Bed bugs have been all over the National news and now they are making their way to Louisiana. The LSU Ag Center has published information on bed bugs; the Louisiana State Epidemiologist office has created a 12 page document on the “Control and Prevention of Bed Bugs.”
Since the safety of Louisiana seafood has been a big topic in the news lately, I was pleased to discover that the Louisiana Department of Health & Hospitals, along with the departments of Wildlife and Fisheries, Environmental Quality, and Agriculture and Forestry have been issuing weekly Seafood Safety Surveillance Reports since July. The latest report was issued today.
I just received the following news release. The meetings are this week!
Oil Spill Health Effects to Be Explored at IOM Workshop, June 22-23
Scientists and government agencies are struggling to predict the potential health consequences of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico for those living and working near the region. At the request of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Institute of Medicine will host a public meeting to discuss the possible human health effects — both short- and long-term — resulting from the spill. Experts from the scientific community and academia, as well as additional stakeholders, will review lessons learned from similar disasters, identify groups most at risk for health problems as a result of the spill, and discuss how to prevent and monitor potential health consequences.
Details:
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CDT on June 22, and 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CDT on June 23, in the Queen Anne Ballroom of the Hotel Monteleone, 214 Royal St., New Orleans. Those who cannot attend may watch a video webcast of the event that will be available at www.national-academies.org. An agenda and registration information are available at www.iom.edu/oilspillhealth.
WWL-TV featured a story on a couple of local surgeons, including LSUHSC’s own Kamran Khoobehi offering some ideas on how to stop the oil leak, using surgical techniques. Love the out of the box thinking!
School of Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Department Head, Jim Diaz appeared on WWL-TV on Friday night (April 30th) and stated that the general public does not need to be concerned that “with both the chemical sampling and taste testing that the experts do now, he does not think contaminated seafood will make it to your table.”
The National Library of Medicine‘s Disaster Information Management Research Center
has created a new fact sheet on “Crude Oil Spills & Human Health.” The page is primarily an arranged group of links to other federal and state agencies.
Nasa’s satellite imaging photographed the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the drilling platform accident last week. It was featured in their Image of the Day Gallery on Monday.
Oil Slick in Gulf
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. The CDC states that “in 2007, approximately 794,000 children were confirmed by Child Protective Services as being abused or neglected.” Of that number, over 21,000 are in Louisiana. Prevent Child Abuse Louisiana is a state-wide, non-profit organization dedicated to preventing the abuse and neglect of our state’s children.
December 1st is World AIDS Day. 2009 is the 21st observance of this day. AIDS cases in Louisiana have increased with New Orleans ranking 2nd & Baton Rouge ranking 3rd according to a recent WWL-TV report.
The Louisiana HIV/AIDS Program has a “Statewide Coordinated Need & HIV Comprehensive Plan” (pdf) for 2009 which was issued in early November.
The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals has released its Influenza Surveillance Report through the end of August. It finds that:
Further the report states that “there are 737 lab confirmed cases of 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) in Louisiana. Based on an extrapolation from CDC data, the real case count in Louisiana is closer to 39,000.”
Don’t forget to follow the CDC guidelines for staying healthy.
With reports the past weeks of daycare center closings, sidelined football players, and sniffling sorority girls, clearly Louisiana is not immune from H1N1 outbreaks. As of August 17, 2009, Louisiana reports 449 confirmed cases and 1 related death (also in New Orleans) from the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus, aka the Swine Flu.
For local & state information on influenza, visit www.FluLa.com, from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. There you will find weekly statistics and public health updates, as well as flu information for patients in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. Clinicians can also access an Online Training Course on local flu preparedness, testing protocols, regional OPH offices, and info from the Louisiana Office of Public Health Lab like the Lab 96 form and instructions for swine flu testing.
For national swine flu information, the CDC is always your best bet: http://cdc.gov/h1n1flu/
I must admit 3 named storms popping up over this past weekend made me a bit jumpy. Here are local resources on disaster preparedness to help make sure we’re all ready in the event of a storm:
LSUHSC Information
Chancellor’s Memorandum 51: Policy on Weather Related Emergency Procedures for LSUHSC-New Orleans
LSUHSC-NO Emergency Alert System
Parish Information
Jefferson Parish & its Emergency Alert Service
New Orleans & its Emergency Alert Service
St. Bernard Parish
St. Tammany Parish
State Information
Louisiana Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness & its Evacuation Guides
July 21st is National Junk Food Day, but try not to go wild. According to the CDC, Louisiana went from having under 15% obesity rate in 1990 to a rate of 25-29% in 2008. If you’re going to celebrate today, just try to be smart and eat healthy the rest of the week.
You can now easily track disciplinary action against physicians and other licensed health care professionals in Louisiana through the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners homepage.
http://www.lsbme.louisiana.gov/
There is even an RSS feed available, so you could set up a folder in your Microsoft Outlook email to track who’s been reprimanded, warned or summarily suspended from practice in our fair state. More info on setting up RSS in Outlook here.
A new health care program was founded last year by the Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation with the support of the the Lt. Governor’s office and LSU Healthcare Network. The Louisiana Cultural Economy Healthcare Initiative functions similarly to the New Orleans Musicians Clinic (now in its 11th year) except that it expands coverage to all cultural workers; cultural worker areas include music, film, design, literary, historic preservation, culinary arts, performing arts, visual arts and crafts.
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