News / Announcements

MPD Status

Dr. Acosta has finalized the contracts with the State and with this office, he has attended a quarterly QI meeting, and has started looking at the current policies and procedures for protocols. He has set dates with the office for MPD days, and will be available for scheduling.

H1N1 influenza A update

updated 9-29-09

Latest figures from the Washington State DOH and the CDC predict that the H1N1 is already prevalent in this State. Local hospitals and medical facilities have discontinued active swabbing for the virus at this time. There is, however, a potential for the State DOH or the Local Government to issue a pandemic emergency. At that time the YCDEMS PanFlu Protocol will be initiated.
It is important to know that two strains of flu, seasonal flu and the H1N1 (Swine) flu, are currently circulating in the United States. A third, highly lethal H5N1 (Bird) flu is being closely tracked overseas.
A flu pandemic occurs when a new influenza A virus emerges for which there is little or no immunity in the human population; the virus causes serious illness and spreads easily from person-to-person worldwide.
Annual outbreaks of the seasonal flu usually occur during the late fall through early spring. Most people have natural immunity, and a seasonal flu vaccine is available. In a typical year, approximately 5 to 20 percent of the population gets the seasonal flu and approximately 36,000 flu-related deaths are reported.
Most healthy people recover from the flu without problems, but certain people are at high risk for serious complications.
Groups at higher risk for seasonal influenza complications include:

• Children less than 5 years old;
• Persons aged 65 years or older;
• Pregnant women;
• Adults and children who have compromised immune systems, or underlying chronic or acute illnesses;
• Nursing home and other chronic-care facility patients.

On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that a global pandemic of H1N1 is underway by raising the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 6. Note: This action was a reflection of the spread of the new H1N1 virus, not the severity of illness caused by the virus.
The United States continues to report the largest number of H1N1 (Swine) flu cases of any country worldwide, however, most people who have become ill have recovered without requiring medical treatment. Those that did not recover had a systemic underlying medical condition that complicated their recovery.

The following is a letter from health office Maxine Hayes to all healthcare providers from the State DOH - Dr. Hayes Letter () regarding pregnant patients.

You can view the current recommendations fron YCDEMS for providers here.

You can view the current protocol in reference under the protocols link here.

You can still obtain a copy of the original informational letter from the MPD below.

Download Dr. Johnson's memo here: (27K)

To view more current updates visit the Washington State Department of Health swine flu information page at: http://www.doh.wa.gov/

To view current Nation updates visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention H1N1 flu update page at: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/

For Global information on the H1N1 virus visit the World Health Organization at http://www.who.int/en/