'National Doctors Day, 3/30/2025'

Trusted experts who heal and cure, doctors are the superheroes of the medical world. From check-ups to emergencies, they're always ready to help.



It’s easy to forget just how important, valuable and necessary good doctors are – that is until you get ill or sustain an injury.

Doctors Day puts hard-working doctors in the spotlight, and encourages us to be considerate of the long hours they work, their compassion, and the effort they put into practicing medicine.

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Every year Phoenix Magazine publishes a guide featuring the Valley’s best physicians. The doctors are selected through a peer-review survey. The theory is that medical professionals are the best qualified to judge medical professionals. The survey asks the doctors to nominate those doctors who, in their judgement, are the best in their fields.

Once again, Dr. Lakin has been chosen as a TOP DOC among his peers. Now standing at 23 years!

(2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2003, 2001)

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Lakin!

March 30, 2025

FLU SEASON IS IN DECLINE NATIONALLY

AND IN ARIZONA.

IT WILL BE AROUND FOR  1-2 MORE WEEKS AND THEN WILL BE BACK TO BASELINE

IN THE VALLEY.

 IF YOU HAVE HIGH FEVER, SEVERE ACHES AND PAINS, AND COUGH… IT IS MOST LIKELY FLU… BUT TEST FOR COVID.  WE HAVE FLU MEDICATION SO BE IN TOUCH. 

COVID IS AROUND BUT TO A SMALL DEGREE…..IT IS HITTING THE LOWEST LEVEL SEEN IN THE PAST YEAR.

RSV REMAINS… LOW… AND DECLINING……

*CURRENT COVID VACCINE IS IN PHARMACIES. IT IS STILL A SOLID MATCH FOR THE CURRENT COVID VIRUS

MEASLES CONCERNS/OUTBREAK:

MEASLES OUTBREAKS ARE IN THE NEWS. A CHILDHOOD VIRUS THAT IS THE MOST HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS VIRUS KNOWN TO MAN, IT HAS BEEN ALL BUT ERADICATED IN THE USA, WITH A FOOTHOLD DEVELOPING DUE TO ANTI-VACCINE CONCERNS.

ADULTS ARE GENERALLY NOT AT RISK, BUT HERE IS INFORMATION FOR YOU:

IF YOU WERE BORN BEFORE 1957 YOU HAVE NO CONCERNS.  IT IS ALMOST CERTAIN YOU HAD MEASLES AND YOU REMAIN IMMUNE.

IF YOU WERE BORN IN 1968 OR LATER YOU CERTAINLY HAD AN EFFECTIVE MEASLES VACCINE AND ARE PROTECTED.

IF YOU WERE BORN IN 1958-1967, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT YOUR MEASLES VACCINE HAS WORN OFF.  ALTHOUGH LIKELY THAT YOU HAVE IMMUNITY, YOU COULD CONSIDER A BLOOD TEST TO CHECK FOR IMMUNITY AND IF NEGATIVE, GET AND MMR BOOSTER SHOT.  

IN GENERAL, I DO NOT RECOMMEND TESTING FOR PEOPLE IN THIS AGE GROUP UNLESS THEY ARE IMMUNE COMPROMISED, THEN IT IS WORTHWHILE.  THE ONLY OTHER REASON IS IF YOU REMAIN WORRIED SO THAT YOU HAVE PEACE OF MIND ON THIS TOPIC.  THE RISKS OF MEASLES BROADLY REMAIN VERY VERY LOW.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR 2025 IMMUNIZATIONS:

DATA CONTINUES TO SUPPORT BENEFIT FROM COVID VACCINATION. BENEFITS OF THE SHOT INCREASE WITH AGE AND WITH CONDITIONS THAT PREDISPOSE TO COMPLICATIONS (EMPHYSEMA/COPD, HEART FAILURE, DIABETES, IMMUNE SUPPRESSION)

CURRENT COVID STATUS:

THE CURRENT COVID STRAINS ARE VERY CONTAGIOUS AND PRESENT THROUGHOUT ARIZONA… WE ARE SEEING SEVERAL EACH WEEK, MOST DUE TO TRAVEL OR LARGE EVENT ATTENDANCE.

IF YOU GET SICK AFTER TRAVEL OR ATTENDING A BIG GATHERING… DO A COVID TEST. ALL STANDARD COVID TESTS WORK TO IDENTIFY THE CURRENT STRAINS.

ALL DOING WELL.  BE PROACTIVE TO PREVENT NEED FOR HOSPITALIZATION. PROTECTION IS UP TO YOU AND NOW IS A PERSONAL DECISION. DO WHAT MAKES YOU COMFORTABLE.

DATA 100% SHOWS THAT GOOD MASKS MAKE A DIFFERENCE. THEY ARE NOT PERFECT, BUT THEY DO REDUCE RISK OF EXPOSURE AND INFECTION.

