For the past three months, state and local public health disease detectives have been working tirelessly to bring an end to the measles outbreak originating from a private detention facility in Eloy, Arizona. This week, the outbreak is officially closed. A total of 22 cases have been reported during this three month outbreak, all of [...]
Every year, tens of thousands of adults in the United States suffer serious health problems, are hospitalized, or even die from diseases that could have been prevented by vaccination. Arizona has had 22 cases of measles in adults this year, making it the biggest measles outbreak of 2016 in the US. To celebrate the importance [...]
Ever wonder about the likely transmission pathway of Zika Virus, or maybe about the symptoms of Brucellosis? Now you can easily look up this information and more in our new mobile app, the AZ Infectious Disease Resource (IDAZ). The official launch of the app coincides with our annual Arizona Infectious Disease Exercise and Training (July [...]
For the past several weeks, local and state public health have identified cases of measles in both detainees and staff members at a federal detention center in Eloy, Arizona; however no cases have been identified in community members unrelated to the facility. For the past week we have been holding steady at 22 confirmed cases. [...]
Arizona has confirmed two cases of measles associated with an Eloy Detention Center this week. Measles is one of the most communicable diseases there is- 90% of non-immune people exposed to measles will get the disease . It’s a viral disease of the upper respiratory system that is spread in the air and through droplet [...]
Every day our staff works with local public health and healthcare partners to prepare for and respond to all kinds of public health threats. Looking back at 2015, we addressed infectious disease threats like Ebola, measles, chikungunya, and Salmonella; environmental threats like wildfires, monsoons, and floods; and potential health security threats at Superbowl XLIX. This work [...]
It’s bad enough to be sick, but worse is the thought of passing your illness to someone else. Have you ever wondered when you’re contagious and when you’re not? Some diseases can keep people infectious for a while. For example, people with pertussis (whooping cough) can be contagious for two weeks. People with infectious tuberculosis [...]
You might remember from a few weeks ago that a single patient exposed over 1,000 Arizonans to measles. Because measles is highly infectious and 90% of unvaccinated contacts become infected, Public Health worked overtime to identify and interview suspected cases. Health care facilities were placed on heightened alert. The State Laboratory rushed testing of suspicious [...]
As I mentioned in a blog post last year, more AZ parents are choosing not to vaccinate their kids- using “personal exemptions” when they enroll their kids in school. This has jeopardized our immunization rates enough that this week’s measles case in Maricopa County could spread. We’ll know in a couple of weeks. Vaccinating yourself and [...]
Disease outbreaks can come from anywhere. In Arizona we’ve had illness from contaminated pomegranate seeds from the Middle East, measles from Switzerland, salmonellosis from African dwarf frogs and cholera from Peru. More recently a Canadian traveler died of H5N1 after she returned home from a long trip to China. An exotic disease from another country is only [...]
