The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Photo credti: dcwriterdawn on Flickr

NYS Senate bill 06779

AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, in relation to protecting a person’s right to know who is behind an anonymous internet posting

The Senate sponsor is Republican Thomas O’Mara, 53rd Senate district. The Assembly sponsor is Republican James Conte, 10th Assembly district.

As Wired reports

Proposed legislation in both chambers would require New York-based websites, such as blogs and newspapers, to “remove any comments posted on his or her website by an anonymous poster unless such anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post.” … Oddly, the bill has no identification requirement for those who request the takedown of anonymous content.

There are a lot of idiots in the world, and some of them are unfortunately Republican. O’Mara’s Senate district includes Ithaca, Elmira, Corning and my birthplace of Arkport. Conte’s district is a chunk of Suffolk County gerrymandered to include a winding piece of Nassau County. I suspect the voters of both districts may wish to choose another representative in the next election, based solely on the sheer stupidity of their current state Senator and Assemblyman.

A public health nurse gives an immunization injection.

As reported here on May 16, schools across Pennsylvania were forced to ban students from attending as part of an effort to catch up on required immunizations and record keeping. Reports suggest that the effort payed off in many school districts. It took eight months plus two weeks, and the exclusion of hundreds of students to reach that end.

Pennsylvania, like all states, has a list of immunizations that it requires students in public schools to have in order to attend school. The state allows a medical exemption, as well as a religious / personal belief exemption.

(b) Religious exemption. Children need not be immunized if the parent, guardian or emancipated child objects in writing to the immunization on religious grounds or on the basis of a strong moral or ethical conviction similar to a religious belief.

Pennsylvania school districts, by law, cannot admit a student without proof of exemption or immunization. They have been, in the thousands.

The Republic:
Scranton School District – 139 students out of compliance on May 15
Bethlehem Area School District – 3,000 students out of compliance at start of school
Erie – 350 students on may 15
Lancaster – several dozen barred on May 17
Allentown – 3,000 unvaccinated in January
Philadelphia – 16% of student not in compliance in early spring

Tribune-Review:
Laurel Highlands School District – 17 students banned on May 14
Belle Vernon Area School District – 300 out of compliance in January / February
Southmoreland School District – 10 students excluded

Reading Eagle:
Reading School District – 40 students kept out of class

Lancaster Online:

As recently as two weeks ago, more than 2,000 county public school students lacked documentation that they had received the vaccines.

WJAC TV:

The Citizens’ Voice reports the Wilkes-Barre and Wyoming Valley West districts each have more than 200 students who are not up-to-date on their shots. Officials say those students are still attending school but will be excluded next year without immunizations.

Pennsylvania school districts allowed thousands of students to attend school without proof of immunization or an exemption.

Here is a link to our coverage of the tornado that tore through Joplin Missouri just one year ago.

Joplin Missouri

Sean Penn’s plea to his fellow celebs at a Cannes gala “Haiti is watching us tonight like you cannot believe.” Reuters reports that the event raised $2 million for aid to the poverty stricken nation still reeling from the massive earthquake of January 2010.

Lest we forget:

Our coverage of the Haiti earthquake and its aftermath

U.S. Geological Survey – report of the 7.0 earthquake on January 12, 2010

CNN – special report on the Haiti earthquake

USAID – American assistance provided to the Haitian people after the earthquake

Clinton Bush Haiti Fund

Air Force Senior Airman Lanea Trevino, a command post controller with the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing in Southwest Asia, prevented a tragedy when she acted quickly to help a female comrade who collapsed from dehydration. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Nathanael Callon

Department of Defense
By Air Force Senior Airman Michael Charles
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

While preparing for her night shift, Air Force Senior Airman Lanea Trevino noticed something odd about the shower stall next to hers.

The shower supplies, visible through the half-opened curtain, had remained untouched for the entire time she had been there.

“It was strange,” Trevino said. “I had seen nobody else in the facility so it was odd that an entire set of supplies would be left.”

While some might dismiss the empty shower stall and shower supplies as a case of forgetfulness, Trevino decided to walk through the facility to be sure. After noticing an occupied female toilet stall, Trevino knocked on the door and asked the person inside if she had left her shower supplies.

There was no response.

