Valley Fever (Coccidioidomycosis) Awareness - California, 2016-2017.

Valley fever (coccidioidomycosis) is endemic in the southwestern United States and caused by inhalation of Coccidioides spp. fungal spores from soil or dust; 97% of U.S. Valley fever cases are reported from Arizona and California (1). In California, Valley fever incidence increased 213% from 2014 to 2018 (2). In 2016, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) added three questions to the adult California Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey to better understand whether Californians had heard of Valley fever, knew the environmental risk where they live, and knew who is at risk for severe disease. A total of 2,893 BRFSS respondents aged ≥18 years answered at least one Valley fever question. Using the weighted California population, 42.4% of respondents reported general awareness of Valley fever; awareness was lowest among adults aged 18-44 years (32.9%) and Hispanic persons (26.4%). In addition, despite higher percentages reporting awareness of Valley fever, only 25.0% of persons living in a high-incidence region and 3.0% of persons living in a moderate-incidence region were aware that they lived in areas where Coccidioides spp. exist. Among persons with one or more risk factors for severe disease, 50.8% reported having heard about Valley fever, but only 3.5% knew they were at increased risk for severe disease. The findings from this survey helped to inform a statewide Valley fever awareness campaign implemented during 2019-2020 and to guide outreach to persons living in high- and moderate-incidence regions in California and potentially other southwestern states or who are at risk for severe disease.

Update on progress in electronic reporting of laboratory results to public health agencies - United States, 2014.

Since 2010, CDC has provided resources from the Prevention and Public Health Fund of the Affordable Care Act to 57 state, local, and territorial health departments through the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases cooperative agreement to assist with implementation of electronic laboratory reporting (ELR)* from clinical and public health laboratories to public health agencies. To update information from a previous report about the progress in implementing ELR in the United States, CDC examined regular communications between the agency and the 57 health departments during 2012-2014. The results indicated that, as of July 2014, 67% of the approximately 20 million laboratory reports received annually for notifiable conditions were received electronically, compared with 62% in July 2013. These electronic reports were received by 55 of the 57 jurisdictions and came from 3,269 (up from nearly 2,900 in July 2013) of approximately 10,600 reporting laboratories. The proportion of laboratory reports received electronically varied by jurisdiction. In 2014, compared with 2013, the number of jurisdictions receiving >75% of laboratory reports electronically was higher (21 versus 14), and the number of jurisdictions receiving <25% of reports electronically was lower (seven versus nine). National implementation of ELR continues to increase and appears it might reach 80% of total laboratory report volume by 2016.

Air Pollution in a Nationally Representative Sample: Findings from the National Adult Tobacco Survey of Lao PDR.

In Southeast Asia, household air pollution (HAP) from solid fuel use is the leading cause of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), a risk which is compounded by exposure to other sources of indoor and outdoor air pollution including secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS). The purpose of this study was to measure the individual and combined prevalence of exposure to household and community sources of air pollution in a national sample of adults in Lao PDR. We analyzed data from the 2012 National Adult Tobacco Survey (NATSL) of Lao PDR-a multi-stage stratified cluster sample of 9706 subjects from 2822 households located in all 17 provinces. Our findings indicate a high prevalence of exposure to household air pollution from cooking fires (78%) and SHS exposure in the home (74.5%). More than a third (32.8%) reported exposure to both inside the home. Exposure to outdoor sources of smoke from cooking, trash, and crop fires was substantial (30.1% to 56.0%). The aggregation of exposures from multiple sources of household air pollution raises the need for initiatives that establish programmatic linkages in the health, environmental, and agricultural sectors to provide a comprehensive strategy to reduce risk factors for respiratory disease in Lao PDR and the region.