'NCAA March Madness is Here!'

If you're a fan of basketball, in particular, there's a time of year that's extra special. It's that time when everywhere you turn, sports fanatics are talking about bubble teams, brackets, and buzzer beaters. What are we talking about? March Madness, of course!

March Madness refers to that time of year (usually mid-March through the beginning of April) when the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men's and women's college basketball tournaments are held.

Why is it madness? That term somehow captures the excitement that swirls around the sports world as tournament time approaches. In the weeks leading up to the "Big Dance," as it is called, hundreds of college basketball teams from all over the United States fight to earn a spot in the tournament

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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 23, 2025

FLU SEASON IS IN DECLINE NATIONALLY AND IN ARIZONA.

IT WILL BE AROUND FOR  2-3 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

'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.

Measles Outbreak Could Last a Year, Health Official in Texas Says

Three hundred and twenty-one cases have been reported in the ongoing measles outbreak in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, the states said Tuesday. This is an increase of 25 cases since an update on Friday.

Texas has reported 279 outbreak-associated cases, New Mexico has reported 38 cases, and Oklahoma had previously reported four cases.

Thirty-eight patients have been hospitalized, an increase of two over last week. Ninety-five cases are in children up to age 4, and 130 are among young people ages 5 to 17. Cases have been identified in 11 Texas counties and two New Mexico counties.

n Texas, the bulk of the cases, 191, are in Gaines County, where the outbreak was first identified. In New Mexico, most cases are in Lea County, which borders Gaines County.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health said last week that it had four measles cases in people with “exposure associated with the Texas and New Mexico outbreak.”

Although most of the cases are in people who were unvaccinated or who had unknown vaccination status, six were found in people who said they have received at least one dose of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine: two in Texas and four in New Mexico.



Last month, Texas announced the outbreak’s first death, a school-age child who was not vaccinated and had no underlying conditions. Health officials in New Mexico are continuing to investigate the cause of death of an unvaccinated person who tested positive for measles.

In the early 2000s, when Dr. Alexandra Cvijanovich was completing her medical training in Utah, her team cared for a 13-year-old boy with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a degenerative neurological disease that can be fatal. It’s a rare complication of the measles virus that appears years after the initial infection.

The boy had been infected with measles when he was 7 months old, after contact with an unvaccinated child. Years later, he died of the complications, and Cvijanovich has never forgotten about him.

“He … got the virus before he could be immunized. And that’s just a tragic, horrible, preventable death,” she said.

Officials recommend that children get their first dose of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine between 12 and 15 months of age. Two doses of the vaccine are 97% effective against the measles virus.

To achieve herd immunity, where enough people are vaccinated that infection doesn’t widely spread in the community, 95% of the population needs to be vaccinated, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Now a pediatrician in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Cvijanovich treats people from all over the state – including the southeastern region, which is currently part of one of the largest measles outbreaks in decades, affecting more than 300 people across three states.

She often tells the story of her 13-year-old patient to families that are hesitant to vaccinate their children.

“I tried to use stories of patients that I’ve taken care of,” she said, “and then I also tried to plead with people that they actually think about the greater good of the community around them.”

Many pediatricians say they are seeing an increase in parents who are hesitant to vaccinate their children with the MMR vaccine and others. Here are some of their tips for communicating with vaccine-hesitant parents.

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

5 Ways the Pandemic Changed Us

for Good, for Bad and Forever. . .

As we mark five years on from the start of the coronavirus pandemic this month, life has changed for many people, in ways both mundane and profound.

Dr. Kurt Papenfus is someone NPR interviewed in 2020. The medical director and chief of staff of a small hospital in rural Colorado, Papenfus first took care of COVID patients, then he became one. He told us the story of driving himself to Denver — with an escort of sheriff's deputies to make sure he made it — so he could get the intensive care he knew he needed for COVID pneumonia.

We all know what it feels like to have the flu. Fever, body aches, coughing, congestion, chills, sore throat . . . in general, feeling like you’ve been hit by a 10-ton truck.

What you may not know is that dogs can be infected with the flu as well . . . specifically, the highly contagious canine influenza. (It’s important to note that the canine influenza virus is completely different than the flu virus that infects humans: it cannot be passed to humans, which means you can’t “catch” flu from your dog.) Symptoms of the flu in dogs are similar to those in humans, but typically much milder—in fact, some dogs will show no symptoms at all.

Today, however, there’s a new influenza virus on the block that has the potential of becoming much more dangerous to our dogs: the H5N1 virus. Commonly known as the “bird flu,” the avian influenza virus has killed almost 13,000 wild birds and over 166 million poultry in the U.S. alone. This recent strain is considered “highly pathogenic,” causing severe disease and death among birds. Keep in mind that there has been no evidence thus far of human-to-human spread of H5N1 viruses in the United States; the majority of confirmed human cases in the U.S. were among those exposed to infected birds or animals.

As has been widely reported, this virus has now spread from birds to mammals: specifically, dairy cows and humans who work with them. (Since the beginning of 2024, 77 percent of all cases of avian flu in cattle have occurred in California.) Avian influenza has been found in wild animals here as well, including mountain lions, raccoons, fishers, skunks, bobcats, seals, and most recently, black rats. In Butte County, more than 44,000 thousand cases of this virus have been detected in birds since January.

That’s where your dog comes in. Most of us know that our pups love to roll in smelly things, especially dead things. If the carcass is that of a bird, the attraction can be even more compelling. Since the virus is so easily transmissible, simply having contact with an infected dead bird or animal could result in your dog becoming infected. While the chances of dogs developing avian influenza are very low at this time, the landscape of this virus is changing rapidly. Barn and feral cats have now begun to be infected, becoming either severely ill or dying from the illness.

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

. . .Stay Healthy