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May 9, 2018Read more...

E. Coli O157:H7 in Lettuce Update as of May 9, 2018

IN THE NEWS E. Coli O157:H7 in Lettuce Update as of May 9, 2018 Updated Information: The last update from the CDC on the E. Coli contamination of Romaine Lettuce was posted on 5/9/18 and contained an update of cases and states reported through 5/8/18. To date, there are 149 cases of E Coli O157:H7 in 29 states. Of the 129 cases with known information, there have been 64 hospitalizations (50%), 17 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), and one (1) death in...

May 8, 2018Read more...

Novel Viruses

Typically, pandemics are caused by novel viruses or variant strains of known viruses since few, if any, people have been exposed or developed antibodies to the virus. Since there is little resistance, many people often get sick. Depending on the virulence (the ability to make a person sick and the severity of that illness), many people may have serious complications or die from their illness. Download the complete document here

May 8, 2018Read more...

DHS Information for First Responders on Maintaining Operational Capabilities during a Pandemic

Executive Summary First responders have a critical role in prehospital emergency care and must continue to provide this essential service and fill the many emergency response roles in a community. The first responder community includes: fire, emergency medical services, law enforcement, emergency management, and 9-1-1 telecommunications. During a severe pandemic, workloads will increase and staff sizes will diminish as employees and their families become ill. Contingency planning now can help reduce the worst impacts: smart planning can save lives. To help...

May 8, 2018Read more...

CDC Interim Pre-pandemic Planning Guidance: Community Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Mitigation in the United States

Purpose This document provides interim planning guidance for State, territorial, tribal, and local communities that focuses on several measures other than vaccination and drug treatment that might be useful during an influenza pandemic to reduce its harm. Communities, individuals and families, employers, schools, and other organizations will be asked to plan for the use of these interventions to help limit the spread of a pandemic, prevent disease and death, lessen the impact on the economy, and keep society functioning. This...

May 4, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 4-28-2018

Influenza (FLU) Update for Week #17 Week Ending 4-28-18 Continued good news about Flu but two indicators still haven’t shown any sign of abating.  Specifically, the rate of hospitalizations from flu continues to increase and there are still a number of pediatric deaths for the week.  But, for the fourth time in-a-row since this Flu season became active, influenza activity (ILI) was below the national baseline and the number of flu cases once again decreased. A quick glance at the graphs...

May 3, 2018Read more...

E. Coli O157:H7 in Lettuce Update as of May 1, 2018 – 2nd Update

IN THE NEWS E. Coli O157:H7 in Lettuce Update as of May 1, 2018 Updated Information: The last update from the CDC on the E. Coli contamination of Romaine Lettuce was 5/2/18 and contained an update of cases and states. To date, there are 121 cases of E Coli O157:H7 in 25 states.  Of the 102 cases with known information, there have been 52 hospitalizations (51%), 14 cases (13.7%) of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), and one (1) death in California.  Reported illnesses started...

May 1, 2018Read more...

E. Coli O157:H7 in Lettuce Update as of May 1, 2018

IN THE NEWS E. Coli O157:H7 in Lettuce Update as of May 1, 2018 The last update from the CDC on the E. Coli contamination of Romaine Lettuce was 4/28/18 and contained an update of cases and states, as well as important info related to avoiding risk of infection to contaminated lettuce. To date, there are 98 cases of E Coli O157:H7 in 22 states with 46 hospitalizations,10 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), and no deaths.  Since there is a 2-3-week...

April 27, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 4-21-2018

Influenza (FLU) Update for Week #16 Week Ending 4-21-18 Continued good news about Flu but there are still a couple of indicators that have yet to fall, namely, the rate of hospitalizations from flu, as well as the number of pediatric deaths.  However, for the third time in-a-row since the third week in November, influenza activity (ILI) was below the national baseline and the number of flu cases once again decreased. This chart, copied from the CDC Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance...

April 20, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 4-14-2018

Influenza (FLU) Update for Week #15 Week Ending 4-14-18 Good news about Flu!!  For the second time in-a-row since the third week in November, influenza activity was below the national baseline and the number of flu cases once again decreased. There are still a couple of indicators that have yet to fall; namely, the rate of hospitalizations as a cumulative number and for specific age ranges, as well as the number of pediatric deaths.  Hopefully, these numbers will begin to...

April 20, 2018Read more...

Multi-State E. Coli Outbreak from Romaine Lettuce

IN THE NEWS Update to E. Coli Outbreak Associated with Romaine Lettuce The CDC has announced an expansion of recommendations to those previously made regarding the Yuma, Arizona regional farming area and romaine lettuce.  In the April 13, 2018 advisory, the CDC recommended avoiding precut/prepackaged romaine lettuce from the Yuma, AZ area, but stated that whole heads and hearts of romaine lettuce were OK. Further reports of cases and investigation of those cases have shown a need to amend the recommendations to...

