Surge in communicable diseases, funding shortages threaten public’s health

July 17, 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

If you’ve followed the Public Health Insider, you know that we’ve seen a surge of communicable disease outbreaks in places like schools, health care facilities, jails and restaurants. And those are just the most visible ones. As the local health department, it’s our mission and legal responsibility to track down and stop over 50 communicable diseases in […]

Zika Virus, One Year Later

June 1, 2017.Reading time 6 minutes.

It’s been just over a year since King County had its first diagnosed case of Zika virus infection. We caught up with medical epidemiologist Dr. Meagan Kay, DVM, to find out what we’ve learned about Zika virus since then, and what concerns health experts have now. At this time last year, Meagan, you were expecting […]

Two new Zika cases in King County residents who had traveled

June 15, 2016.Reading time 5 minutes.

Zika virus have been confirmed in two more King County residents who had traveled to areas were Zika is circulating. One person who tested positive is a woman in her thirties who had traveled to Honduras. The other is a woman in her forties who had traveled to Haiti. Both people have recovered from the […]

Second case of Zika in King County

June 1, 2016.Reading time 6 minutes.

A second person has tested positive for Zika infection in King County. The illness was identified in a female in her teens who had recently been in Haiti, a country that has Zika virus spreading actively and is on the list of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) travel advisories. The person was not pregnant at the time […]