Official insights from Public Health – Seattle & King County staff
Public Health – Seattle & King County is investigating cases of toxic anterior segment syndrome (TASS) after eye surgeries at three King County facilities. TASS is an acute, noninfectious inflammation of the eye that results when a foreign substance is introduced into the eye during surgery, typically cataract surgery. TASS is an uncommon complication and […]
Read More
Temperatures this week are expected to rise into the low 90s, with some humidity. To my friends in Los Angeles and New Mexico, that’s scarcely hot enough to raise an eyebrow. But here in King County, most people don’t have air conditioning, so our local emergency departments see an uptick of people with serious health […]
Read More
Like many, I avidly followed the rescue of the Thai soccer team from the cave, perhaps obsessively so. I found myself grabbing my phone first thing in the morning to check on their status. I may have tested the patience of my teenage daughter with the frequency of my texted updates. With the rest of […]
Read More
The University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC) has notified Public Health – Seattle & King County of one patient admitted to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance hospital located at UWMC, was diagnosed with a serious type of pneumonia called Legionnaires’ disease caused by infection with Legionella bacteria. The patient’s medical history suggests that exposure to Legionella happened while hospitalized in […]
Read More
Two King County siblings, both under age 5, have been diagnosed with E. coli 0157:H7 infections that genetically match the ongoing national outbreak linked to romaine lettuce. One child was hospitalized and has since been discharged. Both children have recovered and neither child developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a type of kidney failure that can result […]
Read More
A resident of a homeless shelter in Seattle tested positive for bacterial meningitis (meningococcal disease) on March 18. The patient, a man in his 60s, is hospitalized and his condition is improving. The bacteria that causes meningococcal disease spreads through direct contact with infectious saliva or respiratory droplets (e.g. being coughed, sneezed or spit on, […]
Read More