Author: msholinb

CDPH in the News

The rise in Sacramento County STDs and the condom dilemma
from ABC-10

Sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise in California for the second year in a row. A California Department of Public Health report shows cases are increasing at a faster pace than in the rest of the country. I spoke with Staci Syas, Sacramento County’s STD/HIV program manager for the Department of Health and Human Services about the challenges that public health experts face when it comes to STDs.
"Syphilis was actually an STD that in the late 90’s the public health community thought we could actually eradicate," Syas said. Since 2014, Syphilis increased by 9 percent nationally but in California it rose by 29 percent. Gonorrhea jumped 20 percent in the state and Chlamydia is at its highest level since reporting was mandated in 1990. Especially concerning are stats on young women, ages 15 to 24, accounting for 63 percent of Chlamydia cases and 51 percent of Gonorrhea.
Cheri Greven at Planned Parenthood says, "California received a report in August that says teen pregnancy is down 55 percent since 2000, which is a huge deal, but what we’re finding is misinformation of (patients who) think they’re on the pill and protected." In other words, people are using birth control to avoid pregnancy but not wearing condoms to avoid STDs.

Cases of dog bites on the rise in California
from ABC-10

The vast majority of animal bites in the United States are inflicted by dogs, according to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). California has specifically seen an increase in dog-bites especially during the past 11 years.
The Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) compiles data every year based upon dealing with the number of Emergency department treat and release visits due to dog-bites. From the six-year span of 2005 to 2010 the California statewide number saw a total of 181,618 people visit the Emergency department, but in just the past five years from 2011 to 2015 the total is 187,448. From data received in 2011, Pit bull terrier’s (29 percent), German Shepherd or Shepherd mixes (15 percent) and Chihuahuas (11 percent) were the three breeds most frequently reported in bite incidents, according to the report.

Can Facebook Improve Longevity? Moderate Use Of Social Media Network May Lead To Longer Life, Study Finds
from Inquisitr

According to a new study, moderate use of Facebook can improve longevity. Yes, as bizarre as it may sound, science how now shown that a certain amount of Facebook may actually lead to a longer life. This particular Facebook study, which was conducted by a team of researchers led by William Hobbs and James Fowler at the University of California-San Diego, was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). As Ashley Welch of CBS News reports, the study looked at 12 million California-based Facebook users, and their records were then juxtaposed with California Department of Public Health vital records.
Among the selected Facebook users, the aspects that were studied included their number of friends, as well as other typical Facebook functions, such as the frequency of status updates, photos posted, friend requests, timeline postings, sent and received messages, etc. As also reported by Welch, it was found that Facebook users were approximately 12 percent less likely to die in a given year.
When it comes to the real world, the study further explains that previous research has shown that those who have many friends and strong social bonds to their community usually live longer. Right up until now, there has been a question as to whether or not this translates to the online world.

Those Halloween devil eyes could be ‘sight-threatening’E
from Fresno Bee

Anyone planning to wear colored contact lenses on Halloween should heed a warning from eye-care professionals: Decorative contacts that have not been properly fitted could damage your eyes. Wearing any kind of contact lens requires proper fitting. Lenses that are too loose or too tight can cause damage by rubbing against the cornea, the transparent front part of the eye.
"The risks include infection, ulcers, decreased vision, cuts or scratches to the surface of the eye, itchiness or redness. If these conditions are left untreated, the injuries can progress rapidly. In severe cases, blindness and eye loss can occur," warns Dr. Karen Smith, California’s public health officer.
Decorative contact lenses often are sold at beauty supply and novelty stores, the California Department of Public Health said. But the sale of contact lenses without a prescription is illegal. Only licensed optometrists and ophthalmologists can prescribe contact lenses and registered opticians and optical shops can fill the prescriptions.

Columbia doesn’t meet California group’s standard for drinking water
from The Missourian

If you don’t filter your drinking water, you might want to give it some serious thought. Columbia’s [Missouri] drinking water contains 1.3 parts per billion of chromium-6 and 0.0499 parts per million of trihalomethane, both associated with cancer. Chromium-6 and chlorine-chloramine disinfection cycles have been making news lately due to a report by the Environmental Working Group, which called for stricter chromium-6 regulations, and a widely circulated September Facebook post by environmental activist Erin Brockovich that named Columbia as a city with dangerously high levels of trihalomethane because of its use of chlorine for disinfecting drinking water.
Columbia’s water tested at 1.3 parts per billion, placing the city above many major metropolitan areas across the U.S., including Omaha, Nebraska, Los Angeles, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Washington, D.C., New York, Denver and Dallas to name a few. Kansas City’s Chromium 6 level at 2.5 parts per billion is above Columbia’s, but St. Louis falls below. California Department of Public Health scientists believe the limit for chromium-6 alone should be 0.02 parts per billion, or 50 times less than what the Environmental Protection Agency deems safe.

