Throughout the year, a multitude of agencies release annual reports that attempt to grade states on their preparedness to respond to public health emergencies. Some years these reports use similar indicators to assign state scores, but indicators often vary from year to year. These reports look at areas both within and outside of a health [...]
Our Public Health Laboratory has been authorized by the CDC to begin testing for the Zika virus. We received a Zika virus testing validation panel from the Laboratory Response Network at CDC late last week, passed the proficiency testing panel and were authorized to test for Zika virus this past Monday. Using this test we can run up to 100 [...]
While Arizona is holding steady with no Zika cases reported (yet), we are still working hard to make sure we’re prepared at the state and local levels to respond to cases of Zika virus infection and take steps to prevent disease spread within our communities. Public health, environmental health, and vector control agencies across the state [...]
The Association of Public Health Laboratories, a national organization dedicated to strengthening laboratory systems serving the public’s health in the United States and globally, has requested that the Arizona State Public Health Laboratory present its biosafety outreach program in a national webinar. Arizona’s highly successful biosafety program includes a variety of activities designed to develop [...]
Influenza season officially arrived last week when our Arizona State Public Health Laboratory confirmed the 1st AZ-acquired influenza case for the 2014-2015 season. Although flu activity is monitored year-round in Arizona, the start of the season intensifies our statewide surveillance activities. Partners across the state (including local health departments, laboratories and healthcare providers) participate by reporting [...]
Ben Franklin said: "Critics are our friends, they show us our faults". A true statement. When a reporter from Wisconsin wrote a story about newborn screening turn-around times around the country, we found out that we had room for improvement when it comes to the time it takes newborn metabolic screening samples to get from AZ hospitals to our Lab. Basically, [...]
Tuberculosis and mankind share a dramatic and intertwined history. TB has caused millions of deaths every year for centuries, been found in Egyptian mummies, has placed patients into sanatoriums, and has even has a folklore link relating it with vampires, The drama continues into this decade: in 2012, there were 8.8 million new cases of [...]
Last year, a new SARS-like virus called Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) broke out in Saudi Arabia. Since then, 94 cases of the very lethal disease have been reported by the World Health Organization (50% of the cases have been fatal). All the cases have been on the Arabian Peninsula. The virus causes severe [...]
Just as we expected, the sample that we tested for H7N9 influenza today was negative. Thanks to our Lab team for staying a little late this evening to run the test. Even though it was very likely to be negative from the beginning- it's still important to follow up on every lead. After all, vigilance [...]
China is continuing to report more and more cases of the new H7N9 Influenza virus. So far they’ve confirmed 108 cases with a death rate of about 20% (21 deaths) All the cases appear to have jumped from birds to humans- meaning that there’s no human-to-human transmission (which is good). One concern is that if a person becomes infected [...]
