smoking-related diseases costs about 25 billion euro ($33 billion) a year and results in annual productivity losses of 8 billion euro ($10.5 billion).

Some European countries recently announced tougher restrictions on electronic cigarettes as well.

France said in May it would ban e-cigarettes in public places, an extension of its 2007 ban on smoking tobacco in public. The country's health minister Marisol Touraine said at the time more research was needed because of concerns over the public health impact of e-cigarettes.

The U.K.'s Medicines and Health Regulatory Agency, similar to the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S., said earlier this month that it would regulate e-cigarettes like medicines in an effort to make the products safer and more effective in reducing the harms of smoking.

Unattractive, mean people may be more likely to be bullied at work

Researchers have discovered that people who are more unattractive or mean are more likely to be bullied in the workplace.

"Frankly, it's an ugly finding," lead investigator Brent Scott, associate professor of management at Michigan State University, said to MSU Today. "Our findings revealed that both personality and appearance matter."

According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, about 35 percent of the U.S. workforce -- 53.5 million Americans -- admit to being bullied at work.

For the study, 114 health care facility workers were questioned about if they experienced any mean behavior from co-workers. Prompts revolved around being made fun of, having hurtful things said about them or being treated in a rude way.

Spouses, partners and people close to the workers were also given questionnaires rating how nice and easily to get along with they were.

Another unrelated group was shown pictures of the subjects and asked to rate them on how attractive they were.

Even when age, gender and how long someone had worked at the health care facility were taken into account, the unattractive people were treated worse by their co-workers. People who were rated as not as friendly by their spouses, partners and friends were also more likely to be bullied.

However, if you were one of those mean girls (or boys) that happened to be attractive, you might have an easier time at the office.

"If you're unattractive and mean, watch out ... they were bullied the most," Scott told MLive.

"The flip side of that, if you're mean but attractive, then the attractiveness sort of buffers that relationship a little bit."

The study was published in the latest issue of Human Performance.

"It's just one of those findings that it might just be important to be aware of," Scott said to MLive. "Much like research on prejudice or discrimination, sometimes just being aware of your own biases ... can help to reduce them."

Cleveland cat raises week-old pit bull

CLEVELAND A cat has adopted an orphaned pit bull puppy and is raising it as one of her own.

Sharon Harvey of the Cleveland Animal Protective League said Wednesday that Lurlene the cat welcomed Noland the puppy to her "unusual little family." The puppy was dropped off at the animal shelter last week when he was a day old.

Lurelene already had four other kittens -- Rivette, Espa, Zixi and Tallydab -- but had no problem taking in one more, WEWS reported. The crew spends about nine hours a day togehter.

"Lurlene loves him," Harvey said to WEWS. "It's so adorable."

The staff decided to place Noland with the nursing cat and her litter because bottle feeding doesn't always work. He is getting supplemental milk with bottles since he is a bit bigger than his siblings.

This photo released by the Cleveland Animal Protective League shows a kitten and Noland, right, a puppy, snuggling up together on June 19, 2013 in Cleveland. A cat already caring for four newborn kittens now is nursing an orphaned week-old pit bull puppy.

/ AP Photo/Cleveland Animal Protective League

The puppy will grow faster, so the shelter says it may have to come up with another feeding idea in several weeks until Noland is ready for adoption. They are not currently taking in requests for his adoption however.

"Noland is going to be with us for quite awhile," said Harvey. "We need to be really sure with him. We've got to focus on giving him the care he needs right now."

"Susanna" starring Anna Paquin sheds light on postpartum depression

The scenario depicted in the new web series "Susanna" is entirely fictional, but the problems are real: New mother Katie is hospitalized after she develops acute postpartum depression, and her sister Susanna must step in to take care of the new child and her sister.

What Kate, who is portrayed by actress Anna Paquin ("True Blood," "The Piano," "X-Men"), is experiencing happens to between 10 and 15 percent of mothers within the first year of giving birth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"What struck me is how prevalent it is and how no one talks about it," YouTube channel WIGS co-creator and the writer/director of "Susanna," Jon Avnet, told CBSNews.com. "Part of what made me feel this was worth doing was I think every mother experiences fear and terror very rapidly in the best of circumstances. There's no license to be a mother, no simple course, and you're fortunate you have a friends and family support system."

Postpartum depression is characterized by severe and long-lasting symptoms of depression that occur up to one year after having a child, but typically one to three weeks after delivery. It may result in thoughts of hurting the baby or yourself, and general feelings of worthless and hopeless.

While no one knows exactly what causes the illness, doctors believe it is caused by hormonal changes during and after pregnancy. Other factors include changes the body goes through during pregnancy and delivery, as well as changes in work and social relationships as a result of the pregnancy. Having less time to oneself, a lack of sleep and worries about one's abilities to be a mother may also play a role.

Women who become mothers before they are 20, people who abuse alcohol or drugs and people who did not plan pregnancy or were not completely on board with getting pregnant are at a higher risk. A family or personal history with depression, bipolar disorder or an anxiety disorder may also increase risk. Mothers who have money and housing issues, a poor relationship with the father of the child, a stressful event during the birth of the child or little to no support while raising the baby also have a higher chance of developing the illness.

"(Kate) is a single, first-time mother," Anna Paquin explained about her character to CBSNews.com. "The dad is kind of nowhere in the picture. She is not really holding it together very well. She's incredibly depressed and anxious that something terrible is going to happen to her child. She is falling apart, and she doesn't have so much support."

Birdie Meyer, education and training chair at Postpartum Support International, pointed out that most people assume that mood changes after giving birth typically manifest as depression. But, postpartum depression is actually only one of the disorders around childbirth. For example, some mothers may experience postpartum anxiety.

"She may have problems sleeping and want to constantly check on the baby to see if it's okay," Meyer said to CBSNews.com.

In addition, some women develop postpartum obsessive-compulsive disorder (PPOCD) after giving birth, in which they feel a need to do repetitive motions due to upsetting or unwanted thoughts. Some mothers may experience postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder (PPTSD) if they had a traumatic birth experience. In rare cases, symptoms may progress to hallucinations that actually lead a mom to physically harm the child in what is called postpartum psychosis.

Medicines, including antidepressants, talk therapy and group therapy can help women get better, but it only works if a woman recognizes her she is having a problem and gets help.

