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 [...]
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 [...]
This is the time of year that public health folks start watching the flu reports from the southern hemisphere. We’re watching for a couple of things – the circulating strains and how it’s spreading. The Australian Government Department of Health is reporting 6 times as many cases as they had at this time last season. [...]
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 [...]
The flu vaccine that you and your family got earlier will pay off over the next couple of weeks, it's going gangbusters right now. We monitor several different indicators to determine the level of flu activity in the state and all are on the rise right now including increased school nurse and health care clinic visits for [...]
With last year’s pandemic, we saw how influenza can be unpredictable in terms of who it affects most, when it occurs, and what strains will circulate. This season we are back to a more usual flu season, at least so far. Our first laboratory-confirmed cases were detected earlier than most years (at the end of [...]
The Strategic National Stockpile is a national repository of antibiotics, chemical antidotes, antitoxins, life-support medications, IV administration, airway maintenance supplies, and medical/surgical items which are stored in a few locations around the country. The stockpile is designed to supplement public health agencies in case there’s a national emergency anywhere and at anytime within the U.S. [...]
The FDA approved this year’s (2010-2011) flu vaccine for the US. This year's shot will protect folks from 3 strains of influenza including the pandemic strain from last year. The technical terms for the strains in this year’s shot are the “A/California/7/09 (H1N1)-like virus (i.e. pandemic virus”; the “A/Perth /16/2009 (H3N2)-like virus”; and the “B/Brisbane/60/2008-like [...]
We’ve got a lot to be proud of over the last year and an half. It’s been hard, I know because of all of the budget reductions and the lower staffing level. On the other hand, we’ve got an incredible mission and we’re doing a good job. I often tell people that we work in [...]
When’s the last time you heard anything about the pandemic? It’s been awhile, huh? Well, it’s still around. The number of cases is back down to where it was this summer, with cases here and there. Nothing like it was last October- but the flu is still out there. We’re still encouraging the stragglers to [...]