“I immediately began to worry,” Trevino said. “I could see that she was in the stall but wasn’t moving.”

Trevino reached her hand under the stall and shook the girl’s leg but there was no response. She quickly peeked under the stall and noticed the airman was unconscious. Taking immediate action, she ran to the nearest trailer and told the first person she saw to call emergency responders.

“My first instinct was to get help,” Trevino said. “I couldn’t tell if she was breathing or not but I knew that she would need additional medical assistance either way and ran to get it.”

Fearing the worst, she grabbed a male, who had been walking by on his way to lunch to help her get the unconscious individual out of the stall. The door had been locked from the inside and the only way into the stall was to climb over top of it. The male lifted her over the stall and she opened the door from the inside.

Using a fireman carry, Trevino dragged the unresponsive female out of the stall and laid her flat on the ground. Moments later, paramedics from the 379th Expeditionary Medical Group arrived on scene and begin caring for the individual, who was later diagnosed with severe dehydration.

Being vigilant and watching out for your fellow wingman is the responsibility of all airmen, said Air Force Chief Master Sgt. William Harner, 379th Air Expeditionary Wing’s command chief.

“Trevino displayed the ethos we expect from all our Air Force teammates,” Harner said. “She paid attention to her surroundings, noticed that something was not right, and acted accordingly. Her vigilance yielded a life or death result.”

Heat-related injuries can include dizziness, confusion, heavy breathing or unconsciousness, Trevino said.

“It’s our duty to look out for each other,” she said, “especially in the summertime when the heat takes its toll on your body.”

Thanks to Trevino’s actions the service member is due to make a full recovery.

“I would expect anyone else to do the same for me,” Trevino said. “As airmen in the U.S. Air Force, we are part of a unique family and you never have to have a reason to look out for your family members.”

The Minnesota Department of Health reports 670 cases of whooping cough in the state for the year through May 15. The cases are largely centered in and around the Minneapolis / St. Paul metro area.

Counties in Minnesota reporting pertussis cases in 2012 through May 15. Click for a larger image.

All 19 of the 2012 reports have shown Minnesota as having no pertussis cases. Media reports contradict that data.

Kristen from the CDC called with an explanation. The state of Minnesota is trying to implement a new electronic reporting system and they have reported nothing for the year as yet.

Claudia Miller from the Minnesota Department of Health verified that statement. The DoH is struggling to bring the system on-line. The deadline for reporting final case counts for 2011 to the CDC is coming up, so the DoH is concentrating on reporting the 2011 data first. Ms. Miller believes that the 2012 data will be reported by the end of June, 2012, and be reported weekly after that.

PLEASE NOTE:
The 670 pertussis cases in Minnesota in 2012 do not appear in the CDC’s data. Our reporting, until now, was based on that faulty data. The missing cases represent an additional 7.5 percent increase in the national case count.

Pie chart showing top states reporting pertussis in 2012. Click for a larger image.

The number of pertussis cases in the United States for 2012 through May 12 is 9,586. That represents 62 percent more cases of whooping cough than for the same 19 weeks in 2011. Minnesota ranks fourth nationally in cases.

A public health nurse gives an immunization injection.

When the school year began last September, large numbers of Pennsylvania school children lacked immunizations or the proof that they had received those immunizations. The Pennsylvania Department of Health notified families that they would have eight months to obtain immunizations, file the correct paperwork or provide the paperwork giving their student an exemption for medical, religious or philosophical reasons. The deadline passed and was extended for two weeks. Yesterday was it.

It was up to the district superintendents to ban students or not ban students for lack of immunizations. Some schools are permitting unvaccinated students to attend classes while others have refused and banned them from the building. The push to obtain immunizations and correct records has been successful in other districts.

The Pocono Record reports that some local schools have full compliance with the immunization policy. Two local schools were banning some students. The East Stroudsburg Area School District has reduced its backlog from 650 student to 70, and they were going to be banned. Pocono Mountain had gone from 300 to 50 by Tuesday’s deadline, and these students were set to be banned.

Wilkes-Barre Area and Wyoming Valley West are taking the opposite tack. The Times-Leader reports that Wilkes-Barre has about 300 students without all their immunizations. They are being allowed to finish the school year but will not be permitted to attend in the fall if the situation has not been corrected. WNEP-16 reports the same policy at Western Wayne, with the number of non-compliant students in that district at 67.

