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The month of May is Hepatitis Awareness Month with National Hepatitis Testing Day on May 19. We can spotlight the burden of disease and help to prevent it by encouraging testing and vaccination. Both hepatitis A and hepatitis B are vaccine preventable diseases.
There are extensive resources on each of these important vaccines at both Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Immunize.org. These resources provide a wealth of information, from how to recommend vaccination to promoting vaccination with graphics and posts on social media. The CDC has a great social media toolkit on its Hepatitis Awareness Month web page.
Click here and check out some great resources!
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 May 9, 2024, 119 cases have been linked to this outbreak with cases from Shawnee, Jefferson, Jackson, Osage, Clay, Wyandotte 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 cases have been among patients who report no risk factors. The last onset of illness was April 24, 2024. Vaccination and testing efforts are underway at various locations that serve high risk persons.
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 May 4, ILINet sites reported that 1.1% of visits were due to ILI. Syndromic surveillance indicated that 1.6% of emergency department visits in Kansas were due to ILI.
All data is subject to change. During the week ending May 4, the Kansas Health and Environmental Laboratories reported no positive influenza 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 on our dashboard.
The Mayo Clinic Center for Tuberculosis has released it's first product: The Compounding Pharmacy Fact Sheet!
This comprehensive fact sheet is an invaluable resource for clinicians, TB program staff, and anyone interested in learning how compounding pharmacies may support the treatment of patients with tuberculosis (TB) disease or latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI).
Please visit their website to access the Compounding Pharmacy Fact Sheet.
It is time for the Annual 340B recertification for STD and TB covered entities, May 6th to June 3rd. Please be on the lookout for emails from HRSA regarding the process. Regardless of when you originally registered, this is an annual recertification time. If you are not the Authorizing Official for your agency, please reach out to him/her and kindly remind them they must recertify, or HRSA will terminate your agency from the 340B program and require the agency re-register at a later time.
There can sometimes be confusion with this process because the information (nature of support, NOFO, grant numbers) is different between the Family Planning, STD, and TB components of 340B recertification, and the covered entities must complete the process separately for each program that they qualify under. For recertifying, please use the following contact information.
Contact APEXUS at 888-340-2787 or by email if you have any questions or concerns with recertification.
All other questions or concerns, KDHE 340B Program for TB and STI can be sent here or call Rachael South at 785-296-0866.
May 19 is National Hepatitis Testing Day! Learn more about the ABCs of Viral Hepatitis.
Click Here for information on Hepatitis A,B, and C regarding U.S. statistics, routes of transmission, incubation periods, symptoms of acute infection, likelihood of symptomatic acute infection, potential for chronic infection after acute infection, severity, serologic tests for acute infection, serologic tests for chronic infection, testing recommendations for chronic infection, treatment, vaccinate recommendations and schedule.
Click here for more.
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