Protecting your home and community

Posts in category Preparedness

Are You Safe Driving Through a Winter...

Car stuck in snow with HELP written on windshield
Do you really have to go? When all else fails Authorities recommend all drivers stay at home or in place when hazardous weather strikes. Weather is unpredictable, and sometimes you find yourself in weather you didn’t expect. It’s essential for your safety and that of your family to be prepared whenever you leave home in your car. [...]

Enterovirus D68: Prevention and Curre...

Keep Your Child From Getting and Spreading Enterovirus D68
Enterovirus is a class of viruses with more than 100 members. Originally, enteroviruses were classified into three types: polioviruses, Coxsackie A viruses (CA), Coxsackie B viruses (CB), and echoviruses, but scientists realized that there was overlap and more complexity than previously understood. Poliovirus, as well as Coxsackie and echovir [...]

WHO European Director Zsuzsanna Jakab...

A micrograph of an Ebola virus
According to European press agencies, the Director said, “Such imported cases and similar events as have happened in Spain will happen also in the future, most likely, ” adding that “the continent should be well prepared to control the disease.”   As we have seen in Texas, although the United States has a well-fun [...]

Blogs and Sites We Like

An image of a white guy giving a thumbs up
Here is a short list of sites we like to get preparedness and incidence information from. If you have a site you like, please let us know. Public Health Surveillance Health Map is created and maintained by a team of researchers, epidemiologists and software developers at Boston Children’s Hospital founded in 2006, is an established glob [...]

ACIP Recommends a Preference for Nasa...

Photo of kid wincing while receiving nasal flu vaccine
Important notice from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)   For Immediate Release: Wednesday, June 25, 2014 Contact: CDC Media Relations (404) 639-3286 Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends a preference for using the nasal spray flu vaccine Today, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Pra [...]

Traveling in West Africa: The Growing...

image of plane flying around globe
Should travelers be concerned? A Growing Threat In its summary of the Ebola/Marburg outbreaks, The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) illustrates that the current outbreak (currently 626 confirmed cases) is more severe than any in history.   While previous outbreaks affected one small area at a time, the current pandemic is spread accross [...]

Treatment of MRSA

a photo of an IV bag
There’s a possible solution at hand for problems associated with the treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Antibiotic resistance and transmission of the nasty bacteria has come about because of treatment failure; as patients start feeling better, they stop taking their antibiotics, creating ideal breeding grou [...]

CDC Adds Polio Vaccination Recommenda...

photo of a vial of polio vaccine
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have just updated their advice to health care providers to include polio vaccine in recommended preparedness immunizations. Their news release, dated 2014-6-2, includes the following language: CDC routinely recommends that anyone planning travel to a polio-affected country be fully vaccinat [...]

Don’t Get Ticked Off This Summe...

A photo of an engorged tick
Ticks Yuck! Engorged Squirrel Tick (Ixodes marxi) Tick-borne diseases are like the biblical plagues. Summertime is supposed to be a time when you can feel comfortable wearing shorts and sandals, take a walk in the woods, hike up mountains, sit outside on the grass, mow the lawn, scratch your dog under the oak tree. For those of us who live in [...]

Integrating Pets into Your Emergency ...

Kitten being rescued from flood
What is the PETS Act? The Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act (PETS) of 2006 was passed following Hurricane Katrina.     Images of abandoned animals, as well as the knowledge that many individuals and families refused to evacuate when they found that they couldn’t take their pets with them spurred legislators into passi [...]

Subscribe to Public Health Preparedness

Your email address