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Medical panic or trolling for dollars? West Nile questions

September 12th, 2010 | Comments Off

Look at any state or local website run by a public health authority and you will see information, glaring warnings, about the the dangers of West Nile virus. West Nile is an illness transmitted by mosquitoes that has been seen in humans in the United States for about 12 years. It’s an import, from overseas. While searching for information about whooping cough, pertussis, case numbers on various sites I began to notice the “West Nile panic“. Lots of information about West Nile but far less about illnesses, serious illnesses with much larger case numbers. Here are some case number examples from the CDC MMWR week 35 report for September 5, 2010. NY FL TX CA USA Chlamydia 65,161 49,776 79,341 93,950 771,941 Gonorrhea 11,816 13,375 20,426 17,561 179,856 Pertussis/ Whooping cough 351 219 1,709 3,834 13,465 Varicella/ Chickenpox n/a 737 1,801 n/a 9,622 West Nile 38 2 7 35 258 In 2007, Michigan reported 392 cases of AIDS, 4,191 cases of Chickenpox, 292 cases of Whooping Cough and … Read entire article »

Filed under: Analysis, Medicine, Original writing, Public Health issues

Whooping cough shows up in Midwest and Pacific

August 19th, 2010 | Comments Off

It has been clear for some weeks now that the whooping cough outbreaks this year are geographically related. There appear to be two clusters, a Midwest one and one that includes California and a couple of bordering states. Texas, with the second highest number of cases of whooping cough, does not seem to have infected its neighbors. This map uses the data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) MMWR report for week 31, ending August 7, 2010. The data is provisional for several reasons. Updated data from the various states for any given week will be included in the cumulative totals as received, but not reflected in the weekly case counts. In addition, in the cases of California and Massachusetts, the CDC has told us by e-mail that the states are … Read entire article »

Filed under: Medicine, Public Health issues

Budget cuts at the CDC have mosquitoes cheering

August 14th, 2010 | Comments Off

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Filed under: Original writing, Public Health issues, Reporting

Whooping cough outbreak continues unabated

July 19th, 2010 | 12 Comments

Whooping cough, or pertussis, continues to spread in many areas of the country. In other areas, the case counts are down dramatically from 2009. The best count, using both the data provided in the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) MMWR Week 27 report (as of July 10, 2010) and a press release from the California California Department of Public Health (CDPH), seems to be 7,174 cases in 2010, and 7,440 cases for 2009 through the same date. The CDPH press release is cited for a reason. Just over half of all the cases of whooping cough in California have not been reported to the CDC. I have been following with the CDC on this issue and they forwarded to me this response from California, that had been forwarded to them: We are … Read entire article »

Filed under: Medicine, Original writing, Public Health issues, Reporting

Army continues malaria fight

April 18th, 2010 | Comments Off

The Army has been fighting malaria forever. Some of the greatest achievements in public health were made possible by U.S. Army doctors such as Walter Reed. Researchers at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research here are discovering new ways to combat and prevent the spread of malaria. “Every conflict the U.S. has been in we’ve been faced with malaria,” said Army Col. Christian Ockenhouse, director of the U.S. Military Malaria Vaccine Program, during an April 14 interview on the Pentagon Channel podcast “Armed with Science: Research and Applications for the Modern Military. Malaria is a parasitic disease which infects red blood cells, Ockenhouse said. It’s transmitted through the bite of a female mosquito, goes to the liver to develop and emerges after five days into the bloodstream to cause the disease. Most people … Read entire article »

Filed under: Humanitarian Assistance, Medicine, Military, Public Health issues

Inside a Swine Flu vaccination clinic

November 22nd, 2009 | Comments Off

On Thursday, November 19, and Saturday, November 21, 2009, I spent about five hours each day working as a volunteer at a vaccination clinic run by the Monroe County Public Health Department (DPH). It was one of five each day held to vaccinate at risk groups for pandemic H1N1, the Swine Flu. I worked at the one held at the former Medley Center Mall in Irondequoit. The DPH did a great job publicizing the clinics, with the cooperation of the local media. Attendance on Thursday was somewhat overwhelming, while that on Saturday was more even in flow. The DPH contracted with private companies for the actual vaccine administration. DPH personnel and volunteers were used for crowd control. The observations in this piece apply only to the location I worked at, unless otherwise … Read entire article »

Filed under: Commentary, Influenza, Medicine, Original writing, Pandemic, Public Health issues, Swine Flu

The future of Public Health in the United States

November 20th, 2009 | Comments Off

I am currently involved with what may be the largest Public Health effort undertaken in Monroe County and Rochester, New York, in decades. I am volunteering for the H1N1 vaccine clinics being held by the county this week. This, and my normal coverage of health issues, has brought to a head some thoughts on Public Health agencies and practices I have been mulling for some time. In a series of posts, I will try to point out where we have gone wrong, what needs to be fixed and what is right with the system. The Monroe County Department of Public Health has 239.5 FTE positions and its budget for the current year topped $68 million. That’s about 7.5% of the total county budget. Every locality and level of government will have something similar. The … Read entire article »

Filed under: Commentary, Medicine, Original writing, Public Health issues