disease

‘Tis the Season to Be Vaccinated…

By |2017-02-10T09:50:48-07:00December 19th, 2012|Prevention|

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices released issued new recommendations to encourage pregnant women to get the whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine (Tdap) during their pregnancy.  Since most kids get whooping cough from a close family member, vaccinating parents (and teens) is one of the best ways to prevent infants, especially those who are too young [...]

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Vaccines & the Social Contract

By |2017-02-10T09:50:48-07:00December 14th, 2012|Prevention|

At the core- vaccines are really about community protection.  Our public health system depends on a solid network of providers that are available to vaccinate kids for all of the nasty infectious diseases that have plagued humanity for millennium. It’s not just access to care and a solid network of providers that vaccinate that are [...]

We Nailed Smallpox- Why Not Polio?

By |2017-02-10T09:50:54-07:00October 24th, 2012|Preparedness, Prevention|

Today is World Polio Day so I thought I’d throw together this post to give you an update on where we are in the global eradication effort.  2012 has been a good year so far- as the global public health system has made some real progress.  This year we’re down to only 3 countries with [...]

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2012 State by State Preparedness Report

By |2017-02-10T09:50:58-07:00October 2nd, 2012|General, Preparedness, Prevention|

Safeguarding the public’s health is more important than ever.  Whether the threat is a disease outbreak, environmental hazard or natural disaster, the public health system works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to keep Arizonans safe.  Each year, the CDC evaluates state and local public health preparedness programs in a detailed report.  This [...]

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ADHS’ Disease Detectives

By |2017-02-10T09:51:06-07:00July 25th, 2012|Prevention|

Awhile back, our epidemiology and licensing team of disease detectives including Jason Lempp, Cara Christ, Vinita Oberoi, Jessica Rigler, Ken Komatsu, Kathy McCanna, Connie Belden, Ken Komatsu, and Shoana Anderson learned of a severe case of a Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus  (MRSA) through our 24-hour disease reporting system.  Our team quickly contacted the county public health department which immediately began an [...]

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Valley Fever Week

By |2017-02-10T09:51:27-07:00November 4th, 2011|General|

This is Valley Fever Awareness Week- an annual event to provide awareness  of coccidioidomycosis (also known as Valley Fever)- the second most commonly reported infectious disease in Arizona.  Events for the general public include a “Learn about Valley Fever – Ask the Doctor Your Questions” held in Tucson on Sunday, Nov. 6 and the Walk for Valley Fever in Sun [...]

AZ Data to Drive Public Health Interventions

By |2017-02-10T09:51:30-07:00October 24th, 2011|Behavioral Health, Prevention|

Making good decisions about prioritizing which public health issues to tackle and how to target our interventions rests on our ability to collect and analyze public health data.  For infectious disease surveillance that means have a base of solid reporting and surveillance so we can analyze infectious disease trends.  For chronic diseases, we need to [...]

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Strategic Planning and Public Health Accreditation News

By |2017-02-10T09:51:32-07:00October 6th, 2011|General|

As a follow up to my email earlier this month introducing you to the agency-wide efforts around accreditation and presentations of the draft strategic map, I'm happy to formally announce our new mission and vision: To improve the health and wellness of people and communities in Arizona (our Mission) and Health and Wellness for all Arizonans (our [...]

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Run with the Herd

By |2017-02-10T09:51:32-07:00September 30th, 2011|General, Prevention|

Pretty much everybody knows that getting an annual influenza vaccine protects them from getting influenza- but fewer people realize that getting vaccinated saves other people’s lives as well.  That’s because if a large percentage of the population takes advantage of the vaccine (called herd immunity) we can reduce the overall spread of the disease- and save [...]

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Contagion

By |2017-02-10T09:51:35-07:00September 9th, 2011|General, Preparedness, Prevention|

In all my years in public health this is the first crack I’ve taken at being a movie critic- so give me a little slack on this one.  I checked out the new movie called Contagion- and really liked it. I won’t give up too much information and spoil the film, but it’s basically a fictional [...]

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