Seems like anytime you hear a 100+ year old person being interviewed about the secret to long life they say “take care of your teeth and feet and drink cod liver oil”. For good reason. Good oral health is critical to a person’s overall health. Tooth decay and gum disease are linked with heart disease, [...]
Flu Near You is a free tool that’s been made to help in the fight against flu. The way it works is that people like you and I anonymously report each week on whether we had symptoms or flu shots. The information is used to place a dot on a map of the community so [...]
It’s almost that time of year… flu season. Flu shots have arrived and are already in many pharmacies and doctor’s offices, meaning you can already get vaccinated before the flu hits this season. There’s a wide array of influenza vaccine choices these days - more than ever. The nasal spray is approved for healthy, non-pregnant people between [...]
Just as we expected, the sample that we tested for H7N9 influenza today was negative. Thanks to our Lab team for staying a little late this evening to run the test. Even though it was very likely to be negative from the beginning- it's still important to follow up on every lead. After all, vigilance [...]
China is continuing to report more and more cases of the new H7N9 Influenza virus. So far they’ve confirmed 108 cases with a death rate of about 20% (21 deaths) All the cases appear to have jumped from birds to humans- meaning that there’s no human-to-human transmission (which is good). One concern is that if a person becomes infected [...]
Just as our influenza season winds down (and it is), it's time to plan for the next one. Every February the World Health Organization convenes a panel of experts to look at the most current data on the circulating flu strains from around the world and makes recommendations for the next season’s Northern Hemisphere flu vaccine. [...]
The CDC's “Strategic National Stockpile” is a large quantity of medicine and medical supplies that are available to states in case there’s a public health emergency (flu outbreak, asteroid, etc.) severe enough to cause local health supplies to run out. Once federal and local authorities agree that the stockpile is needed, meds and supplies are [...]
Guess which one of our ADHS Websites consistently has the most hits. Our influenza pages during flu season? Medical marijuana during our rulemaking? Questions about WIC eligibility? Nope. It’s our Genealogy website. The site has had more than 5,100,000 queries in the last 2 years. Our Vital Records team has been keeping data on birth and [...]
Yesterday afternoon's weekly flu report shows that influenza is still circulating widely in AZ... with a steep increase in the last couple of weeks. The strain that’s circulating is mostly Type A - H3N2 which can be more severe than the 2009 H1N1, especially for seniors. There are plenty of B strains going around too. But you can still find [...]
During the 2009- 2010 influenza 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 is no exception. While the circulating strains are exactly what we predicted, the peak of the flu season is hitting earlier than usual (now) and it's [...]
