Seattle/LocalHealthGuide

West Nile virus is now established in Eastern Washington and is making inroads into the Western Washington, according to the Washington State Department of Health.
There were only three confirmed human infections in the state this year, officials report.
One case was in King County, but that person had recently travelled to Western Washington and probably became [...]

Washington bill would require MRSA screening 
All hospital patients would be screened for the super bug known as MRSA and those at high risk would be tested for the antibiotic-resistant bacterium under proposed legislation, the Seattle Times reports in its Dec. 28th issue.
Patients who tested positive for MRSA, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, would be isolated in private [...]

Reports that some of this winter’s influenza viruses are resistant of the drug Tamiflu underscores the importance of getting your flu shot, say Public Health - Seattle & King County officials in a health advisory.
The warning was issued in response to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention that a [...]

Giving primary-care doctors time to give care
P-I reporter Vanessa Ho writes about efforts by Group Health Cooperative and Swedish Medical Center to give family doctors more time to see patients. Patients get 30 to 60 minutes a visit, instead of the standard 15, and better care. Doctors get to practice better medicine and have more [...]

The maker of the top-selling Airborne cough and cold supplements has agreed to stop claiming its products prevent or treat colds, sore throats and allergies and to pay $7 million to settle a lawsuit filed by 33 states and the District of Columbia.
In its complaint, Washington state alleged the company, Airborne Health, Inc., engaged “in [...]

In this column, Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, talks about what hospitals—and you—can do to prevent hospital-acquired infections.

Simple Steps Can Reduce Health Care-Associated Infections
By Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D.
Did you know that there is a problem in health care that causes nearly 90,000 deaths and costs billions of [...]

Flu season typically kicks in this month, Seattle health officials warn, so the best time to get your flu shot is now.
And for those of you who are shy of needles there is now a painless nasal vaccine that is simply sprayed into each nostril.
Flu is often mild but can be severe, even fatal, health [...]

Seattle health officials have developed a 12-page comic book on pandemic flu that tells the story of one family’s experience of the 1918 influenza pandemic, which killed an estimated 20 million people world wide.
“No Ordinary Flu” is written for readers of all ages. It illusrates what to expect should a pandemic strike again and tips [...]

[ December 1, 2008; 5:30 pm; ]  

Dr. Catherine Wilfert developed the idea that it was possible to prevent the AIDS virus from spreading from an infected mother to her uninfected newborn by giving an anti-HIV drug to the mother just before and to the child right after delivery.

The approach can cut mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 80%  and is credited with [...]

Dr. Catherine Wilfert developed the idea that it was possible to prevent the AIDS virus from spreading from an infected mother to her uninfected newborn by giving an anti-HIV drug to the mother just before and to the child right after delivery.
The approach can cut mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 80%  and is credited with [...]