Avnet, who was an executive producer of "Black Swan" and directed "Fried Green Tomatoes," was inspired to create the 12-part series after he talked to an actress he had worked with, who revealed she had gone through postpartum depression. He had studied psychology in college before he decided to go into film, and his interest in such topics has influenced his choice in projects.

"I wanted to create a fictional narrative that would allow people to have a conversation," he stated.

To prepare for the role, Paquin read websites on parenting to understand what these women were going through and why so many women did not recognize the symptoms.

"It's admitting that you can't do everything and that you're not superwoman," Paquin said. "I think it is very hard because a lot of people sort of expect when someone has a baby, they're going to automatically do everything and know everything."

Avnet hopes that the series will help some women recognize if they are experiencing these problems to seek help. At the end of each episode, they remind people that there are organizations like Postpartum Support International that they can reach out for support if they need it.

"I don't want women to suffer in shame or in silence," he said.

"In general, those type of topics don't get talked about," Paquin added. "If we can she some light and open up the conversation, to me that's very worthwhile."

New flu vaccine for people allergic to eggs

ATLANTAPeople seeking a flu shot are typically asked if they are allergic to eggs because of potential for adverse side effects.

That's because the flu virus used for the vaccines is typically grown in chicken eggs, which could lead to the allergic reaction.

Now, people with serious egg allergies may no longer have to worry about flu shots after a federal advisory panel recommended a new shot made without eggs.

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Thursday said a new vaccine that's made without eggs is an option for adults with severe allergies. Current flu shots are made from viruses grown in eggs and could trigger allergic reactions in some cases.

The new Flublok vaccine is made with cell technology, which is used for other kinds of vaccines. It was licensed in January by Protein Sciences Corp.

"The old guidance was that if a person's allergic reaction to eggs was only to have hives, they could get an inactivated influenza vaccine and then be observed for 30 minutes to make sure they had no reaction. Now, in addition to that option, they can get Flublok," Dr. Lisa Grohskopf of the CDC's Influenza Division, told Medscape.

Officials don't know how many Americans skip flu shots because they're allergic to eggs.

Flu during pregnancy may trigger bipolar disorder in offspring CDC: Flu vaccine only provided 9 percent protection for seniors against worst strain The flu vaccine: What's stockpiled, why you should get one now About 1 in 66 children have egg allergies, though most kids outgrow them. The new vaccine is not an option for kids. So far it's licensed only for adults ages 18 to 49.

James Gandolfini: How a heart attack can lead to sudden death

James Gandolfini's autopsy reportedly reveals the 51-year-old died of a heart attack while on vacation in Italy. Nothing else was suspected in causing the death, according to a family friend.

"There's nothing out of the ordinary. It was a heart attack. It was a natural cause," friend Michael Kobold told reporters Friday. "There was no foul play, no substance abuse. None of that."

Yesterday, hospital officials in Rome had said the star of "The Sopranos" died of cardiac arrest. Previously, Italian news agency AGI reported the actor suffered a heart attack in his hotel room in Rome.

A heart attack, or myocardial infarction, is caused by a blockage in an artery that disrupts the supply of oxygen-rich blood that goes to the heart.

CBS Evening News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook explained to CBSNews.com (video above) that once blood flow to the heart is stopped by this blockage, that affected portion of the heart actually dies. That in itself may not end a person's life, he pointed out, and the victim could still have a normal heartbeat if the electrical connection that controls the beat remains intact. But, the attack could lead to cardiac arrest if there's so much irritation within the heart, that its normal electrical system starts getting all "goofed up," he said.

Instead of a normal heartbeat, "The heart beats like a 'bag of worms' ineffectively," LaPook explained. "You don't get enough blood flow to the brain and the person passes out." That's when a heart attack could lead to cardiac arrest.

Risk factors for a heart attack include family history, high blood pressure and cholesterol, smoking, obesity and age.

"Fifty-one is a tragically young age to have a heart attack and die, but it's actually very common for people in America to have clogging of the arteries at that age," according to LaPook.

For people looking to reduce their risk of heart attack and sudden death, the doctor says it's essential to eat right, exercise, maintain a healthy weight and never smoke. It's also important to know your numbers -- blood pressure and cholesterol -- and work with your doctor to get them in the right range, LaPook added. While you can't change your family history, taking these steps could dramatically reduce the risk for heart attack and sudden death from cardiac arrest.

James Gandolfini's death: No evidence of substance abuse or foul play, says friend James Gandolfini: Remembering Tony Soprano's best episodes "The Sopranos" stars pay tribute to James Gandolfini "You have to be proactive about your health - you cannot take it for granted," said LaPook. "You certainly can control what goes on in your life that you have now, and lower the risk that you're going to have a terrible outcome like unfortunately James Gandolfini had."

American Medical Association: Blood donation ban for men who have sex with men "discriminatory"

The American Medical Association voted on Tuesday to recommend that men who have sex with men be allowed to donate blood, which is in direct opposition to the Food and Drug Administration's lifetime ban.

"The lifetime ban on blood donation for men who have sex with men is discriminatory and not based on sound science," AMA Board Member Dr. William Kobler said in a press release. "This new policy urges a federal policy change to ensure blood donation bans or deferrals are applied to donors according to their individual level of risk and are not based on sexual orientation alone."

The FDA has banned blood donations from homosexual men and men who have sex with men since 1983. The agency cites higher risk for HIV, hepatitis B and other infections as the reason behind the policy.

In 2006, there was an attempt to get the ban overturned by the Red Cross, the international blood association AABB and America's Blood Centers, but the FDA announced in 2009 it would keep the policies in place until there was evidence that allowing these donations wouldn't provide a "significant and preventable" risk to blood recipients.

The issue was revisited in 2010 when 18 senators wrote a letter to FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg to let men who have sex with men donate blood. The FDA said at that time that current science and data did not provide evidence for a policy reversal.

While men who have sex with men only make up 2 percent of the population, they make up 61 percent of all new HIV infections in the U.S., the FDA reported. About 77 percent of diagnosed HIV infections among men can be traced to male-to-male sexual contact.

The FDA points out that other people who have increased risk of HIV infection including intravenous drug abusers, people who have received transplants from animal organs or tissue, people who have sex in exchange for money or drugs and people who have traveled to or lived abroad in certain countries are also excluded.

