Spokane Regional Health District Health Officer, Dr. Bob Lutz, answers common questions about extreme heat and poor air quality. Know what you can do to keep yourself and loved ones safe.
During times of poor air quality, take precautions to protect health.
In each issue of the Epigram, we are pleased to introduce you to a member of the Disease Prevention and Response team at SRHD. In this issue we feature Disease Intervention Specialist (DIS), Kirsten Duncan, MPH. Kirsten works in our HIV/STD Prevention program where she focuses largely on syphilis investigation, treatment, and contact tracing.
U = U, Undetectable=Untransmittable, is the new hot slogan aimed at reducing the stigma of having HIV. The campaign is focused on educating others that viral suppression of HIV (defined as less than 200 copies/mL or undetectable levels) achieved through antiretroviral therapy (ART) prevents sexual HIV transmission. Formally recognized by CDC in a Dear Colleague statement last fall, scientific advances have validated this benefit, in addition to preserving the health of people living with HIV.
The latest Five-Year Communicable Diseases Report for Healthcare Providers from SRHD for 2012-16 (the most recent years for which complete data are available) was published last month. Data are organized by disease type, and include new spotlight features on recent diseases that have had local impact, including mumps, the 2016 norovirus outbreak at House of Charity, and Zika virus. Also new this year are comparison figures with US population data.