In Erie, 350 students were not allowed in class on Tuesday. By day’s end the number had been reduced to 206, as reported by GoErie.com.

In the Scranton area, the Times-Tribune surveyed local school districts. Many had full compliance while others reported very low numbers of students that would be banned. The Scranton district had about 300 students needing immunizations at the lend of last week and 155 students were banned on Tuesday.

Pennsylvania is one of twenty states that permit parents to exempt their children from immunizations based on a philosophical belief. The statute describes it as “a strong moral or ethical conviction similar to a religious belief”. The state has reported nearly 500 cases of pertussis, whooping cough, in 2012 and ranks fifth nationally in the number of reported cases.

An annual Mother’s Day event at a Buddhist monastery in rural Putnam County, NY, was interrupted yesterday afternoon as participants began suffering gastrointestinal symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea. The event drew hundreds to the Chuang Yen Monastery, and delawareonline.com states that about 500 arrived by bus from New York City’s Chinatown. Food for the event was provided by volunteers, similar to a pot luck supper.

Illness
Susan Hoffner, a spokesperson for the Putnam County Health Department, states that approximately 150 people were taken ill. Symptoms of the illness include vomiting, diarrhea, nausea and dehydration. Many became ill after they left the event. By evening, the Times Herald-Record states that local emergency services had received reports of dozens of cases of illness in travelers between the monastery and New York City. The outbreak is believed to be caused by some form of food poisoning.



Police Response
The Kent, NY, police department responded to the incident. Detective Gerald Locasio, a spokesman for the department, said that four officers from Kent and assistance from the Woodbury Police Department, responded. Fifteen patients were transported by ambulance from the area of the monastery. While there were some language barriers, Locasio said, there were enough English speaking individuals who could translate. The monastery shut down food service when notified of the problem. Detective Locasio states that there is no current indication that the incident was criminal in nature or that there was terrorist involvement. The investigators are working closely with the Putnam County Health Department.

Medical Response
The Putnam County News and Recorder reports that several fire and ambulance agencies from the region responded to the monastery as calls flooded the Putnam County 911 center. Triage was performed by EMS personnel on site and some patients were taken to nearby hospitals.

In Orange County, buses transporting people from the event stopped at a local shopping mall, where some of the travelers became ill. About two dozen patients were taken to local hospitals from this location. A spokesman for the Orange County Regional Medical Center, located in Middletown, estimated that around a dozen patients were treated and released from their facility. St. Luke’s Hospital in Cornwall reports that it treated eight from the incident. All were released. Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern also treated and released several patients.

Health Department Response
The Putnam County Health Department will be working with experts from the New York State Health Department to investigate the outbreak. Peter Constantakes, spokesman for the NYS Department of Health, said that the DoH has personnel on the ground in Putnam County at this time working with the county health department. The followup with patients is requiring the DoH to translate the standard questionnaire into Chinese. They will also need to translate the answers when they are received. Constantakes stated that any outbreak follow up in Chinatown would be conducted by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. If there is any indication that the illnesses resulted from a food product sold commercially, the Centers for Disease Control would be advised of the situation.

Attendees to the opening ceremony of the Kandahar Nursing and Midwifery Institute participate in the ribbon cutting May 9, 2012 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The Kandahar Nursing and Midwifery will be able to train up to 800 students, both male and female, a year in nursing, midwifery, pharmacy, lab and dental services. Photo by Staff Sgt. Timothy Chacon

DVIDS
Story by Staff Sgt. Timothy Chacon

The Kandahar Nursing and Midwifery Institute held a ribbon cutting ceremony May 9,2012. The Nursing and Midwifery facility is one of only eight similar facilities in the country and will be able to train up to 800 students, both male and female, per year. The facility will teach students nursing, midwifery, pharmacy, lab, and dental services, with an emphasis on improving maternal and infant mortality rates in Kandahar, as well as surrounding provinces.

The May 9, 2012 ribbon cutting ceremony for Kandahar Nursing and Midwifery Institute marked a big step in the improvement of medical facilities in Afghanistan. The Director of Public Health, Dr. A.Q. Pokhla, Provincial Governor, Toryalai Wesa, and the Minister of Public Health, Dr. Suraya Dalil attended the ceremony along with many of the U.S. military and civilian partners who assisted in the project.