CDPH in the News

New Report has California Residents Concerned over Hexavalent Chromium in Water Supplies

from Web Wire

A new report issued by the Environmental Working Group made national headlines last month. The report found what the group believes to be potentially dangerous levels of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) in the tap water of 218 million Americans. The report indicates that hexavalent chromium was present at or above 0.03 parts per billion (ppb) in 75% of water samples taken between 2013 and 2015 by local water utilities. It was also discovered that seven million Americans have tap water with levels over California’s legal limit of 10 ppb. California’s legal limit was established in 2014 when the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced regulations establishing the first-in-the-nation drinking water standard for hexavalent chromium.

The fight against Zika: What it takes to avoid raising mosquitoes in your backyard

from San Gabriel Valley Tribune

How do you make it socially unacceptable to raise mosquitoes in your backyard?
At first blush, that doesn’t seem so hard, but what it means is convincing Southland residents to make “hard choices” to remove backyard birdbaths and all saucers beneath plants, Kenn K. Fujioka, manager of the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District, said Thursday at a briefing about the Zika virus. The two species that carry the Zika virus can breed in “very small sources of water,” Fujioka, said. “A bottle-cap is enough.”
In San Bernardino, possible Zika-carrying mosquitoes have been found only Colton, Montclair and Upland, according to the California Department of Public Health website. Among the Riverside County locations where at least one of the carrier mosquitoes have been found are Corona and Riverside, the state website says.

‘A Dire Situation’ Skilled nursing closures threaten ‘every household’

from North Coast Journal

As your former legislative representatives in Sacramento, we want the community to know how appalled we are by the pending closures of three skilled nursing facilities in Humboldt County. Rockport Management, which manages the five skilled nursing facilities owned by Brius Healthcare Services in Humboldt County, is planning to simultaneously close three facilities in Eureka by March of next year. The closures would reduce the number of beds by 258, or 60 percent. But most devastating, it would have the catastrophic effect of moving hundreds of elderly, poor and vulnerable individuals out of the county to other facilities at this time unknown. And, at this point, there is no guarantee other facilities would be willing or able to receive our local residents. There have been a number of stakeholder meetings in the district, and formal requests have been made to the California Department of Public Health to reject Rockport’s closure and relocation plan to give more time to develop contingency plans to ensure patient safety.

STD rates hit 20-year high in California

from San Luis Obispo Tribune

California’s rate of sexually transmitted diseases is at a 20-year high. The California Department of Public Health said the state ranks first for syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia and congenital syphilis. And the rates are up for the second year in a row. “Cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia are going up in California at a concerning rate,” Dr. Karen Smith, director of the California Department of Public Health, said Tuesday. “This is the second year in a row that we have seen increases in all three diseases.”
The report found an 11.6 percent increase in STDs from 2014, with a total of 249,224 reportable cases in California for 2015. State health officials cite less condom use, people having sex with more partners and barriers to care and testing as reasons for the rising STD rates. Improved reporting of the diseases by public health agencies could also be a contributing factor, the state said.

Exide, state fight over lead contamination data

from 89.3 KPCC

Exide Technologies is suing the California Department of Public Health to obtain more data about the sources of lead contamination around its former battery recycling plant in Vernon. The state is pushing back, arguing that releasing the information would threaten the privacy rights of lead-poisoned children. Exide says it’s seeking the data so it can more accurately evaluate lead contamination in the community and its potential sources. Critics suggest the suit is an attempt by Exide to dodge financial responsibility for the lead cleanup around its facility.
Exide filed its suit in April. In a statement to KPCC, the company says the state Department of Public Health had previously released “incomplete information, which Exide believes has portrayed an inaccurate picture of the extent and sources of lead impacts, and has led to inaccurate statements by others about the situation.” Its lawyer declined requests for an interview.

