Possible rare case of transmission of HIV resistant to Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) medication

March 12, 2018.Reading time 17 minutes.

HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis, better known as PrEP, has changed the lives of many people around the world by providing a way for people who are HIV negative to decrease their risk of acquiring HIV infection. Hundreds of thousands of people globally are currently taking PrEP, including over 6500 people in King County alone. To date, […]

Q&A with Dr. Jeff Duchin: Communicable disease outbreaks show homeless at increased risk

February 28, 2018.Reading time 9 minutes.

Public Health is currently responding to increases in several infectious diseases in King County that particularly affect people living homeless. These diseases include group A streptococcal infections, Shigella, and a cluster of serious infections transmitted by body lice called Bartonella quintana. We sat down with Dr. Jeff Duchin, Health Officer and Chief of Communicable Disease […]

Flu Update: Just how bad has it been in King County?

February 8, 2018.Reading time 8 minutes.

Copious media coverage has described the unusually widespread and severe flu season nationally. But what has it been like in our region? We checked in with Dr. Jeff Duchin, Health Officer and Chief of Communicable Disease Epidemiology and Immunization, to find out the current status of flu locally. What’s happening now and how do you […]

A new population may be at risk for HIV. Here’s why.

January 8, 2018.Reading time 7 minutes.

Public health focuses HIV prevention activities to those at highest risk. In King County, that has meant decades of intensive work to reduce transmission of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM), the group most impacted by HIV locally. As a result of that targeted strategy, the number of new cases of HIV […]

Does Australia’s flu vaccine effectiveness translate here?

December 7, 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

How well each season’s flu vaccine works to prevent illness varies from season to season, depending on the match between the flu viruses the vaccine is designed to protect against and the flu viruses that are circulating when the flu season arrives. Recent news coverage about a study done in Australia related to the effectiveness […]

Why now is a good time for a flu shot

November 17, 2017.Reading time 8 minutes.

With the holidays drawing near, many of us look forward to travel or seeing family and friends. And just as our schedules get busier, it’s also the time of year when the flu starts to circulate. We turned to Libby Page, manager of our immunizations program, to get the scoop on flu vaccine . Why […]