CDPH in the News, January 2016

CDPH in the News

California ends Ebola monitoring of travelers returning from West Africa
from Los Angeles Times

The California Department of Public Health has announced that it no longer will monitor travelers returning from West Africa for symptoms of Ebola. Citing an end to outbreaks of the disease in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, health officials said they were ending their Ebola monitoring program following consultation with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"With the three West African nations free of Ebola Virus Disease, daily monitoring of returning travelers will no longer be required due to the low possibility of transmission of the disease into the United States," the health department said in a prepared statement.

California Details 59 Cases of Rare Polio-like Syndrome
from Medscape

Fifty-nine cases of acute flaccid myelitis have been identified in California in the past 3 years. Most cases of this rare polio-like syndrome have occurred in children and young adults, and the precise cause remains unclear, although a viral cause is highly suspected. The 59 California cases of acute flaccid myelitis, which encompass a subset of acute flaccid paralysis cases with radiologic or neurophysiologic findings suggestive of spinal motor neuron involvement, were reported to the California Department of Public Health between June 2012 and July 2015.

California’s Pro-Vaccination Law May Be Working
from Wired

Vaccination rates among California kindergartners rose last year, and fewer students skipped shots because of their parents’ personal beliefs about immunizations, according to state officials. The changes, though slight, suggest that a state law barring parents from refusing to have their kids vaccinated appears to have had some impact even before taking effect later this year.
More than half a million children attend public or private kindergarten in California. Information collected during the fall for the 2015-2016 school year shows 92.9 percent of children received all of the required vaccinations. That’s up from 90.4 percent in 2014 and 90.2 percent in 2013, according to a report by the California Department of Public Health.

UCI Medical Student Alvin Chan Uses Fotonovela Approach to Raise HPV Vaccination Awareness
from newswise

Fourth-year medical student Alvin Chan is taking a novel approach to raise HPV awareness – a comic novel approach. He and his colleagues created and evaluated a fotonovela (photographic comic book) designed to improve human papillomavirus vaccination acceptance in the United States, particularly among Latinos. [He is] working with the California Department of Public Health to have the fotonovela disseminated on their website.