Official insights from Public Health – Seattle & King County staff
The Washington Department of Health has confirmed the first case in the U.S. of a new novel coronavirus (2019 nCoV) in Snohomish County. The virus emerged in Wuhan, China in December and a number of countries, including the United States, are actively screening incoming travelers at airports that receive direct flights from Wuhan. Exported cases have […]
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Based on monitoring of influenza-like illness levels at King County emergency departments and results of laboratory tests for flu, it looks like this season’s influenza B outbreak has peaked. Even so, influenza B activity remains elevated at a relatively high level and is likely to continue circulating in our community for many weeks. “It’s good […]
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While our community has been fortunate in that to-date we have not experienced an outbreak on the scale seen in other large cities and states across the country, we have seen a recent increase in hepatitis A cases in King County, including one death associated with hepatitis A.
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Most people who get the flu don’t require medical care and will get better by staying home, getting plenty of rest, and drinking lots of fluids. Anyone with the flu should also avoid contact with other people. But some cases of flu need to be treated by a medical provider. When should you seek medical […]
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If you’ve been following local news in recent weeks, you may have seen stories about outbreaks of norovirus – a highly contagious virus that causes rapid onset of vomiting and diarrhea. Norovirus is the most common cause of acute, or short-term, gastroenteritis (inflammation of the stomach and intestines) in the country and is responsible for […]
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A worker at the Boeing Renton facility was recently diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB) disease. The worker had contact with six workers who require testing as a precaution to rule out TB infection. The risk for TB spreading to anyone who came into contact with the worker is low. TB is not easy to spread TB is an […]
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