April is STD Awareness Month
Did you know that chlamydia is the most commonly reported notifiable disease in the United States and in Arizona? Did you know that gonorrhea is the second most commonly reported notifiable disease in the United States and in Arizona? In 2014, a total of 1,441,789 cases of chlamydia and 350,062 cases of gonorrhea were reported to the CDC. Of those, 31,750 chlamydia cases and [...]
Applications for New Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Coming this Summer
Last week the Arizona Medical Marijuana Program turned five. Voters passed Proposition 203 in the fall of 2010, making Arizona the fourteenth state to legalize medical marijuana. Within 120 days of Proposition 203 passing, we developed the Medical Marijuana Program and issued the first medical marijuana card to a qualifying patient on April 14, 2011. As of today, there are 94,461 qualifying patients, 2,544 dispensary agents, [...]
Arizona State Public Health Lab Helping to Protect Health Statewide
April 24 through 30 is National Laboratory Professionals Week, a time for us to take a moment to thank our hard-working laboratory staff. This week we will celebrate the vital contributions laboratory professionals make to protect public health and safety. Our Public Health Lab is a leader in Arizona and the United States. In March our lab was authorized by [...]
The 2016 ADVICE Collaborative is Coming Soon
In 2013, our Licensing and Infectious Disease Services teams partnered with the Healthcare Associated Infections Advisory Committee to develop a day-long ADVICE Collaborative conference aimed at improving infection control practices. The ADVICE Collaborative brings together licensed dialysis providers, the dialysis network, federal partners and public health professionals to find new ways to promote infection control, build relationships, and identify how public health can assist [...]
Expanding the Use of Data to Improve Health
Recently our informatics staff in the Office of Infectious Disease Services partnered with hospital IT staff to add two more hospitals to BioSense, the national syndromic surveillance system. We now have 26 hospitals sharing information about all their emergency department visits, including the chief complaint, diagnoses, and patient demographics. We use BioSense to understand what hospitals are seeing for syndromes [...]
Governor Doug Ducey Appoints Three New ABRC Commissioners
Governor Doug Ducey has named three new Commissioners to the Arizona Biomedical Research Commission. The new Commissioners are: John Cover, who will represent the medical community; Howard Eng, who will represent the scientific community; and Cosmo Magliozzi who will serve as a public member. The Commissioners guide the work of ABRC by establishing research priorities and identifying key challenges and potential [...]