While the HIV test used to screen blood is pretty accurate, there is still a very slight risk of HIV transmission in about one out of 2 million units of blood. A "window period" of 11 days exists early after infection when a person can test negative, but still have the infection.

Dr. Richard Benjamin, chief medical officer for the American Red Cross, previously told CBSNews.com that men having sex with men is actually not a common reason for why people are blocked from donating blood.

"It's actually a very small reason for deferrals," Benjamin said. "Maybe about one in 3,000 coming to our door are turned away (for having sex with a man), possibly because most gay men know about the deferral and don't come into our doors."

Still, he added that he thinks the policies are not fair, especially since a woman who has had sex with a man who she knew had HIV only has a 12-month deferral period. Many other countries have dropped the ban as well and amended their policy. For example, in the United Kingdom, men who have had sex with men can donate blood as long as they have not had any sexual contact with a man for 12 months.

The AMA also supports use of "rational, scientifically-based deferral periods" that are used for all blood donors, not a specific group.

A 2010 study by the Williams Institute at UCLA estimated that if the ban was removed, 219,200 more pints of blood would be donated each year. If a 12-month ban was instituted, there would still be 89,716 more pints donated annually.

Norovirus outbreaks reported in Yellowstone, Grand Teton parks

JACKSON, Wyo.A norovirus outbreak that may have originated at Yellowstone National Park in Wyo. may have affected around 200 people at both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park.

About 50 visitors have reported symptoms associated with norovirus, a highly contagious stomach flu that is easily spread by touching an infected person or contaminated surfaces. Up to 150 park employees may have been infected, though not all those cases have been confirmed.

The outbreak is believed to have started with a group of tourists who visited the Mammoth Hot Springs area in Yellowstone on June 7. They complained of stomach flu symptoms and, within 48 hours, employees who work with visitors also reported being sick.

Physician's assistant Michael Takagi told the Jackson Hole Daily that the outbreak is one of the most significant ones he's seen.

The National Park Service issued a June 19 statement urging visitors to northwestern Wyoming to be vigilant about washing their hands, due to "greater-than-normal reports of gastrointestinal illness" after visitors and employees visited medical clinics with symptoms of norovirus.

"It's been almost a decade since we've seen anything on this scale here," Al Nash, a Yellowstone spokesman, told The New York Times.

The National Park Service and all businesses serving park visitors have instituted a variety of safety precautions intended to limit the spread of norovirus. "These include increased cleaning and disinfection of all public areas including stores, gift shops, restaurants, and lodging facilities, and isolation of potentially infected employees until they have been symptom-free for at least 72 hours," according to the statement.

Norovirus is behind more than 20 million causes of gastrointestinal illness in the U.S. each year. About 70,000 people are hospitalized each year from it and 800 die. Young children and the elderly may be impacted more severely.

Anyone can get norovirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency recommends proper hand hygiene by washing your hands with soap and water, especially after using the toilet and always before eating or preparing food. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer can reduce the number of germs on your hands in the absence of running water, but the CDC said hand sanitizer is no substitute for soap and water.

If you're feeling sick with a stomach bug, do not prepare food for others until at least three days after you've recovered. Wash all laundry thoroughly, wearing rubber gloves if handling soiled clothing.

The CDC has more information on norovirus.

FDA approves over-the-counter sales of Plan B One-Step for all ages

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of Plan B One-Step without a prescription for all women.

The FDA announced on Thursday that it would allow all women with child-bearing potential to purchase the emergency contraceptive over-the-counter without any age or point-of-sale barriers.

Plan B-One Step (levonorgestrel) is a form of the "morning-after pill," a type of emergency contraception that drastically reduces the chance of pregnancy after a woman has engaged in unprotected sex. There are currently three types of morning-after pills for sale in the U.S.: Plan B One-Step, Plan B, and ella. Plan B is currently available for women 17 and older over the counter, and requires a prescription for those under the age limit. Ella requires a prescription regardless of age.

Plan B One-Step works best when it is taken within three days after sexual intercourse. It will not stop a pregnancy if a woman is already pregnant, and no evidence shows that it will harm a fetus that already exists.

"Over-the-counter access to emergency contraceptive products has the potential to further decrease the rate of unintended pregnancies in the United States," said Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a press release.

The new approval was years in the making.

In 2011, the FDA was preparing to allow over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill without age restrictions, citing research of the pill's safety and effectiveness. After, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius rejected the move. Her decision went against her scientific advisory panel. President Barack Obama said at the time that he supported the decision.

"As the father of two daughters, I think it is important for us to make sure that we apply some common sense to various rules when it comes to over-the-counter medicine," Obama said previously.

On April 5, 2013 U.S. District Judge Edward Korman ruled that emergency contraception should be available to women of all ages, calling the FDA's age restrictions "arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable." He gave the FDA 30 days to comply.

However, Plan B One-Step had withdrawn its all ages, over-the-counter approval request, and resubmitted an application asking for the product to be approved for those 15 and older. In late April, the FDA only approved the non-prescription use of Plan B One-Step for that age group. The agency said the products would be in stores with onsite pharmacies, although they could be sold after the pharmacy closed. In addition to theft-deterrent tags, age verification checks were required at the counter before purchase.

Critics were outraged that the age barrier still remained, and pointed out that requiring identification would make it more difficult for some women to access the product.

"Lowering the age restriction to 15 for over-the-counter access to Plan B One-Step may reduce delays for some young women -- but it does nothing to address the significant barriers that far too many women of all ages will still find if they arrive at the drugstore without identification or after the pharmacy gates have been closed for the night or weekend," Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a press release. "These are daunting and sometimes insurmountable hoops women are forced to jump through in time-sensitive circumstances, and we will continue our battle in court to remove these arbitrary restrictions on emergency contraception for all women."

The Obama administration said it would appeal Korman's decision allowing women of all ages to have access to the morning-after pill.

Korman said on May 10 that he refused to suspend his initial ruling.

On June 10, the federal government said it would comply with Korman's decision and withdraw the appeal. A federal judge approved the government's proposal to remove the age restrictions on June 13, paving the way for the FDA to fast-track today's approval.

MERS coronavirus deadlier than SARS, scientists find

LONDONMERS, a mysterious new respiratory virus that originated in the Middle East, spreads easily between people and appears to be more deadly than SARS, doctors reported Wednesday after investigating the biggest outbreak in Saudi Arabia.