• I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH… IF YOU DON’T WANT COVID FROM TRAVEL… WEAR A MASK IN THE AIRPORT CROWDS AND ON THE AIRPLANE (UNTIL 10,000 FEET) … THIS IS NOT AS ESSENTIAL AS IT WAS WHEN COVID WAS MORE SEVERE… BUT IF YOU WANT TO AVOID INFECTIONS IN GENERAL DURING TRAVEL... IT’S A RECOMMENDATION.

• EVEN SELECTIVE MASK USE WORKS WELL… SUCH AS ONLY IN CROWDED SPACES IN THE AIRPORT, AND DURING TRAVEL ‘TO’ YOUR DESTINATION, SO THAT YOU ARE NOT ILL DURING YOU VACATION/TRAVEL TIME.  LESS IMPORTANT WHEN YOU RETURN FROM VACATION.

• GET BOOSTED IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO…PARTICULARLY OVER AGE 65 WITH HEALTH ISSUES OR OVER 75 WITHOUT HEALTH ISSUES.  EVERY 6 MONTHS IS THE RECOMMENDATION FOR THIS GROUP. 

I RECOMMEND THE COVID BOOSTER GENERALLY FOR THOSE OVER 65. BUT…

• I HIGHLY RECOMMEND A BOOSTER FOR THOSE 80 & OLDER.

• I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE BOOSTER FOR THOSE OVER 65 WITH HEART FAILURE, SIGNIFICANT LUNG CONDITIONS, AND DIABETES.

CONSIDER BOOSTING WITH THE NEW COVID VACCINE TO REDUCE RISK OF COVID AND TO REDUCE COVID SYMPTOM SEVERITY. 

TOP PODCAST DONE WEEKLY

BY DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM

(UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA)  

He is a world-renowned epidemiologist who was credited with first elucidating TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME in the 1980’s.

He provides comprehensive and understandable/actionable ideas related to COVID.

Dr. Osterholm Update: COVID-19 Podcast

March 20, 2025

(Same as last week's... New podcast next week!)

'Remembering Darkness, Sharing Light: Five Years Later'

In "Remembering Darkness, Sharing Light: Five Years Later" Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall reflect on the COVID-19 pandemic's 5-year anniversary, examine the latest federal actions affecting public health, and provide an update on the measles outbreak in Texas. Dr. Osterholm also answers an ID query on the current recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines and reviews national trends in respiratory illnesses.

According to Dr. Osterholm……

•  GET YOUR LATEST AVAILABLE BOOSTER IF YOU HAVE NOT HAD COVID OR IT’S BEEN LONGER THAN 4 MONTHS SINCE YOU HAD COVID YOURSELF

•  A GOOD MASK, N95 OF KN95, DOES HELP REDUCE TRANSMISSION…. USE IT AT HIGH-RISK LOCATIONS

• GOOD VENTILATION IN ROOMS/HOME/BUSINESSES IS A GREAT WAY TO PREVENT TRANSMISSION

• VACCINE, VACCINE, VACCINE…THIS IS OUR PROTECTION. ALL VACCINES ARE EFFECTIVE AND WITH TIME WE ARE SEEING THAT

• BOOST, BOOST, BOOST…THIS WILL BE NECESSARY TO PREVENT RECURRING SURGE AND TO RAISE ANTIBODY LEVELS IN THOSE ALREADY SET WITH THE PRIMARY COVID VACCINE SERIES.

• ANTIGEN TESTING IS USEFUL, BUT OF LIMITED VALUE. DON’T DEPEND ON IT…BUT USE IT.

Know that unvaccinated remain a source of potential infection. Avoiding unvaccinated persons will reduce your risk of COVID.

Some Measles Patients in West Texas Show Signs of Vitamin A Toxicity, Doctors Say, Raising Concerns About Misinformation

Doctors treating people hospitalized as part of a measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico have also found themselves facing another problem: vitamin A toxicity.

At Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, near the outbreak’s epicenter, several patients have been found to have abnormal liver function on routine lab tests, a probable sign that they’ve taken too much of the vitamin, according to Dr. Lara Johnson, pediatric hospitalist and chief medical officer for Covenant Health-Lubbock Service Area.

The hospitalized children with the toxicity were all unvaccinated.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy has centered his response to the outbreak on vitamin A, even suggesting in a Fox News interview that it could work “as a prophylaxis.”

But overuse of vitamin A can have serious health consequences, and there is no evidence that it can prevent measles.

The only way to prevent infection with the measles virus is through the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, which is 97% effective against measles after two doses. Kennedy has said that he does “encourage” vaccination but that it is a “personal choice.”

“If people have the mistaken impression that you have an either-or choice of MMR vaccine or vitamin A, you’re going to get a lot of kids unnecessarily infected with measles. That’s a problem, especially during an epidemic,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. “And second, you have this unregulated medicine in terms of doses being given and potential toxicities.”