The speakers spoke about the importance of the facility and what it will mean for Afghanistan.

“Today we celebrate the transition to Afghan authority,” said Minister Dalil. “We should stand on our own feet to deliver services for our people.”

The Nursing and Midwifery facility is one of only eight similar facilities in the country and will be able to train up to 800 students, both male and female, per year. The facility will teach students nursing, midwifery, pharmacy, lab, and dental services, with an emphasis on improving maternal and infant mortality rates in Kandahar, as well as surrounding provinces. The compound consists of male and female dormitories, a dining hall, a schoolhouse, mosque, recreation field and administrative buildings.

The new facility will greatly increase the institute’s capabilities from those provided at the former site at Mirwais hospital.

“The nursing and midwifery facility will provide students with a better learning and living environment.” said U.S. Navy Lt. j.g Kimberly Gaines, Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team senior medical officer. “As well facilitate the growth of a multitude of health services in Kandahar City.”

U.S. Navy Lt. j.g. Kimberly Gaines, Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team, listens to a translated speech through a headset during the Kandahar Nursing and Midwifery Institute grand opening ceremony May 9, 2012 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Kandahar PRT is a joint team of U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy service members and civilians deployed to the Kandahar province of Afghanistan to assist in the effort to rebuild and stabilize the local government and infrastructure. Photo by Staff Sgt. Timothy Chacon

Local Afghan contractors conducted the building of the facility with the assistance of the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team. The Kandahar PRT is a joint team of U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy and civilians assigned to the Kandahar province to assist with the effort to rebuild and stabilize the local government and infrastructure.

Leonard Sinfield, South District hydrogeologist, inspects well pipes stacked and ready for installation in a new well site on the Afghan National Army 9th Commando compound in Herat province, May 1. Photo by Dave Melancon

DVIDS
Story by Dave Melancon

Water is a critical element for rebuilding Afghanistan’s economy and security, according Afghanistan Engineer District-South’s hydrogeologist, Leonard Sinfield.

“Without water, nothing can happen,” said Sinfield, one of about a dozen hydrogeologists working for U.S. federal, military, or non-government agencies in Afghanistan. Sinfield assesses water resources for the Afghan National Security Forces and U.S. forces facilities and installations.

“The Corps of Engineers looks to see if there are adequate groundwater resources because you cannot build a facility without water,” he said during a site visit to wells in Herat and Qala-i-Naw May 1 and 2. “We try to predict if there is good water or not.”

A U.S. Navy civilian employee from San Diego, Calif. working on an interagency detail with the south district, Sinfield has studied test results for more than 50 wells in the district and conducted hands-on site assessments and tests for 10.

Sinfield also supervises well drilling projects on Kandahar Airfield and is helping Kandahar City officials to develop its water resources master plan.

“We are trying to help Afghanistan develop drinking water for the city,” he said. “We are reviewing all the wells, looking for good locations, doing all the things we do to assist Kandahar City officials correctly build wells and tap into good water for the city.”

Sinfield said he is helping the Afghans with technical aspects of drilling several deep aquifer exploration wells in and around Kandahar City. These wells will help the city diversify the number and types of reliable water sources it has available to ensure a water supply that is not subject to droughts in the future.

“As we close bases, we want to transition responsibility for the water wells over to the Afghans,” he said. “We do not want to just close them. So, we may have to retrofit the wells with hand pumps and train village residents on maintenance.”

Additionally, Sinfield advises area combat commanders and civil affairs teams in Regional Command South with their long-term planning and with drafting water-related policies.

Meetings, documents and written test results provide only a partial picture of a well’s capacity and quality. There is no substitute for an on-site assessment, Sinfield said.

“We talk with the Afghan drillers, making sure they are doing the right things technically,” he said. “We are able to ask the right questions to obtain good information on the well site.”

But the most important part of these face-to-face, well-side discussions is preparing the Afghans to take over their water operations.

“We try to get the Afghans to use the information to help them make good well drilling decisions,” Sinfield said.

During site visits to several wells on Corps projects in the Herat area, Sinfield found two 500-meter deep dry holes drilled into steeply sloping bedrock which is forcing the water under the mountains on Camp Zafar, three intermittent wells on Camp Stone with some minor salinity problems and “tons of good water” on the 9th Commando compound. The three sites are adjacent to one another.