More than 60 cases of what is now called MERS, including 38 deaths, have been recorded by the World Health Organization since Sept. 2012, mostly in Saudi Arabia. So far, illnesses haven't spread as quickly as SARS did in 2003, ultimately triggering a global outbreak that killed about 800 people.

An international team of doctors who investigated nearly two dozen cases in eastern Saudi Arabia found the new coronavirus has some striking similarities to SARS. Unlike SARS, though, scientists remain baffled as to the source of MERS.

In a worrying finding, the team said MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) not only spreads easily between people, but within hospitals. That was also the case with SARS, a distant relative of the new virus.

"To me, this felt a lot like SARS did," said Dr. Trish Perl, a senior hospital epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine, who was part of the team. Their report was published online Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Perl said they couldn't nail down how it was spread in every case - through droplets from sneezing or coughing, or a more indirect route. Some of the hospital patients weren't close to the infected person, but somehow picked up the virus.

"In the right circumstances, the spread could be explosive," said Perl, while emphasizing that the team only had a snapshot of one MERS cluster in Saudi Arabia.

Cases have continued to trickle in, and there appears to be an ongoing outbreak in Saudi Arabia. MERS cases have also been reported in Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Tunisia. Most have had a direct connection to the Middle East region.

Scientists on MERS: Deadly virus may linger longer than once thought French man with Middle East coronavirus MERS dies MERS spreads to Italy, three cases reported Coronavirus and bird flu: Scientists tracking outbreaks of two new infections In the Saudi cluster that was investigated, certain patients infected many more people than would be expected, Perl said. One patient who was receiving dialysis treatment spread MERS to seven others, including fellow dialysis patients at the same hospital. During SARS, such patients were known as "superspreaders" and effectively seeded outbreaks in numerous countries.

Perl and colleagues also concluded that symptoms of both diseases are similar, with an initial fever and cough that may last for a few days before pneumonia develops.

But MERS appears far more lethal. Compared to SARS' 8 percent death rate, the fatality rate for MERS in the Saudi outbreak was about 65 percent, though the experts could be missing mild cases that might skew the figures.

While SARS was traced to bats before jumping to humans via civet cats, the source of the MERS virus remains a mystery. It is most closely related to a bat virus though some experts suspect people may be getting sick from animals like camels or goats. Another hypothesis is that infected bats may be contaminating foods like dates, commonly harvested and eaten in Saudi Arabia.

Doctors around the world have struggled to treat patients. "We need more information from other countries to find out what the best treatment is," said Dr. Clemens Wendtner, who treated a MERS patient who later died in Munich. "Our patient got everything possible and it still didn't help him."

Other experts said there are enough worrying signs about MERS that it can't yet be written off, despite the relatively small number of cases it has caused.

"As long as it is around, it has every opportunity at the genetic roulette table to turn into something more dangerous," said Michael Osterholm, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Minnesota.

WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan has previously called MERS the single biggest public health threat and acknowledged officials were "empty-handed" regarding prevention measures.

"We understand too little about this virus when viewed against the magnitude of its potential threat," she said last month in Geneva.

At a meeting this weekend in Cairo, WHO will meet with other experts to discuss MERS and to possibly develop guidelines for next month's Ramadan, when millions of Muslim pilgrims will be visiting Saudi Arabia.

PTSD strikes one in four stroke survivors

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may plague some stroke survivors, according to a new study.

Researchers at the Columbia University Medical Center reviewed nine studies involving more than 1,100 patients, and found about one in four survivors of a stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) experiences PTSD symptoms within a year of the event, with some experiencing symptoms even longer.

"PTSD is not just a disorder of combat veterans and sexual assault survivors, but strongly affects survivors of stroke and other potentially traumatic acute cardiovascular events as well," study author Dr. Ian M. Kronish, assistant professor of medicine at Columbia's Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health in New York City, said in a written statement. "Surviving a life-threatening health scare can have a debilitating psychological impact, and health care providers should make it a priority to screen for symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD among these patient populations."

The findings were published June 19 in PLoS One.

More than 795,000 people suffer strokes each year in the United States, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. About three-quarters of them occur in people over 65, with stroke risk doubling each decade after 55 years of age.

Symptoms can suddenly appear, including vision changes, numbness, loss of movement in the face or extremities (often on one side of the body), confusion, balance problems or a sudden severe headache, WebMD reported.

There are two types of strokes: Ischemic or hemorrhagic. About 87 percent of all strokes are ischemic, which is caused by a blockage in a blood vessel that supplies blood to the brain, the American Stroke Association said.

People can also experience a "mini stroke" known as a TIA, in which symptoms only last a minute or so and do not cause permanent brain damage. About 500,00 people suffer a TIA each year.

Pediatricians warned children of military personnel face mental health risks Post-traumatic stress disorder's effect on U.S. veterans explored on CBS Radio News Studies link heart problems to stress from war, Hurricane Katrina For the study, researchers analyzed data on stroke and TIA survivors, and determined 23 percent developed PTSD symptoms within the first year of the event, while 11 percent -- one in nine -- experienced chronic PTSD symptoms more than one year later.

PTSD, an anxiety disorder, can cause a person to experience flashbacks, bad dreams and frightening thoughts, the National Institute of Mental Health notes. It could also cause people to avoid places or events that remind them of their traumatic experience and could bring about strong feelings of guilt, depression and worry. People with PTSD could be easily startled or feel "on edge," and have trouble sleeping.

Often associated with soldiers returning from combat, PTSD can also be brought on by traumatic crimes like mugging, rape, kidnapping, shootings and abuse or incidents like car accidents, plane crashes, bombings, natural disasters.

And now, researchers say add strokes to the list.

"Patients have a lot of re-experiencing of the event which are things like having nightmares or flashbacks or just having lots of thoughts about having had the stroke that they don't really want to be having," Kronish told CBS News' Marlie Hall.

The researchers next want to study whether mental health treatments can reduce stroke-related PTSD symptoms to allow patients to feel normal and calm again following their health scares. Currently, PTSD treatments include psychotherapy and medications for depression or to help sufferers sleep.

Peter Cornelis survived six strokes and brain surgery that left him struggling with headaches and temporarily paralyzed. He now experiences depression and anxiety. The 62-year-old told CBS News he paints to help him focus.

