A surge of patients sick with the flu is stretching the resources of emergency rooms at Roanoke-area hospitals.

On Wednesday, the number of patients treated at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital’s emergency department exceeded the normal operating capacity of 225 patients per day.

Both Roanoke Memorial and LewisGale Medical Center in Salem have seen their capacity levels tested more than once recently, as an influenza outbreak struck hard in Southwest Virgina starting in mid-December.

To read the rest of this story, published in today’s newspaper, click here.

After three infants died this year from suffocation, Robin Haldiman is hoping to make a change by stepping up educational efforts aimed at teaching parents about safe sleep practices for babies.

The three infants were all enrolled in Child Health Investment Partnership of Roanoke Valley, a program headed by Haldiman that is aimed at improving the health of medically underserved children in Roanoke.

The deaths were tragic, unintentional and unnecessary, Haldiman said.

Now, with a $20,000 state grant, Haldiman said CHIP will step up its efforts to prevent future infant deaths from suffocation and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Read more »

A state waitlist for people seeking public assistance for HIV treatment drugs will be discontinued by Sept. 30 as it will no longer be needed.

Since November 2010, the state has struggled to meet the medication needs of low income Virginians with HIV and no insurance. It was the first time the state couldn’t afford to meet the demands for the program.

With additional money coming to the program those on the waitlist will be transitioned to the program in the coming weeks. By September the program anticipates being able to accommodate all eligible people. Read more »

Photo by Sam Dean / The Roanoke Times

The hospitalization rate for children with an unintended severe traumatic brain injury has decreased 40 percent in a decade, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

Still, these serious head injuries are extremely rare. Just slightly more than 2 out of 10,000 children from birth to 19 years old were hospitalized in 2010 for a traumatic brain injury, according to the state. In 2000, the hospitalization rate was 3.87, or nearly 4 out of 10,000 children.

The state reports that 88,000 Virginians are living with disabilities caused by TBI and of those 21,000 are children.

Still, in a joint letter from State Health Commissioner Karen Remley and Commission of Rehabilitative Services James Rothrock announcing the decline last month, the two also focused on the under-reporting of mild traumatic brain injuries in children.

The mild version, such as concussions, has been the focus of a lot of attention lately especially as it relates to sports and football in particular. And both commissioners warned that because of increased awareness and a state law adopted last year requiring student athletes to be removed from play if a concussion is suspected that more children may be seeking medical care for head injuries.

The Virginia Department of Health has reported an outbreak of whooping cough in Floyd County.

About 30 people have the illness, which is a highly contagious infection characterized by coughing fits that can last for up to 10 week. It is also called pertussis. Some people also called it the  “100 day cough”.

The New River Health District Director Dr. Molly O’Dell said she anticipates more people will be diagnosed.

She also said that the outbreak is caused by people not being properly vaccinated.

The CDC website says, “Pertussis can cause violent and rapid coughing, over and over, until the air is gone from the lungs and you are forced to inhale with a loud ‘whooping’ sound.” (Hear the cough by clicking on the link).

The cough can cause people to be very tired and in some cases vomit.

Not everyone “whoops” with the infection. It is a milder cough in teens and adults, especially those who have been vaccinated, according to the CDC.

Early symptoms can last for one to two weeks and are similar to a cold, including a runny nose, low-grade fever, and a mild or occasional cough.

O’Dell said the outbreak is a reminder of the need for adults and children to be  vaccinated against the infection.

You can read more about the outbreak and its connection to Blue Mountain School, a private school, in the story I wrote in today’s paper. [UPDATE 4/6: More details about how half the students at Blue Mountain School became ill with whooping cough END UPDATE]

The Virginia Department of Health said late yesterday that it would move up by one week its routine quarterly monitoring schedule for radiation levels and begin testing today.

This routine monitoring checks radiation levels in air, drinking water, vegetation and milk at multiple sites throughout the state.

In a rare Sunday afternoon news release, the Virginia State Health Commissioner Dr. Karen Remley said that the decision was made after very low levels of radiation were detected in other states. The detection of radioactive material in the United States is caused by damage to Japan’s nuclear plant.

“To date, none of Virginia’s multiple monitoring systems has detected a level of radioactive material that would pose a public-health concern,” Remley said. “Recent reports of elevated levels of radioactive material in rainwater in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts have been expected, since radiation is known to travel in the atmosphere, however, we are not seeing that in any of the monitoring data for the state.”

In addition to moving up the routine testing schedule, the state is working on a baseline testing plan for rainwater, drinking water, vegetation and milk.

The state has advised Virginians “out of an abundance of caution” to avoid drinking rainwater collected in cisterns.

Read more about the U.S. government’s response, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s radiation monitoring and the CDC’s frequently asked questions. It’s also worth noting that government officials said the detection of low levels of radioactive material in the US was expected in the aftermath of the nuclear power plant damage in Japan.

Every once in a while I get a call or e-mail with sad news: someone has died of complications from the flu.

Lately, with the heightened awareness of the H1N1 virus, I’ve heard of a couple of deaths related specifically to H1N1. In some cases the deceased was perfectly healthy before becoming ill. The stories are heartbreaking.

Unfortunately, death is a reality of the flu. Thousands die every year.

The Virginia Department of Health does not track the number of flu deaths in the state.

“Flu deaths are not required to be reported to VDH, so we do not have state info, only national estimates,” said spokesman Robert Parker.

And while some people have told me that their loved one’s death certificate has the cause of death as H1N1, Parker told me that “H1N1 is not typically reported on a death certificate.”

The state does track the number of kids who die from the flu. This year the state has recorded four pediatric flu deaths, Parker said.

The CDC reports that an estimated 12,000 Americans died during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. In contrast to seasonal flu, nearly 90 percent of the deaths occurred among people younger than 65 years of age.

According to the CDC, estimates of flu-associated deaths range from a low of about 3,000 to a high of about 49,000 people.

This year H1N1 is being tracked as part of the regular seasonal flu. The virus was included in the flu vaccine to help protect people from getting it. Flu season peaked in February, according to the CDC and VDH.

The Virginia Department of Health has filled the director position at the New River Health District with a familiar face.

Dr. Molly O’Dell, the former director of the Roanoke and Alleghany Health District for 19 years, will sit at the helm in New River beginning April 1.

“Molly is a wonderful addition to the community of health directors and will be a real asset to VDH,” said Jeff Lake, deputy state health commissioner, in an e-mail congratulating O’Dell and announcing the hire internally.

O’Dell left the Roanoke/Alleghany position in 2006 to move to Omaha, Neb. with her husband. She returned to Roanoke last year to serve as the medical director for New Horizons Healthcare, the Roanoke federally qualified health center she had previously helped establish.

O’Dell takes over for Dr. Jody Hershey, who retired in January after being the face of public health for the district for 15 years. In announcing his departure, Hershey said that he was leaving because a family health crisis requires his immediate attention.

The New River Health District serves Floyd, Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski counties, the towns within those counties and the city of Radford with health promotion, disease prevention and environmental services.

My inbox is filling up quickly with news releases about health and the holidays. One suggested making your Thanksgiving guests sign a legal waiver before serving them food, on the off chance that what you serve isn’t healthy. I read it as a tongue-in-cheek PR tactic focused on promoting the food activist organization’s cause of consumer freedom.

Others focus on dealing with the stress, depression and anxiety that can accompany the holiday season.

But there are two that I want to draw your attention to today. One about the flu and the other about toy safety.

Read more »