“We saw a pattern: no water, OK water, very good water,” Sinfield said. “We know where the good water is.”

In Qala-i-Naw, where the Corps of Engineers is building a new resident office to oversee several projects taking place in Badghis province, Sinfield found one well drilled into dry clay that should be sealed, another seasonal well that could serve as a back-up water source and the remains of an abandoned well.

The abandoned well could be restored, he reported. It needs a new well house, pump, electric system, a 500-gallon day tank and a booster pump.

During his assessments, Sinfield used a portable salinity meter to test the salt content, known as total dissolved salt or TDS, of the well water and had good news to report.

“The water coming out of those wells was as good as the water that was being delivered by truck,” he said.

The delivered water has a salinity level of about 1,600 parts-per-million while the water on a nearby Spanish army forward operating base had TDS of approximately 1,800 ppm, he said. Water throughout the Qala-i-Naw area has salinity ranges measuring from about 1,250 to 1,800 ppm.

“It is all good water,” Sinfield said. “It may just taste a little salty and makes bad coffee or tea.” However, it is safe and potable, he said.

The higher salt content came as no surprise, Sinfield said, salty water is an issue throughout the region.

“You have a lot of water that is really salty, really hard,” he explained. “The first aquifer that you hit is usually really salty. In some areas of the country that is all you can get, especially along the Iranian border area.”

Wells drilled deeper than 300 meters can usually overcome the salt problem and have other benefits, he said. The added depth yields higher pumping capacity and higher quality water.

Without water, Afghanistan cannot grow and prosper, Sinfield said.

“You can’t develop anything without water. Water drives the economy here. Electrical subsystems need water, hydroelectric systems need water, agriculture needs water,” he said.

“Afghanistan used to export a lot of agricultural products in the pre-war years. Hopefully we can help them get back to that point.”

Sailors with the Preventive Medicine Unit, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, place traps along a tree line aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., May 8, 2012. Throughout the year, PMU performs many tasks to keep the living conditions on base at a high standard. The unit is now working hard as the summer months approach to catch and test mosquitoes from across the base for malaria. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Pfc. Franklin E. Mercado

DVIDS
Story by Pfc. Franklin Mercado

According to the Center for Disease Control, in 2010 an estimated 216 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide and 655,000 people died from the disease.

Sailors with Preventative Medicine Unit, 2nd Marine Logistics Group are working diligently to ensure diseases, such as malaria, do not threaten Marines and sailors aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Throughout the year, PMU performs many tasks to keep the living conditions on base at a high standard. They inspect chow halls, barracks and working facilities for health hazards.

Complaints about pests are constant with the warm weather and rising number of insects. The heavily wooded and wet areas aboard the base are also conducive to a thriving mosquito population.

On May 8, Sailors with PMU ventured across the base to plant traps and conduct their research of the installation’s mosquito population.

There haven’t been many outbreaks of malaria in the U.S. compared to other stricken places, but it doesn’t stop the unit from doing all they can to keep it that way.

“We don’t have any cases in the area,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Charles A. Hill, a preventive medicine technician with PMU. “We still do regular trapping and testing of mosquitoes from around the base.”

Camp Lejeune has a large quantity of grassy and moist areas, which is why it is important for traps to be spread out across the vast installation, explained Hill.

Sailors with the Preventive Medicine Unit, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, place traps along a tree line aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., May 8, 2012. Throughout the year, PMU performs many tasks to keep the living conditions on base at a high standard. The unit is now working hard as the summer months approach to catch and test mosquitoes from across the base for malaria. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Pfc. Franklin E. Mercado

“We spread the traps out as far as we can,” he said. “We put them on Midway Park, Onslow Beach, around the Naval Hospital, and a lot more places on the base, so we can get a wide variety of mosquitoes.”

There are many types of mosquitoes – with the most common breeds being Culex and Aedes mosquitoes – and the trapping process gives PMU a chance to test a large number of them. In the peak mosquito season, traps are regularly found with 300 to 400 mosquitoes each, said Hill.

“When we get the traps back, we get a good idea of which mosquitoes are in the area,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Justin Munger, a preventive medicine specialist with PMU. “We can better identify the ones that are harmful to people, and conduct population control.”

