New data available to look up immunization levels in your neighborhood

February 6, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

Update: 5/22/17: New data are available that show the immunizations levels at schools across King County. According to Libby Page from our Communicable Disease and Immunization program, rates at most schools have stayed stable, with about 17,000 (5.2%) children across the county still not fully protected from vaccine-preventable diseases. Meanwhile, preventable disease outbreaks continue to […]

Q&A on Measles and Travel: It’s a small world after all!

January 30, 2015.Reading time 4 minutes.

In the last month, nearly 100 measles cases have been linked to exposure at Disneyland, prompting concerns from many parents about travel. Lauren Greenfield, RN, and Libby Page, MPH, from our Immunizations program shared their answers to common questions. Q: Is there a risk from measles at Disneyland or California right now? A: If you’re […]

Q & A about Public Health’s investigation of an endoscope associated outbreak

January 22, 2015.Reading time 9 minutes.

Voluntary reporting by Virginia Mason Medical Center led to identification of an outbreak of multidrug resistant bacterial infections in 2013. After months of investigative work, Public Health—working with Virginia Mason Medical Center, Washington State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control Prevention (CDC)—linked the outbreak to a procedure called endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). […]

Making sense of this season’s flu vaccine

January 16, 2015.Reading time 4 minutes.

The CDC announced on Thursday that so far, this season’s flu vaccine offers reduced protection from the flu. I talked to Dr. Jeff Duchin, our Interim Health Officer and Chief of Communicable Disease Epidemiology and Immunizations, to get a handle on what this really means. Q: Does the CDC’s announcement mean that the flu vaccine isn’t […]

Public health wishes for 2015

January 2, 2015.Reading time less than 1 minute.

We wandered the public health floors of the King County Chinook building in the two days leading up to the new year to ask staff, “What is your wish for public health for 2015?” Do you have a public health wish for 2015? Share it in our comments section! Subscribe to Public Health Insider: Use […]

Flu is here—and it’s a nasty one!

December 15, 2014.Reading time 4 minutes.

Influenza is noticeably on the rise in King County, according to the many data points coming into our Communicable Disease and Epidemiology unit. Last week, the number of laboratory tests for flu rose sharply and a handful of schools, daycare programs, and long-term care facilities reported flu outbreaks. A severe flu forecast The flu season has only […]