The Arizona Department of Health Services, Maricopa County Department of Public Health, and the University of Arizona will kick-off the second Great Arizona Mosquito Hunt this week. The Great Arizona Mosquito Hunt began as a collaborative project in 2015 to teach high school students about mosquito biology and emerging mosquito-borne diseases, such as dengue, chikungunya, [...]
As parents, we know making sure our kids eat healthy, are physically active, get plenty of sleep, and have regular physicals is crucial to their overall health. But did you also you know preteen and teens need vaccines that protect against serious and potentially life-threatening diseases like meningitis, whooping cough and cancers caused by the [...]
The Department accepted applications for medical marijuana dispensary registry certificates during the last two weeks in July. In an impressive effort, the team processed 750 applications within a five-day timeframe. We anticipate issuing 31 dispensary licenses after evaluating the complete and compliant applications. The Medical Marijuana Program staff completed the work efficiently and with great [...]
Rabies is a virus spread by the bite of or contact with saliva of an infected animal. The disease causes damage to the nervous system and causes death once symptoms appear. In Arizona, bats, skunks, and foxes are the main sources of rabies. Rabies is not uncommon in Arizona wildlife, and the virus occurs naturally [...]
The Maricopa County Department of Public Health recently issued a press release alerting the community of a parasitic illness called Cryptosporidiosis, or Crypto, that was linked to recreational water facilities in the county. Since June 1, 2016, 131 confirmed and probable cases of Crypto have been reported statewide, from multiple counties. Historically, an average of 11.6 [...]
Immunization gives parents the safe, proven power to protect their children from 14 serious and potentially deadly diseases before they turn two years old. To celebrate the importance of immunizations for a healthy start and throughout our lives, and to make sure children are protected with all the vaccines they need, we continue to join [...]
In Arizona, outbreaks are reported and managed by local public health departments using a module in our electronic disease surveillance system, MEDSIS. Outbreak Module’s integration into MEDSIS allows users to easily link existing infectious disease cases to an outbreak and retrieve outbreak data for analysis. The data collected in this module has replaced our paper-based outbreak [...]
As we continue our recognition of August as National Immunization Awareness Month, we want to take this week to remind pregnant women about the importance of immunizations to protect themselves and their babies. During pregnancy, you are often thinking about baby names, nursery colors, and prenatal vitamins, but you should also be thinking about vaccines. Vaccines [...]
The Arizona Tribal Cancer Collaborative Conference will celebrate its tenth year in November of 2016! The conference has been held annually for ten years, but the active collaborations and learning about one another truly began two years prior to the first conference. CDC provided Arizona Department of Health Services and the Arizona tribes receiving Cancer [...]
Public health efforts continue to move the needle on reducing smoking rates among youth. And that’s important since 90 percent of adult tobacco users report using tobacco in their teen years. Tobacco use among Arizona youth is at an all-time low of 10 percent , which is a decrease of over 40 percent in the [...]