The traps are collected 24 hours after they are set out. They set the traps with carbon dioxide and lights, which attract approximately 80 percent more mosquitoes, said Hill.

“We don’t only rely on how many traps we lay out, we rely on the carbon dioxide and lights to help almost double the amount of bugs,” Hill said. “Malaria is a serious disease, so we need to do the best we can to keep it away from the people on base.”

The traps are rarely seen by personnel on base; sailors with the PMU do their best at hiding them in the tree line. If a person happens to run into the mosquito trap, the PMU strongly encourages people to leave them alone.

DVIDS

ORISKANY, N.Y. — More than 700 National Guard soldiers and airmen from New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands come together next week at the New York State Preparedness Center here to prepare for certification as a regional disaster response force.

Residents may notice increased military traffic in the Oriskany, Rome and Utica areas as the HRF arrives and conducts its final training preparations and validation exercise.

The organization, known as a National Guard Homeland Response Force, will train both at the New York National Guard Armory in Utica and Oriskany at the New York State Preparedness Center to certify their readiness to assist responders following a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high explosive incident.

Registered nurse 2nd Lt. Rebeccah Collins vaccinates Alexia Woods, 12, for chicken pox and meningitis during the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center School Physicals and Immunization Clinic at Fort Hood, Texas. Photo by Jeri Chappelle, CRDAMC Public Affairs

Every state mandates a set of immunizations in order for a child to enter public school. Some also require immunizations as the student gets older. The list varies slightly but a pertussis (whooping cough) immunization is required in all states.

Not every student in public will have all their immunizations. Every state also provides for conditions of exemption from one or more of the mandated immunizations.

The medical exemption is the easiest to understand. A physician certifies that the student has had the illness, or that there are medical reasons for the child being unable to receive the immunization. An allergy to one of the vaccine’s ingredients would be an example of the latter.

Most states also provide for a religious exemption. The method of requesting this sort of exemption and the proof required varies by state. The exemption is granted to students whose religious beliefs do not allow immunizations. There are very few organized religions that hold this belief.

Twenty states allow a third type of exemption from immunization. It is called a philosophical or personal exemption. The request and the proof varies by state. In general, the state requires the parents or guardians to assert that they have a personal or philosophical objection to immunization. Several of these states have modified their laws recently to provide that the parents be counseled by a physician to the benefits and risks of immunizations in order to receive the exemption.

The states permitting some sort of personal or philosophical exemption from immunizations are: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) collect and publish data on a number of reportable illnesses in the United States. The finalized data is available on line for 1996 to 2008. The preliminary data for these illnesses is available from 2009 to 2011, and monthly data for 2012 through May. Since pertussis (whooping cough) is in the news, the CDC pertussis case counts provide a basis for analyzing the effects of personal exemptions on case counts for the years 2005 through 2011.

• From 2005 to 2011, the average number of yearly pertussis cases in the United States was 17,801.
• The twenty states that allow the personal / philosophical exemption reported an average of 11,192 pertussis cases per year. That is 63 percent of the national average.
• Exemption states ranked first, second and third in pertussis case counts for the years 2005,2008, 2009 and 2010.
• In 2007, exemption states accounted for 54 percent of the total pertussis cases reported in the United States. This is the lowest percentage in the period studied.
• In 2010, exemption states accounted for 72 percent of the total reported cases. This is the highest percentage in the period studied.
• In the four years where exemption states reported the top three pertussis case counts, they account for 27 to 42 percent of the national total.
• Texas holds the most top three rankings, ranking in five out of seven years.
• California had the most reported cases of pertussis in four of the seven years. All four years, the state reported the highest number of cases in the nation.
• Minnesota ranked in the top three for three of the seven years.

Pertussis cases are surging in 2012. Year to date, the number of reported cases is up 44 percent from the same period in 2011.

The last year with this level of illness was 2010. In that year, California had a whooping cough epidemic. The states of Washington, Texas Ohio and Michigan also had large numbers of cases.

Data analyzed at that time indicated that the pertussis outbreaks in those states were centered in counties where the residents were above average in income. Many were also home to major universities and large academic communities.

