Mumps Outbreaks: Why Do we Care and Is the Vaccine Working?

December 5, 2016.Reading time 6 minutes.

By Jeff Duchin, Health Officer, Public Health – Seattle & King County Learn about the on-going mumps outbreak in King County. Why do we care about mumps? Mumps causes painful swelling of the salivary glands in the cheek and jaw area that usually lasts for 1-2 weeks. Complications of mumps include inflammation of the testes […]

Required childhood immunizations and vaccine exemptions: The bottom line

March 20, 2016.Reading time 3 minutes.

By Jeff Duchin, MD, Health Officer Media coverage of our recent publication in the journal Pediatrics gave some people the mistaken impression that my colleagues and I want to provide children with a choice to “opt out” of required vaccinations, except for measles vaccine. The fact is that families in Washington currently have the ability […]

More protection, less ouchy: What’s new with flu vaccine in 2015

September 25, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

Kids are finally back at school and that means they are passing their germs to each other and bringing them home so that parents can bring them to work. Time to get a flu vaccine! And there are new options. We sat down with Libby Page from our Immunizations Program to find out the latest. Last year’s […]

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 […]

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 […]

Flu is here—and it’s a nasty one!

December 15, 2014.Reading time 3 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 […]

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