ATLANTA - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has posted on its website "The Most Distinctive Causes of Death" for the years 2001 thru 2010 for each of the fifty states.
Researchers used 136 different causes of death to determine the "most distinctive" - meaning significantly higher than the national rate - cause of death in each state.
In Florida, HIV deaths exceeded the national rate. In both Alabama and Tennessee "death from the accidental discharge of a firearm" was the leading cause of death exceeding the national rate.
And Georgia, in what area did we exceed the national rate? We are the only state, according to the CDC's findings, who can claim "symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified."...better known as "Unknown Cause of Death".
To view the map compiled by CDC researchers, including a description of the distinctive causes of death, click here.