As measles spreads across the country, sick children and adults are exposing other patients — including newborn babies — when they seek care at hospitals, pediatrician’s offices and urgent care centers.

To help control the spread of measles, one of the world’s most contagious viruses, medical experts say people with suspected cases should take precautions before visiting a doctor’s office or the emergency room.

“I never want to discourage anyone from seeking care,” said Dr. Alison Haddock, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians. But “measles is highly contagious and it is dangerous to expose others.”

Walking into a crowded clinic or emergency department, especially without a mask, can infect others in the waiting room, including patients who are pregnant, medically vulnerable or immunocompromised, said Dr. Ari Brown, a pediatrician in Austin, Texas, and spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics. An unvaccinated child with measles, who had been infected while traveling abroad, sparked an outbreak in San Diego in 2008 that included children in the waiting room of a pediatrician’s office.

“If you have any concerns” about being infected with measles, “do not just show up at the pediatrician’s office. Do not just show up at the ER,” Brown said. “Call first so they can be prepared.”



As of Friday, the U.S. has seen upward of 500 measles cases in at least 20 states and Washington, D.C. since the beginning of the year. The majority are in Texas, where an outbreak on the western edge of the state has grown to 400 cases and spilled into New Mexico and Oklahoma. Two people have died, including a 6-year-old girl.

After you received your COVID or any other vaccination outside our office, please let us know!

We would like to document this information into your chart.



What we need:

1. Your name
2. Name & date of vaccination received
3. Brand name
4. Lot number if available
5. Which dose you have received

Researcher Says Long COVID Causing "Great Deal of Suffering"

The pandemic may be over, but millions are still dealing with COVID-19's effects. The CDC estimates nearly 20 million Americans are struggling with the effects of Long COVID -- the persistence of ongoing health problems long after the infection has passed. Bradley Blackburn has more.

Two new studies released in 2025 provide a mixed picture of how well our current antivirals are holding up against H5N1, the highly pathogenic bird flu virus that continues to spill over into mammals and humans.

The good news: H5N1 viruses from recent human cases remain susceptible to frontline antiviral drugs. More concerning is a resistance mutation that emerged and spread rapidly during a poultry outbreak in Canada, raising flags about the virus’s potential to evolve past our defenses.

The antiviral oseltamivir (commonly known as Tamiflu) is currently recommended for treating and preventing H5N1 infections. It works by inhibiting neuraminidase, a surface protein the virus uses to release itself from infected cells and spread through the body. But this treatment only works if the virus remains sensitive to the drug.

We Are Here to Take Care of Your Healthcare Needs.

We Are Here to Serve!

Our office is using techniques to reduce exposure to a minimum during your visit. These include: 

• Multiple Super-HEPA filters to filter out potential virus and

particles in the office.

• High Level UV light air cleansing in the office to eliminate

bacteria and viruses in the air.

OUR OFFICE SCHEDULE  

DOORS OPEN     

7AM - 4PM Monday through Thursday

7AM - 11AM Friday

IN OFFICE

APPOINTMENTS: MONDAY – THURSDAY

7AM – 11:15AM & 1PM – 3:30PM

APPOINTMENTS: FRIDAY

7AM – 10:30 AM

DR. LAKIN WILL CONTINUE ‘TELEHEALTH’ VISITS WITH FaceTime, WhatsApp or ZOOM WHEN NEEDED.

Dr. Lakin's Info For COVID-19 Kit &

Recommended Treatments

SUMMARY OF A COVID KIT & CHECK LIST:

This is what you should have at home to prepare for possible COVID, to monitor yourself if you were to get infected:

DIGITAL ORAL THERMOMETER: MANY BRANDS ARE FINE…HERE IS ONE EXAMPLE:

PULSE OXIMETER:  TO CHECK OXYGEN LEVELS. MANY BRANDS ARE FINE...HERE IS ONE EXAMPLE:

OTHER ITEMS FROM THE HOME MEDICAL KIT:

• TYLENOL, ADVIL, OR ALEVE
• Sudafed 30mg tablets
• Chlorpheniramine 4mg tablets
• Robitussin DM syrup
• Imodium AD

Bird flu wasn’t on Tim Hanson’s mind when he fed his cats specialty pet food containing raw chicken. “You go to the pet shop and it was the premium raw food,” he said. “It was finely ground to a consistency that I thought was beneficial to my cats.”

But in early February, one of his cats, Kira, developed a fever and stopped eating. A test ordered by a veterinarian came back positive for bird flu. Within days, Kira’s condition had deteriorated — she became lethargic and had trouble breathing.



After several trips to the vet and emergency room in Portland, Oregon, where Hanson lives, he made the painful decision to put Kira down.

. . .Stay Healthy