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Please join us in congratulating Lorraine Baughman a happy retirement. Lorraine will be retiring from the Kansas Immunization Program on the first of February. During Lorraine's 37-year career, she has diligently served the people of Kansas in various public health roles. Lorraine joined the Rooks County Health Department in September 1986 serving as the Health Department Administrator until her retirement in September 2015. Following her retirement from the health department, Lorraine then joined Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) serving as a Regional Immunization Nurse for the Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention - Kansas Immunization Program. Her role with KDHE included supporting the Vaccines for Children Program, health care facilities, school nurses and other vaccination providers across the state to ensure Kansans were protected from vaccine preventable diseases. Thank you Lorraine and we wish you the best! You can send Lorraine your best wishes by email
Information has been received from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on available influenza vaccines for the upcoming 2024-2025 flu season.
About the pre-book
In order to adequately plan for the upcoming
2024-2025 flu season, the CDC requires all enrolled providers who administer publicly funded flu vaccine complete an influenza vaccine pre-book early in the year, with a very quick turnround time. The CDC then works with the vaccine manufacturers to implementing contracts ensuring adequate doses are available.
As a result of this requirement and due to a very short turn around time, we are asking all enrolled providers to read the following information, discuss within your organization, and complete the
flu pre-book survey no later than Friday,
February 2, 2024.
To read the full article click here.
The Kansas School Kindergarten Through Grade 12 Immunization Requirements, Licensed Child Care Facilities and Early Childhood Programs Operated by Schools Immunization Requirements, and other school related documents for the 2024-2025 school year are now posted on our website.
If you have questions, please contact your Regional Immunization Consultant or the immunization consultant on call at 877-296-0464 or by email.
The Influenza-Like Illness Surveillance Network (ILINet) sites monitor patients for influenza-like illness (ILI), which is defined as symptoms of a fever (> 100⁰F) and the presence of a cough and/or sore throat. During the week ending Jan 13, ILINet sites reported that 2.3% of visits were due to ILI. Syndromic surveillance indicated that 4.0% of emergency department visits in Kansas were due to ILI. All data is subject to change. As of the week ending Jan 13th, the Kansas Health and Environmental Laboratories have reported 2 positive influenza B and 2 positive influenza B lineage, Victoria, specimens. As a reminder, outbreaks of any disease are reportable and should be reported to the epidemiology hotline at (877) 427-7317. Stay updated on influenza activity.
Hepatitis A – SHAWNEE COUNTY: The Shawnee County Health Department and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) identified a community-wide outbreak of hepatitis A that began in July 2022. As of January 19, 2024, 94 cases have been linked to this outbreak with cases from Shawnee, Jefferson, Jackson and Douglas counties. Most cases are among people who use drugs (injection and non-injection), and some report experiencing unstable housing or being unhoused. Other cases have been reported among participants of an adult daycare center as well as a long-term care facility. Some of the most recent cases have been among patients who report no risk factors. The last onset of illness was January 9, 2024. Vaccination and testing efforts are underway at various locations that serve high risk persons.
Last edition we covered the Goals of TB prevention and control and the four priority activities for all TB programs. This edition we are going to cover Priority Activity 2: Finding and assessing persons who have been in Contact with TB patients to determine whether they have latent TB infection (LTBI) or TB disease and providing them with appropriate treatment. To learn more about the key practice items to help with priority activity number two click here to read the full article.
To read more about CDC's reflection on 2023 click here.
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