'National ice Cream Day'

Ice Cream is without a doubt the perfect dessert ever devised by man. It’s rich and creamy, full of the flavors of summer while being made from the cold like the winter, and is perfect at any time of the year.

Ice Cream can be used to make sandwiches or entire cakes, or just eaten as a scoop all on its own.

National Ice Cream Day celebrates this delicious treat and all the varieties it comes in!

Read more here. . . .

July 16, 2023

 

WEST NILE SEASON IS HERE. THE FIRST CASE IN OUR PRACTICE WAS SEEN 9 WEEKS AGO. USE PROTECTION. IF WE HEAR OF NEW CASES…WILL REPORT TO YOU. NOT CURRENTLY HIGH LEVEL IN TOWN, BUT NOW IS THE TIME.  BY THE TIME WE SEE THE INCREASE WE WILL BE RUNNING BEHIND… SO BEGIN NOW.

COVID LEVELS ARE LOW BUT PRESENT NATIONALLY.  WE CONTINUE TO SEE COVID PRIMARILY IN TRAVELERS AND IN PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT HAVE COVID YET WHO ARE EXPOSED TO RECENT TRAVELERS. CONSIDER BOOSTING AND MASKING DURING TRAVEL.

PLEASE USE MOSQUITO REPELLENT DAILY UNTIL THE END OF SEPTEMBER, OR AT LEAST WHEN IN HIGH EXPOSURE SITUATIONS.

ARIZONA IS THE PRIME USA LOCATION FOR WEST NILE DUE TO HIGH WEST NILE VIRUS LEVELS IN RAPTOR BIRDS WHO ARE IMMUNE TO WEST NILE ILLNESS, BUT NOT IMMUNE TO CARRYING THE VIRUS.

 THIS CAN RESULT IN ARIZONA MOSQUITOS WITH PARTICULARLY HIGH VIRUS LEVELS WHEN THEY BITE.

COVID:

THE 4^TH COVID BOOSTER IS APPROVED FOR THOSE OVER 65 OR THOSE WHO ARE YOUNGER AND HAVE COMPROMISED IMMUNE SYSTEMS. THIS IS A BIVALENT VACCINE WITH THE ORIGINAL COVID VIRUS & OMICRON VARIANT.

A NEW BOOSTER WILL BE APPROVED IN THE COMING WEEKS. IT WILL CONTAIN THE CURRENT VARIANT XBB.1.5, WHICH IS 99% OF THE COVID IN THE USA.

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

July 13, 2023

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/episode-135-more-learn

'More to Learn'

In this episode, Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall discuss recent studies on the neurologic effects of COVID-19, the newly approved RSV vaccine, and locally acquired malaria cases in Florida and Texas.

According to Dr. Osterholm……

• GET YOUR 4th BOOSTER (6th SHOT) 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 THE J&J VACCINE IS PICKING UP STEAM AND GIVES SOLID LONG-TERM PROTECTION.
• 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.

US health officials are moving forward with plans to sunset the federal government’s Covid-19 vaccine distribution program next month and move the vaccines to the commercial market this fall, and they are laying out their expectations to manufacturers about what that transition should look like.

On Thursday morning, US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra sent a letter to the CEOs of Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax detailing how, after the transition to commercialization, HHS expects “that vaccines will remain available in the types of locations where the public currently receives them – including pharmacies, clinics, healthcare provider offices, health departments, and other points of care – to maximize access.”

Those three companies, which manufacture the only Covid-19 vaccines currently available in the US, are advised that they should plan for this fall’s vaccine supply and regulatory submissions in enough time for the US Food and Drug Administration to take action and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make recommendations on the vaccinations “by the latter part of September,” Becerra wrote in a draft of the letter obtained by CNN.

Read more here. . . .

After you received your COVID vaccinations, please let us know!

We would like to document this information into your chart.



BUT FIRST.......

PLEASE COMPLETE THE INFORMATION ON THE CARD BEFORE YOU SEND IT TO US!

What we need:

1. Your name
2. Date vaccination received
3. Brand name
4. Lot number if available
5. Which dose you have received

**Email your COVID vaccine completed info HERE

The so-called “arcturus” coronavirus strain is the most prominent variant circulating in the U.S., but several other omicron subvariants are increasing across the country.

XBB.1.16, or arcturus, was responsible for more than 17% of new COVID-19 infections over the past two weeks, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s a slight increase from the previous two-week period, which CDC revised down to 16%.

XBB.1.5, which will be the target of the fall COVID-19 vaccines, is not far behind at 16% of new infections in recent weeks.



But other omicron subvariants are making inroads in the U.S., including EG.5 and XBB.2.3. Each strain was responsible for 13% of new infections over the last two weeks.

The World Health Organization is monitoring XBB.2.3, which is also increasing globally. According to WHO, some countries are seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases.

Read more here. . . .

A doctor known for advising people on the risks of Covid-19 got a double surprise: He got Covid, and he wound up needing stitches because of it.

Dr. Robert Wachter, who chairs the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, said he had not tested positive for Covid until last week, according to posts from his Twitter account. He said he was fully vaccinated and had received his second bivalent booster in April.

He said his symptoms started with a dry cough on July 9, and by that night, he had a fever, chills and a sore throat. Wachter said he made a mistake the following day when he took a shower while feeling these flu-like symptoms.

“I work (sic) up in a bloody pool on my bathroom floor,” he wrote on Twitter. “There was a dent in the lid of a trashcan, likely where my head had hit. I remembered nothing.

As I managed to get up, it was clear that my face was going to need stitches, and more than a couple.”

Read more here. . . .

At our office, we are continuing to follow CDC guidelines and will strive for ways to keep our patients and staff safe.



We recommend that all unvaccinated and vaccinated patients and visitors entering our office cover their nose and mouth at all times.

To prevent further spread of the Delta & Omicron variants, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its mask guidance on March 21, 2022, to recommend that fully vaccinated people wear masks when in areas with “substantial” and “high” transmission of Covid-19.

We have a limited supply of paper masks and will make these available to patients while they last, however, we encourage you to bring your own facial covering.

Americans have transmitted COVID-19 to wild deer hundreds of times, an analysis of thousands of samples collected from the animals suggests, and people have also caught and spread mutated variants from deer at least three times.

The analysis published Monday stems from the first year of a multiyear federal effort to study the virus as it has spread into American wildlife, spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or APHIS. 

Scientists analyzed 8,830 samples collected from wild white-tailed deer across 26 states and Washington, D.C., from November 2021 to April 2022, to study the COVID variants that had infected 282 of them.

Read more here. . . .

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:

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Thermometer-Reading-Waterproof-Indicator/dp/B087T3S4TR/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=THERMOMETER&qid=1597159324&sr=8-6

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

https://www.amazon.com/Innovo-Fingertip-Oximeter-Plethysmograph-Perfusion/dp/B07YVGZPRZ/ref=sr_1_20?dchild=1&keywords=PULSE+OXI&qid=1597159388&sr=8-20

OTHER ITEMS FROM THE HOME MEDICAL KIT:

·       TYLENOL, ADVIL, OR ALEVE

·       Sudafed 30mg tablets

·       Chlorpheniramine 4mg tablets

·       Robitussin DM syrup

·       Imodium AD

**CLICK HERE TO READ COMPLETE INFORMATION

"I'm Melting!" - The Wizard of Oz

When the Wicked Witch (Margaret Hamilton) sets The Scarecrow (Ray Bolger)

on fire, Dorothy (Judy Garland) accidentally kills the witch with water.

Stay Safe & Cool!