February is an ideal time to encourage our families, friends, and communities to be involved in heart health. With every heartbeat, blood is pumped through 60,000 miles of blood vessels, delivering important nutrition and oxygen to organs and tissues. Cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke, remains the leading global cause of death with more [...]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) performs studies each year to determine how well the influenza (flu) vaccine protects against flu. They recently released the 2018–2019 interim influenza vaccine effectiveness results that highlight how the vaccine helps to protect our communities from the disease. Overall, the vaccine was 47% effective in preventing individuals [...]
Arizona is facing an outbreak of syphilis, with the biggest increase of cases in women and newborns. The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) has been working with partners on strategies to increase early detection and treatment, especially for pregnant women, to reduce the potentially devastating health effects. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [...]
When it comes to the battle of the obesity epidemic, Arizona is doing better than many states, but obesity rates here and across the country are still alarmingly high. New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that 29.5% of Arizona adults are obese, ranking our state 30th in the nation. This year’s Arizona obesity [...]
Diabetes is a serious health condition attributing to nearly 14,000 Arizona emergency department visits and 11,000 local hospital admissions in 2016. Diabetes, the sixth leading disease-related cause of death in Arizona, is also a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to significant disability including blindness, kidney failure and amputation. In [...]
CDC’s Vital signs publication recently highlighted unusual antibiotic resistance germs, which are resistant to all or most antibiotics tested and are uncommon or carry special resistance genes. Antibiotic-resistant germs can spread very easily. Germs constantly develop resistance against new and older antibiotics. Examples of unusual resistance include: Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA), Candida auris and certain types of “nightmare bacteria” such as [...]
I’m excited to announce that our State has received another set of outstanding scores for public health preparedness from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR). The 2018 National Snapshot provides an overview of federal, state, local, and tribal preparedness and response efforts. The report also includes fact sheets with performance [...]
Last week, the CDC released the National and State Healthcare-associated Infection Data Report for 2015 National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) data. The National Healthcare Safety Network is the nation’s most widely used Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) tracking system and is being used for care improvement by facilities, states, regions, quality groups, and national public health agencies including CDC. [...]
Flu is now widespread in Arizona. As of this week, there have been 2,976 cases of flu reported compared to 347 for the same time period in 2016, which is a 758 percent increase in flu activity. This is the highest number of seasonal cases this early since influenza tests became reportable. During the past [...]
2017 Antibiotic Awareness Week (formerly “Get Smart Week”), November 13 to 19, is an annual one-week observance to raise awareness of the threat of antibiotic resistance and the importance of appropriate antibiotic prescribing and use. This week helps to increase awareness of improving appropriate use of antibiotics in communities, in healthcare facilities, and even on the farm! Each [...]
