2016 Healthy Swimming Poster Contest Winner Announced
Amal, age 17, Maricopa County The Office of Infectious Disease just concluded its fifth annual Healthy Swimming Contest . This year, 50 healthy swimming posters were submitted from Arizona kids ranging in ages from two to 17 years old. All posters submitted suggested ways to swim healthy and avoid getting a recreational water illness with tips that include: [...]
Download the New AZ Infectious Disease Resource Mobile App Today
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 26 through 28) and will [...]
EMS Bureau Provides Transparency and Technical Assistance for Ambulance Services
Arizona uses a Certificate of Necessity process to license ambulance services. This process can be challenging for new applicants because it uses terminology and accounting practices that the person responsible for completing the application may not be familiar with. To help overcome that problem, our Bureau of EMS and Trauma System has begun posting important documents on the program’s website, [...]
Transforming Arizona Government: Preventing Disease Spread
Our agency continues to measure what matters in an effort to improve our services to Arizonans and review these measurements on a routine basis to ensure we’re on track in achieving our mission. One critical component of the work we do here is providing education, recommendations, and guidance to the public, healthcare providers, and public health partners in order to [...]
Disease Detectives at Work: St. Louis encephalitis investigation
Last summer Arizona had an outbreak of St. Louis encephalitis virus, which is similar to West Nile virus. Both are spread most commonly by the bite of an infected mosquito, but other possible routes of infection include organ transplants, blood transfusions, or needle sticks in laboratories. Public health was notified that one person in Arizona diagnosed with St. Louis encephalitis [...]
Annual Health Survey helps Public Health Agencies Focus Priorities
Data is an instrumental component of public health that helps us monitor population health, plan and evaluate interventions, and track priorities. One of our most valuable sources of public health data is the annual Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), which is a telephone survey that collects data from Arizona adults 18 and older. The BRFSS survey collects data related to several chronic diseases, tobacco [...]