Most of us are aware that the Well Woman HealthCheck increases screening for breast and cervical cancer. As part of our federal funding agreement for the program the CDC audits 100% of the services provided. Services are audited for appropriateness and timeliness- even the age of women receiving mammograms is audited for meeting guidelines. We submit [...]
The FDA approved the 2011-2012 influenza vaccine this week. The strains in this year’s vaccine were recommended by the CDC and the World Healthy Organization after studying virus samples collected from around the world to find the influenza viruses that are the most likely to cause illness during the upcoming flu season. The strains selected [...]
CDC has developed new and easy-to-use resources for preventing infections in outpatient treatment facilities. The Infection Prevention Guide and Prevention Checklist is posted on the new CDC website for outpatient care facilities.
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 [...]
The major public health achievements of the first 10 years of the 21st century included improvements in vaccine preventable and infectious diseases, reductions in deaths from certain chronic diseases, declines in deaths and injuries from motor vehicle crashes, and more, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 10 domestic [...]
Arizona has been able to decrease the rate of deaths from car, truck and motorcycle crashes by 43% in the last 4 years, from about 19 deaths per 100,000 in 2005 to 11 per 100,000 Arizonans in 2009. While this is good progress, we still have a long way to go. Crashes are still the [...]
Age and risk factor appropriate screening for breast and cervical cancer is a key public health intervention that saves countless lives every year, because early detection and treatment for these cancers result in substantially better outcomes. That’s where Arizona’s Well Woman HealthCheck Program comes in… Our Well Woman HealthCheck was established in 1993 as part [...]
Healthcare-associated infections are a critical challenge to public health in Arizona. Healthcare associated infections are acquired during healthcare treatment and can be devastating and even deadly- importantly, they’re preventable. At any given time, about 1 in 20 patients have an infection while receiving healthcare treatment in U.S. hospitals, causing up to $33B in excess medical [...]
For some reason human nature drives us to fear unknown, strange, and seemingly unpredictable hazards more than the commonplace hazards that we face day to day, even though the everyday hazards are a far more important public health risk. Accidents and injuries are a good example. Accidents and injuries are hands-down the number 1 killer [...]
All of us are exposed to natural radiation on a daily basis. It mostly comes from space (called cosmic rays) as well as natural radioactive materials found in the soil, water and air. People can also be exposed to radiation from human-made sources like X-ray machines. Radiation doses are usually measured in units called milli-Sieverts. On [...]