CDPH in the News

Public health officials upgrade Isabella algae warnings

from Bakersfield.com

The Kern County Department of Public Health has raised its water contact advisory from “warning” to “danger” for the Kissack Cove area of Lake Isabella, and has issued a new warning at Isabella’s Paradise Cove.
One week after it posted cautionary notices at three locations due to the discovery of potentially harmful blue-green algae in parts of Isabella Lake and the Kern River, the department said in a news release Wednesday that further sampling has indicated toxins produced from blue-green algae are indeed present in the Kissack Cove area of Isabella at levels that warrant raising the notice from warning to danger.
A separate news release from the California Department of Public Health indicates Kern is hardly alone in experiencing this seasonal phenomenon. Since June of this year, blue-green algae blooms have been identified in more than two dozen freshwater reservoirs, lakes and streams statewide.

State rejects closure plans for 3 Eureka nursing homes

from Times Standard

The California Department of Public Health has rejected Rockport Healthcare Services’ plans to close three of its Eureka nursing homes due to low staffing, stating the plans did not properly address health impacts to patients.
“If it is your intent to close Seaview Rehabilitation & Wellness Center, Pacific Rehabilitation & Wellness Center, and Eureka Rehabilitation & Wellness Center, please submit new closure plans that adequately addressed the issues as outlined in this correspondence,” the department states in a Thursday letter to Rockport Healthcare Services.
However, that does not mean that the closures are completely off the table.

Immunization law targets school vaccination exemptions

from Richmond Confidential

California’s new immunization law, which went into effect in July, requires students to be fully vaccinated for school unless they have a medical reason and a doctor’s signature to prove it.
The new law shouldn’t be a burden for Richmond families this fall, said West Contra Costa County Unified School District Communications Director Marcus Walton. That’s because it was designed to eliminate so-called personal belief exemptions-which allow parents to forego required vaccines they object to for their children-and few such exemptions were filed in Richmond schools.
But the law does not address the most common reason some students in Richmond schools lack required vaccines: so-called conditional admission. Children who have not been fully vaccinated for their age or grade can start school “conditionally”-which means they pledge to get vaccinated eventually, but are not fully protected against the infectious diseases vaccines are meant to prevent.
The number of personal belief exemptions filed in Richmond has been historically low. A report released by the California Department of Public Health for the last school year shows that they were filed for just six students in the city’s schools. The tiny Contra Costa town of Byron, by contrast, has one school, Vista Oaks Charter, at which 47 percent of students lacked vaccines due to personal beliefs.

CDPH begins ALD screening in California infants

from Kern Golden Empire

The California Department of Public Health has announced that starting today its Genetic Disease Screening Program will now screen infants for adrenoleukodystrophy. Adrenoleukodystrophy, or ALD, is a progressive neurological disease that is found in roughly one in 20,000 newborn boys. Without care, those afflicted with the disease can quickly die after complications are identified.
ALD complications can include adrenal gland dysfunction, which can cause weight loss, muscle weakness and fatigue. Complications from the disease do not usually occur until after the age of three.

Asian Pacific Islander Health Data Disaggregation Bill Signed into Law

from Christian Daily

A bill that requires California’s Department of Public Health to record the data separately for each Asian and Pacific Islander group was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown on Sunday. Current state law already requires certain departments, including the Department of Industrial Relations and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, to collect data separately for each specific group among Asians and Pacific Islanders when conducting decennial census reports. This bill, AB 1726, would include the Department of Public Health in that existing law. Advocates who have been pushing for this legislation have said that the law would help to close disparities in health needs among Asian and Pacific Islanders.

First ever state hearing on aquaculture to be held in Bodega Bay next week

from Lake County News

Sen. Mike McGuire, chairman of the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, and Congressman Jared Huffman will convene a special hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 4, at the Bodega Marine Laboratory to take an in-depth look at the aquaculture industry in California, as well as receive an update on the outlook for the upcoming Dungeness and rock crab seasons. This hearing will be the first time that the Joint Committee has focused primarily on aquaculture, which can be thought of as “farming in water.”
The farmed fish, oysters and seaweed industry is larger than ever and panelists will explore finfish, shellfish, inland production and perspectives from state agencies. The public is encouraged to attend. The hearing, “Crab Season Outlook for 2016-17 and Modern Aquaculture in California,” will feature testimony and updates on the upcoming crab season and current and anticipated domoic acid levels from representatives with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Department of Public Health and top ocean scientists.