"You're always worried about having it happen again," he said, but he's trying to maintain a positive outlook.

"Life is still good, life gets better, even with the symptoms of PTSD if you can get up every day and just feel good about the day."

Computer model determines emotions by brain activity patterns

Carnegie Mellon scientists have successfully determined what emotion a person is experiencing based on readings of their brain activity.

Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans and computer modeling to measure brain signals. Then they determined a way to "read" what emotions people were going through.

Before this study, there wasn't really an objective way to measure emotions. People aren't exactly honest when it comes to their feelings, the authors pointed out. Also, people may sometimes be experiencing emotions that they don't realize they are feeling.

"This research introduces a new method with potential to identify emotions without relying on people's ability to self-report," lead author Karim Kassam, assistant professor of social and decision sciences at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, Pa., said in a press release. "It could be used to assess an individual's emotional response to almost any kind of stimulus, for example, a flag, a brand name or a political candidate."

Scientists used 10 actors from CMU's School of Drama and showed them words of different emotions: Anger, disgust, envy, fear, happiness, lust, pride, sadness and shame. Then they told them to think of the word while they were being scanned.

"Our big breakthrough was my colleague Karim Kassam's idea of testing actors, who are experienced at cycling through emotional states. We were fortunate, in that respect, that CMU has a superb drama school," co-author George Loewenstein, the Herbert A. Simon University Professor of Economics and Psychology, said in the press release.

Film clips were not used because the emotional impact of a scene decreases after repeated viewings.

In order to make sure that the scans were measuring the actual emotion and not the act of thinking about an emotion, researchers then showed the participants neutral and disgusting photos that they had not seen before.

A computer model - which was based on data from the fMRIs that linked different brain activation patterns to different emotions -- was able to accurately determine which emotion the participants were feeling based on the photograph they saw.

The model achieved a rank accuracy of 0.84 when looking at neutral pictures and a rank accuracy of 0.91 when looking at the disgusting pictures. Rank accuracy reflects the percentile rank of the correct emotion -- random guessing would result in a rank accuracy of 0.5. The model chose disgust out of the nine emotions to choose from as the most likely emotion 60 percent of the time, and it was in its top two choices 80 percent of the time.

Researchers then compiled data from nine participants to create fMRI emotion profiles, and tested it on the tenth subject who was told to cycle through the nine emotions. The model was able to achieve a rank accuracy of 0.71.

The computer model was able to determine happiness the easiest, and had the hardest time figuring out envy. It was least likely to misidentify lust, which may mean that the emotion creates a unique neural pattern. It rarely mixed up positive and negative emotions.

"Despite manifest differences between people's psychology, different people tend to neurally encode emotions in remarkably similar ways," co-author Amanda Markey, a graduate student in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences, said in a press release.

The researchers hope that this model will be able to further emotion research, especially how to identify emotions that people are trying to hide and how to figure out emotions when a person is expressing many of them at the same time.

The study was published in PLOS ONE on June 19.

23,000 pounds of ground beef shipped to 11 states recalled for E. coli

Nearly 23,000 pounds of ground beef have been recalled over potential E. coli contamination, health officials announced Tuesday.

National Beef Packing Co. of Liberal, Kan. shipped approximately 22,737 pounds of ground beef to various stores and institutions in Tennessee, Kansas, Mississippi, Illinois, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Arizona, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

The strain of E. coli, called E. coli O157:H7, was discovered through routine testing, and an investigation revealed the company was the sole supplier of the products linked to the contamination.

The following products are being recalled:

10 lb. packages of "National Beef" 80/20 Coarse Ground Chuck, package code "0481."10 lb. packages of "National Beef" 81/19 Coarse Ground Beef, package code "0421."10 lb. packages of "National Beef" 80/20 Fine Ground Chuck, package code "0484." All these products have a "USE BY/SELL BY DATE" of June 14, 2013, and bear the number "EST. 208A" inside the USDA mark of inspection. The products were produced on May 25, 2013, and officials are concerned that some product may remain in shoppers' freezers.

E. coli O157:H7 is known as a "Shiga-toxin producing" strain of Escherichia coli, which are a large, diverse group of bacteria. Most strains of E. coli are harmless, but this strain in particular, which is often a culprit in foodborne illness outbreaks, may lead to severe stomach cramps, diarrhea (often bloody) and vomiting, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most people get better within a week, but some infections can be more dangerous and lead to a life-threatening type of kidney failure called hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). HUS symptoms include fever, abdominal pain, pale skin tone, fatigue, irritability and small, unexplained bruises or bleeding from the nose and mouth. Persons who experience these symptoms should seek emergency medical care immediately.

E. coli O157 is often spread through animal or human fecal contamination on food products. There have been no reports of illnesses associated with this recall.

To reduce risk, the FSIS encourages people to cook their raw beef -- be it fresh or frozen -- to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, as confirmed with a food thermometer. That is the temperature harmful bacteria is killed in ground beef.

Consumers with questions should contact the company at 877-857-4143 for details about the recall and the return and reimbursement policy.

Study shows 70 percent of Americans take prescription drugs

Rochester, Minn. Researchers find that nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and more than half receive at least two prescriptions, reports CBS Atlanta.

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic, a non-profit medical and research center, report that antibiotics, antidepressants and painkiller opioids are the most common prescriptions given to Americans.

Twenty percent of U.S. patients were also found to be on five or more prescription medications.

Study: Smarter medication use could save $213B in health care costs Mayo Clinic: Teens with chronic pain should not use medical marijuana Sen. Schumer seeks crackdown on "academic doping"

The study is uncovering valuable information to the researchers about U.S. prescription practices.

"Often when people talk about health conditions they're talking about chronic conditions such as heart disease or diabetes," Dr. St. Sauver stated in a Mayo Clinic press release.

"However, the second most common prescription was for antidepressants -- that suggests mental health is a huge issue and is something we should focus on. And the third most common drugs were opioids, which is a bit concerning considering their addicting nature."

Nearly one in four women ages 50 to 64 were found to be on an antidepressant, with 13 percent of the overall population also on antidepressants.

Seventeen percent of people in the study were being prescribed antibiotics, and 13 percent were on painkilling opioids.

As a whole, women and older adults received the most prescription drugs.

Antidepressants and opioids were most common among young and middle-aged adults.

