Currently, the United States and Canada are experiencing an outbreak of Cyclospora, a foodborne parasite. People who swallow this parasite become sick with ongoing diarrhea, often going away and coming back (relapsing), loss of appetite, gas, stomach pain, and fatigue. Symptoms usually start a week after the parasite is swallowed, but can be as short [...]
National Recreational Water Illness and Injury Prevention Week is coming up next week. Healthy swimming depends on paying attention to basic health, hygiene, sun-safety, and what swimmers bring into the pool (and what they don’t). For starters, remind your kids to take a sunscreen, hydration, and bathroom break every hour when swimming. You might also want to start [...]
Spring in Arizona is exciting for many reasons. We look forward to warmer weather, beautiful desert blooms, and cactus league baseball. Spring also signals the transition to our norovirus season… which infects about 21 million Americans including hundreds of thousands of Arizonans. Norovirus inflames the stomach and intestines and causes 24-48 hours of very unpleasant vomiting and diarrhea. [...]
A couple of folks from the CDC have been in Arizona this week to help us (and Sonora) to investigate an unusual number of cases (8 in Arizona and 8 in Sonora) of Guillain Barre syndrome . The Arizona cases are in the Yuma area. It’s a rare condition that rarely (but occasionally) happens several days after [...]
