fever, muscle aches, diarrhea, and vom- iting. The disease affects primarily older people, pregnant women, newborns, and people with weakened immune systems. According to Dr. Lakey, physicians can
report food-borne diseases to their local health departments from their offices. In addition, laboratories can report, as can anyone with knowledge of food-borne illnesses.
“The most important thing physicians can do to help us reduce the burden of food-borne illness is to test specimens of ill patients and report lab-confirmed cases,” Dr. Lakey said. Once DSHS receives lab confirmation of the cause of a food-borne illness, the department can identify outbreaks by genetic fingerprinting, which enables public health officials to establish links between illnesses and trace them to mass-marketed products.
“Physicians’ clinical assessments and
reporting can help us identify an out- break early so that we can get epidemio- logical information from the patients and find out what the common cause of the illnesses might be,” Dr. Lakey said. “Physicians are great partners in our work to protect the public health.”
CDC: Early childhood immunization rates up
Technology boosts SNAP purchases at farmers’ markets
New wireless terminals make it easier for Texans with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food bene- fits to shop at farmers’ markets through- out the state. People in SNAP receive a plastic Lone
Star card to buy food at grocery stores. Many farmers’ markets haven’t been able to accept the Lone Star card because they don’t have the phone and electri- cal connections needed for the terminals used to swipe the card’s magnetic stripe. “We all want our children to eat healthier,” said Texas Health and Hu- man Services Executive Commissioner Tom Suehs. “What better way to do that
Immunization rates for children aged 19 to 35 months for most vaccine-pre- ventable diseases are increasing or be- ing sustained at high levels, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Rates for most of the long-standing recommended vaccines are at or above 90 percent, the report states. “Today’s report is reassuring because it means that most parents are protecting their young children from diseases that can cause widespread and sometimes severe harm,” said Anne Schuchat, MD, director of CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
“We recommend vaccinations because they are one of the most effective, safest ways to keep children healthy.” The 2010 National Immunization
Survey (NIS) of more than 17,000 households looked at children born between January 2007 and July 2009. Compared with the previous year, vac- cine coverage increased for many vac- cine-preventable diseases, including measles, mumps, and rubella; rotavirus;
November 2011 TEXAS MEDICINE 29
than by helping families bring home fresh Texas peaches, grapefruit, melons, and tomatoes? This project helps give all families, regardless of income, access to some of the best fruits and vegetables in the world.” The wireless terminals are part of a yearlong pilot program sponsored by the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service. The new wireless terminals, linked to the Texas Health and Human Services Com- mission benefits-processing system, are in place at 18 farmers’ markets around the state. The agency administers the SNAP program in Texas. In addition, 13 other Texas farmers’
markets already accept the Lone Star card. In the past year, Texans with SNAP benefits made purchases at farmers’ mar- kets totaling more than $21,000.
pneumococcal disease; hepatitis A; and Haemophilus influenza type B (Hib). Re- sults from the survey also indicated that vaccination coverage rates against po- liovirus, varicella, and the full series of hepatitis B remained stable at or above 90 percent. “As recent outbreaks of measles and whooping cough have shown, vaccine- preventable diseases are still around us,” Dr. Schuchat said. “And it is important that health care providers, community groups, and state programs support par- ents in assuring that children are protect- ed from vaccine-preventable diseases.” In marked contrast to other health
services, where substantial disparities between whites and minorities persist, immunization rates did not differ by ra- cial or ethnic groups for most vaccines. Rather, with the recent increases in cov- erage among minority children, vacci- nation levels for most vaccines in other racial and ethnic groups were similar to, or higher than, levels among white children.
The national survey found less than 1
percent of toddlers had received no vac- cines at all. Complete results from the 2010 NIS are at
www.cdc.gov/mmwr. n
Crystal Conde is associate editor of Texas Medicine. You can reach her by telephone at (800) 880-1300, ext. 1385, or (512) 370-1385; by fax at (512) 370-1629; or by email at
crystal.conde@
texmed.org.
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