The percentage of people who took at least one prescription drug in the past month increased from 44 percent in 1999-2000 to 48 percent in 2007-08, the Mayo Clinic reports.

Expenditures on prescription drugs reached $250 billion in 2009, and accounted for 12 percent of total personal health care expenditures.

According to the CDC, the percent of persons using at least one prescription drug in the past month increased nearly 50 percent between 2007 and 2010.

And the researchers said prescription drug spending will only increase in the future.

WHO: More than one-third of women suffer from sexual, physical violence

The World Health Organization implored the medical community and the public to stop sexual and physical violence towards women.

Thirty-five percent of women around the world are victims of physical or sexual violence, according to a report by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the South African Medical Research Council and the WHO released on Tuesday.

Intimate partner violence was the most common, affecting 30 percent of women worldwide. Southeast Asian women were most likely to become victims (37.7 percent reported sexual or physical partner abuse), followed by Eastern Mediterranean women (37.0 percent) and African women (36.6 percent). Women from high income countries like the U.S. and EU member states reported violence by an intimate partner 23.2 percent of the times.

"These findings send a powerful message that violence against women is a global health problem of epidemic proportions," Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, said in a press release. "We also see that the world's health systems can and must do more for women who experience violence."

The study revealed that 38 percent of women who were murdered were killed by their intimate partners, and 42 percent of women who were assaulted physically or sexually by a partner had injuries because of the heinous act.

Heidi Stoeckl, one of the authors who is a gender violence lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, added to the Telegraph that the statistics show that police should step in at an earlier stage before it progresses to murder.

"When a woman is killed by a partner, she has often already had contact with the police," she said.

She added that clues like a partner having a history of violence and owning a gun should be watched.

"There are enough signs that we should be watching out for that," she said. "We certainly should know if someone is potentially lethal and be able to do something about it."

Women who are abused by their partners are twice as likely to experience depression compared to women who were not exposed to physical or sexual violence. They are also twice as likely to have alcohol abuse problems.

Women who were abused by a non-partner were 2.6 times more likely to have depression or anxiety and 2.3 times more likely to have alcohol problems. Women from high-income countries were also the most likely to be victims of violence by a non-partner (12.6 percent of the time).

Regardless if a partner or non-partner sexually or physically abused them, abused women were more likely to a have an unwanted pregnancy. They were twice as likely to have an abortion than women who were not abused. Women who were abused by their partners had a 16 percent higher chance of having a low weight baby.

Women who are subjected to physical or sexual violence by a partner are also 1.5 times more likely to get a syphilis infection, chlamydia, or gonorrhea. In certain areas like sub-Saharan Africa, they are also 1.5 times more likely to get HIV.

The WHO asked health care providers to improve treatment of women who have been subjected to violence. This included teaching medical professionals how to ask about violence, make standard operating procedures about how to approach a victim, conducting the interview in a private setting and ensuring confidentiality and referring women to other related care services. In cases of sexual violence, health services should be provided to address the woman's mental and physical needs.

"The report findings show that violence greatly increases women's vulnerability to a range of short- and long-term health problems; it highlights the need for the health sector to take violence against women more seriously," Dr. Claudia Garcia-Moreno of WHO said in a press release. "In many cases this is because health workers simply do not know how to respond."

James Gandolfini dead at 51: Cardiac arrest explained

Cardiac arrest was behind actor James Gandolfini's death Wednesday at age 51, Rome hospital officials have confirmed.

Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart stops beating. About 383,000 episodes of cardiac arrest occur outside of a hospital among Americans each year, 88 percent of which happen at home, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). The estimated survival rate is about 11 percent. Many victims are healthy and don't have heart disease or other known risk factors, the AHA added.

Causes include electrical disturbances in heart rhythm, heart attacks and other cardiovascular conditions.

But, cardiac arrest does not necessarily signal a heart attack occurred, though the terms are sometimes misused interchangeably, the AHA points out. Heart attacks, or myocardial infarctions, are caused by a blockage in an artery that disrupts the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the heart. Symptoms could be immediate and intense, including fatigue, palpitations, trouble breathing or chest pain. More often than not though, symptoms will start slowly and occur over days or weeks before a heart attack.

Most heart attacks don't lead to cardiac arrest, but are a leading cause when sudden cardiac arrest does occur, according to the AHA. The average age of a first heart attack is about 65, the association added.

If not a heart attack, sudden cardiac arrest could be triggered by an electrical malfunction in the heart brought on by an irregular heartbeat, which is called an arrhythmia.

Whereas a heart attack might be thought of as a "plumbing problem," sudden cardiac arrest is more like an "electrical problem," explains the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation.

Arrhythmias may cause the heart to beat too slow or too fast, and could prevent the heart from pumping enough blood to organs, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute notes. A person experiencing sudden cardiac arrest can lose consciousness within seconds, and death could occur within minutes without treatment.

Other potential causes of cardiac arrest include thickening of the heart muscle (known as cardiomyopathy), heart failure or ventricular fibrillation (v-fib), the most serious cardiac rhythm disturbance that causes the heart's lower chambers to quiver, preventing blood from pumping, the AHA said.

Risk factors for heart attacks include age, tobacco use, high blood pressure or cholesterol, diabetes, family history, inactivity, obesity, stress and drug use, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The Mayo Clinic says some of the risk factors that increase chances for heart attacks and heart disease can also raise risk for sudden cardiac arrest. Other risks include scarring from a previous heart attack, certain heart medications, family history, being older than 45 and being a man. Men are up to three times more likely to experience sudden cardiac arrest than women, according to Mayo.

James Gandolfini dead at 51Stars pay tribute to James Gandolfini James Gandolfini had many roles ahead of him Autopsy results are pending for the star of "The Sopranos," who arrived at the Policlinico Umberto Hospital I in Rome at 10:40 p.m. Wednesday night and was pronounced dead 20 minutes later after attempts to resuscitate him in the ambulance and hospital failed, "CBS This Morning" reported.

Italian news agency AGI reported that he suffered the heart attack in the bathroom of his hotel in Rome and that his 13-year-old son, Michael, alerted hotel staff after he found his father collapsed in the bathroom.

"I was very surprised to hear of his death given that he was relatively young, in his 50s, and no one was aware of any medical illnesses that would have contributed to this event," Dr. Erik Altman, director of electrophysiology at North Shore-LIJ's Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, N.Y., said to CBS News.com.