CDPH in the News

Discovery Bay Water Samples Test Positive for Algae Toxin

from East County Today

Samples taken from the waters around the Discovery Bay community have tested positive for microcystin, a potentially harmful toxin produced by certain algal species, according to laboratory results from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lab in Richmond. Contra Costa Health Services’ Environmental Health Division and the California State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) recommend that people, pets and livestock avoid contact with water around Discovery Bay until further notice. State health officials, including the California Department of Public Health, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and the State Water Board, have been working with local authorities to ensure that accurate caution and danger messages are available to post where needed in the community.

Big Tobacco aims its guns to kill California tobacco tax

from The Conversation

Public health and medical advocates have been working for nearly two years to increase California’s tobacco tax, one of the nation’s lowest, by US$2.00. The current tax, a mere 87 cents a pack, ranks close to tobacco-growing states like Kentucky. The proposal that will be on the ballot in November as Proposition 56, the California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016, allocates most of the revenue to pay for expanded medical services for poor people through Medicaid, known as MediCal in California. More important, it includes crucial funds to reinvigorate California’s aggressive and effective, but fading, tobacco control and research programs. Inflation-adjusted expenditures to fight smoking in California have declined; Prop 56 could restore the loss, says Stanton Glantz, using data from California Department of Public Health and Legislative Analyst.

County-USC patients’ personal information stolen in car break-in

from Los Angeles Times

Files containing personal information on more than 700 patients treated at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center were stolen when an employee’s car was broken into, county health officials said Monday. The break-in occurred in July. The county Department of Health Services released a statement after trying to notify the affected patients by mail. The files stolen from the car contained appointment lists for people who were treated at the County-USC neurosurgery clinic between May 10 and July 26, according to the statement. The documents did not contain Social Security numbers or financial information, but did include patients’ full names, birth dates, telephone numbers and details about their scheduled appointments, including diagnosis information in some cases. Health services also notified the California Department of Public Health and will notify the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to the statement.

Teen birth rates tumble in Sonoma County, but cultural disparities persist

from Sonoma Index-Tribune

Lost in the recent good news about declining birth rates among California teens is a Sonoma County statistic that has some local health experts scratching their heads. In the past 15 years, the county’s overall teen birth rate has been cut in half, declining to 13.9 births for every 1,000 teens. But a wide disparity remains for birth rates for white teens and Latina teens. For white teens, the birth rate is only 4.5 births per 1,000 teens, far lower than the state’s rate of 8.4 births for white teens. In contrast, the birth rate for local Latina teens is 27.7 births per 1,000 teens, very close to the state average of 31.3 births for Latina teens.
The reason for this disparity is difficult to pinpoint. Across the state, teen birth rates also dropped sharply among all racial and ethnic groups between 2000 and 2014. The birth rate dropped from 77.3 to 31.3 births per 1,000 teens among Latina teens; 59.1 to 24.6 births for African-American teens; 22.3 to 8.4 births for white teens; and 15.0 to 3.7 births for Asian teens, according to a study by the California Department of Public Health. But the state found racial disparities have actually increased during that period, with black and Latina teens three to four times more likely to give birth than white teens.

Health officials warn of Shigella infections in Southern California

from Your Central Valley

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and southern California health officials are investigating a cluster of Shigella infections. Shigella is a type of bacteria that causes shigellosis, a diarrheal disease. Health officials say the infections are predominantly affecting men who have sex with other men. As of last Thursday, the health department identified 14 men infected with an uncommon strain of Shigella.

California audit identifies state government waste, misuse

from SFGate

A California state district engineer approved $3.9 million in payments to the firm that employed the worker’s spouse and the state public health department improperly reimbursed an official $75,000 for driving to work, according to an audit released Thursday. The findings are the result of whistleblower tips investigated within the first six months of the year. The report details seven substantiated investigations from several state agencies, and identifies $400,000 in undisclosed gifts and wasted money due to improper travel expenses and mismanagement.
Auditors could not identify a cost to the state by the actions of the district engineer who violated conflict-of-interest law when the engineer, from 2010 through 2015, participated in decisions that financially benefited an engineering firm that employed the engineer’s spouse. They found the engineer approved dozens of claims seeking payment by the engineering firm totaling $3.9 million. Supervisors in the drinking water program knew of the spouse’s employment, but did not think it would affect the engineer’s work, according to the report.
The drinking water program started with the California Department of Public Health but moved to the Water Resources Control Board in July 2014. A spokesman for the water board said his department has always separated financial payments from project decisions, and sought to bring the drinking water program in line when they identified the differences.