Media Advisory
For Immediate Release
Friday, February 20, 2015

WHAT:          The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is today reporting on the discovery of a new virus that may have contributed to the death of a previously healthy man in eastern Kansas in late spring 2014. A CDC study published today details the progression of the man’s illness and actions taken by CDC, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), and University of Kansas Medical Center (UKMC) to treat and investigate the case. The virus, named Bourbon virus for the county where the patient lived, is part of a group of viruses called thogotoviruses. This is the first time a virus in this group has been shown to cause human illness in the United States and only the eighth known case of thogotoviruses causing symptoms in people.

The following is an excerpt of a NPR Blog article that was shared in the February 2015 issue of The Guardian of Public Health
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The first 12 volunteers received an experimental Ebola vaccine in Liberia, launching vaccine trials there. Over the next year or so, scientists hope to inject 27,000 volunteers. The goal is to test two different shots that could protect people from the deadly disease. But the number of Ebola cases is steadily declining across West Africa. And that good news is hampering drug and vaccine development, especially in Liberia.

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The following is information about a tool that was featured in the February 2015 issue of The Guardian of Public Health (OPHP, Lansing MI.)
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"With HealthMap's Outbreaks Near Me application, you have all of HealthMap's latest real-time disease outbreak information at your fingertips. 

The following excerpt is from the Winter 2015 issue of Emergency Management, a division of e.Republic. "Emergency Management is the award-winning, all-hazards publication of record for emergency management, public safety and homeland security stakeholders charged to protect our communities, critical infrastructure and the security of our nation."
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The recent Ebola outbreak has spread both disease and worry, though it wasn’t a pandemic. Still, it has raised interest in what the next pandemic might be — and what can be done to either stop it or prepare for it.

Editor's Note: Roger Racine is the Region 7 Healthcare Coalition Epidemiologist at the Grand Traverse County Health Department. He was recently featured in the February 2015 publication of The Guardian of Public Health sent out by the Office of Public Health Preparedness (Lansing, MI). The following is his report on "Dueling Infectious Disease Outbreaks" in the state of Michigan.
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Dueling Infectious Disease Outbreaks
Submitted by Roger Racine, Region 7 Epidemiologist

The autumn of 2014 was an unusual time for many health departments in Michigan as they wrestled with policies for monitoring travelers from West Africa for early symptoms of Ebola infections. Grand Traverse County Health Department (GTCHD) was no different, but they had the added demands of a Pertussis outbreak (Whooping Cough) in a large school that would later grow to involve schools throughout the area. The “cherry on top” was the surprising presentation of the first Measles cases in Michigan for 2014.