Altman, who is not involved in Gandolfini's care, explained that although people have risk factors for sudden cardiac death, most of the episodes occur in people without known risks.

"What that essentially means is it is very hard to identify those who are at high risk for sudden cardiac arrest," he said.

The American Heart Association has more information on cardiac arrest.

Deaf boy with auditory brain stem implant stunned after hearing dad for first time

A 3-year-old boy is hearing the world for the first time, thanks to an auditory brain stem implant.

"He likes sound," young Grayson's mom Nicole Clamp, said to CBS affiliate WBTV in Charlotte, N.C. "He enjoys the stimulus, the input. He's curious, and he definitely enjoys it."

Grayson Clamp was born without his cochlear nerves, or the auditory nerve that carries the sound signal from the cochlea in the inner ear to the brain. His parents tried giving him a cochlear implant, but it did not work.

They then enrolled Grayson in a research trial at University of North Carolina Hospitals in Chapel Hill, N.C. Three weeks ago, he became the first child in the U.S. to receive an auditory brain stem implant.

The procedure involves placing a microchip on the brain stem to bypass the cochlear nerves altogether. The person perceives and processes sound, which travel through tubes in his ear.

Grayson Clamp after his procedure at the University of North Carolina Hospitals in Chapel Hill, N.C. Grayson was the first child in the U.S. to receive anauditory brain stem implant.

/ Len Clamp/UNC School of Medicine

Dr. Craig Buchman, Grayson's head and neck surgeon at UNC, explained to CBSNews.com that the devices were made several years ago for adults who have tumors in their cochlear nerves, but it has never been approved for use in children in the United States.. While the implants were able to give back some hearing to the adults that received them, they were not as effective as cochlear implants.

However, Buchman's team's theory was that if the auditory brain stem implant was put in a young child, they may be better at processing the sounds.

"One of the reasons we really were interested in this study, children have enormous potential because of their brain plasticity," he said. "They have enormous potential to interpret sounds.... I don't know what he hears and how he's going to use it, but only time will tell."

Grayson was the first chosen because he had high cognitive abilities and used cued speech, a visual system based on phonetics used to communicate. That way, doctors could see if he was hearing anything and responding to sound stimuli.

When he heard his father calling him for the first time, his face lit up with shock. Buchman said he was pleased with Grayson's responses.

The child still has to go in for frequent checkups to fine tune the device in order to give him the best hearing possible.

"We don't know exactly what it's like for him," Nicole explained. "We don't know exactly what he hears. His brain is still trying organize itself to use sound."

In total, Buchman's team has evaluated 10 children who all have similar problems with missing nerves. Right now, they're limiting the study to younger children who don't have that many additional health or cognitive issues to see what the potential of the device is. If they are successful, they are hoping that older children who haven't learned how to speak because of their hearing problems may be given a chance to finally hear and talk.

As for Grayson, he's already benefiting from his new hearing abilities.

"It's been phenomenal for us," his father Len Clamp said to WBTV.

Parkinson's disease groups offended by Kanye West lyric

Kanye West has upset some Parkinson Disease groups after one of his lyrics on his latest album "Yeezus" seemed to poke fun at the symptoms experienced by people with the disease.

West raps during "On Sight": "Soon as I pull up and park the Benz / We get this b---- shaking like Parkinson's."

Leslie A. Chambers, president & CEO of the American Parkinson Disease Association, said to CBSNews.com that the organization was alerted to the lyric after a reporter from TMZ asked what it thought of the lyric. Vice president Kathryn Whitford told the website that she found it to be "distasteful and the product of obvious ignorance."

"We still feel it was a disservice to the 1.5 million Parkinson's patients and their caregivers," Chambers said. "It can become extremely debilitating not only because of the physical symptoms, but because of the emotional, psychological and quality of life impact."

Music critics believe in Kanye West's "Yeezus" Kanye West compares himself to Michael Jordan, Steve Jobs Parkinson's disease is brain disorder caused by a loss of a chemical called dopamine that results in a series of motor system conditions. It affects 1 out of 100 people, making it the most common neurodegenerative disorder. Though we still do not know what causes the disease, a May Neurology article suggested that close proximity to pesticides may boost risk.

Other risk factors include age, genetics, gender (men are more likely to get the disease than women), according to the Mayo Clinic.

While people who have Parkinson's typicall have problems with their motor functions including tremors in their hands, arms, legs, jaw and face, they can also have stiffness in their limbs in trunk and move slowly or have problems with balance or coordination. Other non-motor symptoms -- which often occur decades before motor symptoms develop -- include a loss of sense of smell, constipation, depression or behavior indicative of an REM sleep disorder resulting in vivid dreams.

Exercise can help people with Parkinson's deal with their symptoms. Boxing-inspired fitness classes have helped people relieve stress from having the debilitating disease and improve their fitness. Being active has been shown to slow the decline or progression of the disease.

A study in May in the Annals of Neurology suggested that eating nicotine-containing vegetables like peppers twice to four times weekly may reduce the risk of developing Parkinson's by 30 percent.

Steve Ford, chief executive at the British nonprofit Parkinson's U.K., also spoke out against the lyric.

"Kanye West has shown an inexcusable level of stupidity and cruelty towards people living with an incurable condition," he told the Independent. "Life with Parkinson's is difficult enough without becoming fodder for insensitive celebrities who should know better, looking for their next big hit. People with Parkinson's have to cope with intolerable social discrimination on a daily basis -- often to the point where they are afraid to go out in public -- and this sort of thoughtless, callous comment can only serve to make things even worse for them."

Chambers said she hopes that West will connect with her organization so they can educate him about what Parkinson's is and how it affects not only patients lives, but also the people who care for them.

"Typically if anything like this happens, we would like to engage with the person," Chambers said. "It is part of our job to raise awareness and help people get the facts straight."

She said the association is encouraging a conversation with her organization and with West or his representatives, but they have not received a response.

"Goo" from naked mole rat appears to offer cancer protection

The naked mole rat may hold the secret to cancer resistance.

Scientists have identified a chemical that they say prevents the notoriously ugly rodent with a long lifespan from developing cancer. They hope the substance could one day lead to effective cancer treatments in humans.