April 17, 2018Read more...

Multi-State E. Coli Outbreak from Romaine Lettuce

IN THE NEWS Multi-State E. Coli Outbreak from Romaine Lettuce The CDC and FDA are investigating an outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing E. Coli O157:H7 that started with New Jersey local and state public health authorities reporting cases, but has now rapidly expanded to 11 states sharing 35 cases (click on link for details) https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2018/o157h7-04-18/map.html.  On April 10, the first notice from the CDC announced the outbreak with 17 people infected in 7 states; so, in 3 days, the cases doubled. Talking to...

April 13, 2018Read more...

Outbreak of Salmonella linked to Kratom

IN THE NEWS Outbreak of Salmonella linked to Kratom The CDC reported that as of April 5th, there is an ongoing outbreak of four (4) different strains of Salmonella infection, with 132 cases spread throughout the United States in 32 states.  The greatest number of cases are in the Western states of Washington (13), California (9), Oregon and Idaho, each with 8; New York has 7, Florida, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin all have 6, Virginia and North Dakota each have 5;...

April 9, 2018Read more...

Synthetic Opioids/Fentanyl and Fentanyl Analogs

This is a collection of resources, developed by experts and stakeholder groups, to help identify, mitigate, and manage the risk for First Responders. The documents contain tools, recommendations, charts, and other pertinent information for knowledge as well as the development of Best Practice Policies for First Responder agencies in dealing with synthetic opioids.

April 6, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 3-31-2018

Influenza (FLU) Update for Week #13 Week Ending 3-31-18 Although Flu and ILI was still elevated above the national baseline, they each continued to decrease last week.  Week #13 was the seventh week with decreases in FLU/ILI indicators.  The peak of the season occurred during Week #5, ending 2/3/18. For the first time since Flu season ramped up, the adult death rates from pneumonia and flu fell below the epidemic threshold. On average for the past five Flu seasons, ILI remained...

April 2, 2018Read more...

OUTBREAK OF YELLOW FEVER IN BRAZIL

IN THE NEWS OUTBREAK OF YELLOW FEVER IN BRAZIL The CDC and ECDC (European Center for Disease Control) have posted warnings for people traveling to several states in Brazil, to be aware of an outbreak of Yellow Fever in places where it is not typically seen, including large cities and popular tourist spots. As of March 7, 2018, the Brazil Ministry of Health reported 123 confirmed new cases with 23 deaths in the past week, with a total of 864...

March 30, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 3-24-2018

Influenza (FLU) Update for Week #12 Week Ending 3-24-18 Although Flu and ILI remained elevated above the national baseline respectively, they each continued to decrease last week.  Week #12 was the sixth week with decreases in FLU/ILI indicators.  The peak of the season occurred when ILI was at a high of 7.5%, which occurred during Week #5, ending 2/3/18. On average for the past five Flu seasons, ILI remained at/above the national baseline for 16 weeks; 20 weeks was the longest. ...

March 23, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 3-17-2018

Influenza (FLU) Update for Week #11 Week Ending 3-17-18 Although Flu and ILI is still fairly widespread and above the national baseline, respectively, Week #11 was the fifth week with significant decreases in most flu indicators.  The peak of the season was when ILI was at a high of 7.5%, which occurred during Week #5, ending 2/3/18.  On average for the past five Flu seasons, ILI has remained at/above the national baseline for 16 weeks; 20 weeks is the longest. ...

March 16, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 3-10-2018

Influenza (FLU) Update for Week #10 Week Ending 3-10-18 Although Flu and ILI is still fairly widespread and above the national baseline, respectively, Week #10 was the fourth week with significant decreases in most flu indicators.  The peak of the season was when ILI was at a high of 7.5%, which occurred during Week #5, ending 2/3/18.  On average for the past five Flu seasons, ILI has remained at/above the national baseline for 16 weeks; 20 weeks is the longest. ...

March 9, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 3-3-2018

Influenza (FLU) Update for Week #9 Week Ending 3-3-18 Although Flu and ILI are still fairly widespread and above the national baseline, respectively, Week #9 was the third week with significant decreases in most flu indicators. The peak of the season was when ILI was at a high of 7.5%, which occurred during Week #5, ending 2/3/18. The one indicator that showed increases in all the reported ages was in hospitalizations for Flu and Pneumonia. This indicator...

February 23, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 2-17-2018

Influenza (FLU) Update for Week #7 Week Ending 2-17-18 The CDC reported that although there were multiple indicators suggesting that the flu season has hopefully peaked, flu activity is still widespread throughout the United States and, ILI, although lower, remains higher than the peaks of ILI activity in previous flu seasons. Diagnosed flu cases have also decreased slightly. Hospitalizations for this flu season are still outpacing those of the 2014-15 flu season which was considered highly severe...