Blogs

Hepatitis C (HCV) continues to be a problem in Spokane County and around the country. Nationally, HCV is a growing problem with ties to the opioid epidemic. Spokane Regional Health District (SRHD) is currently offering case management for patients who may struggle to complete HCV treatment for many reasons, including active addiction. Case management consists of meeting with patients to provide support before and during HCV treatment, with periodic follow-ups after treatment is completed, coordination of appointments, and contact with providers as necessary. It is important to provide treatment to any patient identified as HCV positive who agrees to completing the course of treatment.

Summer is upon us, and with it increased outdoor water recreation, exposures to wildlife, BBQs and picnics. Every year, beginning in the spring, we see a rise in enteric pathogenic infections such as Salmonellosis (nontyphoidal Salmonella). To date for 2021, Spokane County has had 14 confirmed cases of Salmonella reported to Spokane Regional Health District. From 2014 to 2018, Spokane County had an average of 39.8 cases per 100,000 of Salmonella per year, with a mean of 40 cases.

In spring 2021, there was a typhoid fever outbreak in Spokane County, with seven people developing typhoid fever between March 24 and April 21 (five confirmed, two probable). Prior to this cluster, a total of two confirmed cases of typhoid fever were reported in Spokane County over the past five years. The seven recent cases had no known exposure to a diagnosed typhoid fever case or recent international travel. Contact tracing and whole genome sequencing confirmed an epidemiological link between the seven cases and connected them to a cluster of cases in Hawaii. Two of the seven cases were hospitalized.

Across Washington state and the country, there have been outbreaks of COVID-19 in many settings. Some of the most difficult outbreaks to control and manage are those in congregate settings. Washington state and Spokane County have had their share of these outbreaks to manage. In Spokane County, the Spokane Regional Health District (SRHD) epidemiology team has managed outbreaks in homeless shelters, family shelters, drug treatment centers, behavioral health facilities, county correctional facilities, supported living facilities and group homes.

SARS-CoV-2, like other coronaviruses, mutates and produces variant strains as it spreads to susceptible hosts. The longer we go with suboptimal vaccination coverage and insufficient herd immunity in Washington state, the United States, and the rest of the world, the more opportunity for variants of concern to spread, and potentially, for different variants of concern to emerge.