"A lot of cancer research focuses on animals that are prone to cancer," study author Vera Gorbunova, a biology professor at the University of Rochester in N.Y., said in a news release. "We think it's possible to learn strategies for preventing tumors by studying animals that are cancer-proof."

Naked mole rats are buck-teethed, bald, wrinkly rodents that live to an average age of 30, decades longer than other rodents. The creature has been found to have an innate resistance to cancer and pain, and can survive in underground conditions with little oxygen.

For the new study, the biologists took cellular samples from naked mole rats searching for clues to their cancer resistance. That's when they discovered a gooey substance clogging up their equipment. That was a red flag, because other cell cultures from humans and other rodents like mice and guinea pigs lack that viscosity.

"Our lab technician was unhappy because she needed to disassemble the system and clean all this gooey stuff," study co-author Dr. Andrei Seluanov of the University of Rochester, told Nature. "I told my graduate student that we have to find out what the gooey substance is -- it should be related to their cancer resistance. Of course, at that time it was just a wild guess."

Testing identified the substance as high molecular weight hyaluronan (HMW-HA). To see if the chemical was behind cancer protection, the scientists removed the substance from the mole rats' cells. After, they found the cells were more prone to developing tumors, confirming the compound played some role in cancer protection.

Gorbunova and Seluanov also found the gene responsible for making HMW-HA, called HAS2. Other animals also have this gene, but the naked mole rats was different. Their HAS2 somehow slowed the frequency HMW-HA gets recycled by cells, causing it to build up in the rodent's tissues.

Hyaluronan is found in animals and aids in the tissue-healing process, according to the scientists, who speculate the rodents developed higher levels of it in their skin to adapt to life in underground tunnels.

They next hope to test whether HMW-HA could protect against cancer in mice. After that, the hope is to try on human cells.

HMW-HA is sometimes used in anti-wrinkle creams and relieve knee pain from arthritis, according to Seluanov, so he hopes that indirect evidence of the chemical helping people suggests the benefits could extend to anti-cancer care.

The study was published June 19 in Nature.

"If we could alter our (hyaluronan) or stabilize it somehow, we may be able to suppress cancers," Carlo Maley, an evolutionary cancer biologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the new study, told Science Magazine.

Previous research into the naked mole rat, in which the creature's genome was sequenced, eyed other genes that may play a role in tumor suppression.

Rochelle Buffenstein, a professor of physiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center who has researched the naked mole rat's cancer resistance, told National Geographic that HMW-HA may not be the magic compound offering protection.

"This is now the third study to provide a potential mechanism," she said. "Clearly there are multiple anti-cancer defenses employed in the naked mole rat."

CDC: HPV vaccine reduced disease rates in teen girls by 56 percent

Rates of HPV strains related to genital warts and some cancers have decreased 56 percent among American teen girls since a vaccine was introduced in 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday.

The government health agency's new study, which was published in the June issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, shows that rates of vaccine-type HPV prevalence dropped from 11.5 percent before the vaccine was introduced to 5 percent by 2010 for 14 to 19 year-old-girls.

"These are striking results," CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden said on a conference call Wednesday. "I think they should be a wake-up call that we need to increase vaccination rates because we can protect the next generation of adolescents and girls against the cancer that is caused by HPV."

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is an ubiquitous group of more than 100 viruses, 40 of which can be transmitted sexually. About 79 million Americans are currently infected with HPV, according to the CDC. Nearly all sexually active men or women will contract at least one type of sexually transmitted HPV in their lifetime.

For most people, the body will build immunity against the HPV virus, and it will go away. However, for some people the virus persists. Two strains of HPV -- HPV16 and 18 -- are linked to 70 percent of cervical cancer and associated with other forms of cancer, and two others -- 6 and 11 -- cause 90 percent of genital warts.

Some strains can also cause cancers of the oropharynx (back of the throat, including the base of the tongue and tonsils), vulva, vagina, penis and anus. Recently, actor Michael Douglas highlighted the fact that HPV can cause oral cancers, one of the fastest growing cancers in the country. Dr. Lori Wirth, medical director of the Center for Head and Neck Cancers center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, explained previously to CBSNews.com that oropharyngeal cancer rates have increased 225 percent from the mid 1980s to the mid 2000s.

Scientists are hoping to develop a blood test to predict if a person may be at increased risk of developing oropharyngeal cancer.

Two vaccines currently exist that can provide protection from these HPV strains. Gardasil provides protection against HPV strains 6, 11, 16 and 18, and is Food and Drug Administration-approved for men and women between nine and 26. Cervarix only provides protection from strains 16 and 18, and is approved for women between 10 and 25. It is suggested that the vaccines may provide some protection against head and neck cancers caused by HPV, but Frieden pointed out that there is no definitive proof yet.

The vaccine offers an 82 percent effectiveness rate, but the patient must receive all three doses over six months. It is only effective if the person receives the vaccine before they have contracted HPV, which is why it is recommended for people to receive the dose when they are 11 or 12 years old, well before the age of sexual activity. However, it can still be administered until the woman is 26 or the man is 21, if they did not receive it when they were younger.

"The vaccines that are available right now are one of our only protections against HPV," Dr. Nieca Goldberg, director of the Joan H. Tisch Center for Women's Health at NYU Langone Medical Center, previously told CBSNews.com.

The vaccines were approved in 2006, so the CDC looked at HPV rates from 2003 to 2006 and then from 2007 to 2010, after they were available. The data was taken from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). In total, 56 million doses were administered in the U.S. since 2006, and 170 million have been distributed around the world.

While the HPV decrease was significant, the CDC is urging more people to make sure that their family members get the full dose of the vaccine. The U.S. has a goal of an 80 percent vaccination rate, but only 35 percent of girls in 2011 received the full dose, CDC researcher and study lead author Dr. Lauri Markowitz said on the press call. Fifty-three percent received at least one dose, but the efficacy of the vaccine without a full vaccination series is unknown.

"Rwanda has vaccinated more women in their target population that in the U.S.," Frieden said.

The CDC emphasized that the vaccine is safe. The most common side effect reported was fainting, which is a side effect for any vaccine. In addition, further research showed that since the introduction of the vaccine, there was no increase in lifetime sexual partners nor increased sexual rates in girls aged 12 to 19.

"Every year we delay in reaching that [vaccination] rate, another 4,400 women will develop cervical cancer," Frieden said.