Communicable Disease Update as of
11/19/2005:
Weekly Overview: Reports
received this week included: 2 pertussis and 1 salmonella case from Gallatin
County and 9 Missoula County salmonella cases as they wrap up their
salmonella outbreak. The addition of the 9 cases in Missoula brings the
total reported cases related to their restaurant outbreak to approximately
43. Influenza activity has been mild and we've had a few cases reported in
central and western Montana. No active
outbreaks or clusters of illnesses were reported during the week.
Additional information on recent communicable disease activity/issues is
below and in the attached spreadsheet.
HIV/AIDS
Statistics: HIV/AIDS
statistics summarizing reported cases as of September 30, 2005 are
attached. As detailed, we have had a total of 724 HIV/AIDS cases reported
since 1985, including 273 deaths. During 2005, we have reported a total of
91 HIV/AIDS cases. The total number of cases for 2005 includes many
individuals receiving services or that have come to Montana from other
states but who had not been reported to our system when arriving. As a
result, our 2005 numbers will be higher than usual as we resolve a back log
of reports.
In general, the characteristics of HIV/AIDS
cases we receive have changed little over time. The infection still impacts
men who have sex with men and individuals who use injecting drugs most often
(76% of our cases). Approximately 87% of our cases are males, 87% are white
and most reside in our larger cities/counties at the time of diagnosis (see
map attached). We continue to watch for any significant changes in
transmission among women, minorities and youth closely. To date, aside from
a slight increase in the number of women being newly diagnosed with HIV, no
other significant changes have been noted with respect to the
characteristics of our cases. In other words: age, race, risk, etc. of those
individuals reported have been fairly consistent over time.
Influenza:
The Montana Public Health Laboratory has confirmed a handful of influenza
cases from Gallatin, Cascade and Missoula counties.
Please remember to fax you surveillance reports weekly- even in
the absence of cases to ensure we can provide a complete picture of what is
occurring. The weekly U.S. surveillance map is at:
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/ and we'll have our DPHHS site up soon but
a sample of what we'll offer each week is attached.
If your area has not had a specimen confirmed
by the state lab, we are still interested! To definitively diagnose the
presence of influenza and better characterize what is circulating, it is
important to confirm the first few positive influenza cases in each county
or tribal area by culture and/or PCR. We are asking local health
authorities to encourage providers and labs to submit samples on individuals
strongly suspected of having influenza (people testing positive on rapid
tests are ideal candidates) to our lab for more complete testing. The cost
for testing will be supported until two
specimens from each county/tribal area are confirmed at the state
laboratory. After two cases from each area are confirmed, your agency will
be notified that further testing will not be provided free of charge.
Despite the availability of rapid diagnostic tests, collecting clinical
specimens for viral culture is critical, because only culture isolates can
provide specific information regarding circulating strains and subtypes of
influenza viruses.
Please see the attached pdf file or
spreadsheet for details on other reports.
NOTE: The spreadsheet has multiple pages, each indicated by a tab in the
bottom left corner. Tab 1
reflects all cases YTD, tab 2 outbreaks, tab 3 this week, the four an STD
summary. Please take a moment to review and compare your stats
to ours and contact us with any concerns.
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Documents:
FluReporting0506
AIDS 092005
Wk462005
Wk462005
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