• California
• Michigan, centered in the wealthy Detroit suburbs and around Ann Arbor
• Ohio, centered around Columbus
• Texas, centered around Austin

Prepared by Charles Simmins from CDC data. Click for a larger image.

In 2012, through May 5, 2012, six of the nine states reporting over 200 cases of whooping cough are exemption states. They account for fifty percent of all pertussis cases nationwide. The CDC reports that through week 18, ending May 5, there were 8,159 pertussis cases reported in 2012. That is a 44 percent increase over the same period in 2011.

Airman 1st Class Andrew McCutchen receives an immunization. U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Nathan Bevier

Parents are asked to approve a variety of immunizations for their children. The various recommended vaccines are given beginning within a few months of birth and continue for the next dozen years and more. Some parents believe, without a scientific basis, that vaccines routinely harm children and that children are better off unvaccinated.

The United States Army has some experience with infectious disease. They keep records. The historical data for some diseases which we now prevent with a vaccine is available on line. Here are just some of the costs to the Army and the troops.

All four of these illnesses are preventable through immunization. The Army varied in number during those years but never exceeded three million men.

Registered nurse 2nd Lt. Rebeccah Collins vaccinates Alexia Woods, 12, for chicken pox and meningitis during the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center School Physicals and Immunization Clinic at Fort Hood, Texas. Photo by Jeri Chappelle, CRDAMC Public Affairs

The United States population is estimated to be 313,515,695 as of May 10, 2012. Let’s look at the case counts for these illnesses for the year 2011, the last full year.

Diphtheria – 0 No reported cases in the U.S. since 2003.
Measles – 222 cases
Mumps – 370 cases
Smallpox – 0 No reported cases since 1949.

Look at the difference that routine immunizations make. Each case of mumps, for example, cost the Army 17 days back during World War I. The 2011 case count for mumps is 0.16 percent of the Army total. The savings in days out of work due to mumps is clear.

Add in the people who did not die from diphtheria or smallpox. Add in the reduction in illness related disabilities. Immunization for vaccine preventable diseases saves lives and money.

Enrique Ruiz was very sick when he went to the emergency room at New York City’s Lincoln Hospital in April. He was diagnosed with pneumonia and bronchitis. Less than a week later, he was being treated for second degree burns on his neck and chest.

Sunday’s New York Post reported on the ordeal by fire that Enrique Ruiz suffered at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx. As doctors were trying to insert a breathing tube, Ruiz caught fire. The pain was severe enough that he woke up from sedation. An electronic scalpel being used to cut an opening in his neck combined with the oxygen he was being given causing a flash fire around the surgical site.

Surgical Fires

Mark Bruley, vice-president of investigations for the ECRI Institute, stated in the Post article that 500 to 600 surgical fires occur in the United States each year. The results can be serious or fatal. A spokesperson for the New York State Health Department (NYSDoH) states that the fire was originally reported as minor but additional information has now been provided. All injuries to patients are required to be reported to the DoH.

Causes of Surgical Fires

A fire needs oxygen, an ignitions source and fuel – something that will burn. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) points out that all of the requirements for a fire are routinely found in a surgical environment. The patient is supplied with oxygen. Alcohol skin preparations, anesthetics and surgical draping are among the fuels present. Ignition is provided by electronic surgical tools such as scalpels and lasers.

Other Surgical Fire Cases

Kira Reed was undergoing a cesarean-section in March 2010, according to the Syracuse, NY, Post-Standard. She was awake and smelled something burning. She was on fire. Her baby was delivered without injury but she suffered third degree burns to her side. An alcohol-based antiseptic skin preparation is being blamed.

In September 2009, Janice McCall died some six days after being burned by a fire on the operating table, MSNBC reports. While her death was ruled accidental, her family is pursuing legal action against Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion, Il.

In early December, 2011, two separate fires left two patients with severe burns to the face. ABC reports that Kim Grice was burned while undergoing an outpatient procedure in Crestview, Fl. Seattle’s qFox 13 has the story of Tommy Beams, who also suffered facial burns after a fire at Grays Harbor Community Hospital.

These fires are preventable, according to Mark Bruley in the Post. The FDA has a website with information for both patients and medical professionals on how to prevent surgical fires. The agency has no mandatory reporting requirement but does ask that voluntary reports of surgical fires be submitted.