The past year saw many big health related stories, including a widespread measles outbreak, the Detroit Medical Center expanding its residency program and more. Take a look here at some of the biggest health stories of 2019.
In November, it was reported that sexually transmitted diseases are increasing across the state, especially in southeast Michigan.
Combined cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia reached a high across the country in 2018, according to a recently released report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is urging regular testing for sexually transmitted diseases among sexually active individuals.
The concern is particularly acute in the southeast Michigan counties of Oakland, Macomb, and Wayne, which, along with Kent County in west Michigan, top the state in sexually transmitted diseases.
Beginning in March, Oakland County, as well as multiple other Michigan counties, dealt with a measles outbreak.
The outbreak began when a sick traveler from New York visited the area. Of the 44 confirmed measles cases in Michigan, 40 occurred in Oakland County. Infected individuals ranged in age from eight months to 63 years.
The Oakland County health division worked in partnership with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, as well as Young Israel of Oak Park, Hatzalah of Michigan, health care providers and religious leaders to administer more than 3,300 measles (MMR) vaccines and hold 17 vaccine clinics in affected communities.
In January, it was reported that the Detroit Medical Center planned to add 79 residency slots to its Graduate Medical Education programs.
The additional slots provide more opportunities for medical students to receive their post-graduate residency training in Detroit.
Each year, DMC graduates physicians with advanced training in specialties including emergency medicine, surgery, family practice, cardiology, neurosurgery, obstetrics and gynecology, neurology, internal medicine, pathology, pediatrics, radiology and other specialties.
In November, it was reported that overdose deaths decreased across Michigan in 2018, after several years of increases.
According to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, there were 2,599 overdose deaths in 2018, 2,036 of which were opioid-related.
Overall overdose deaths declined by 3.2 percent from 2017’s 2,686-the first decline in six years. Opioid-related overdose deaths decreased by 0.8 percent from the 2017 total of 2,053.
According to MDHHS, the decline in opioid-related overdose deaths in 2018 was due in large part to decreases in the number of deaths from poisoning by heroin and commonly prescribed natural and semisynthetic drugs like oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone and oxymorphone. However, drug poisoning deaths involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl continue to climb.
In September, it was reported that, beginning in January 2020, some beneficiaries of the Healthy Michigan Plan, the state’s Medicaid expansion, will be required to tell the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services about 80 hours each month of work or activities such as looking for work. If they don’t, they could lose coverage.
Healthy Michigan Plan was adopted under the Affordable Care Act in 2014 and expanded health care coverage to Michigan residents ages 19 to 64 with incomes at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level who do not qualify for Medicare or are enrolled in other Medicaid programs.
In order to keep Healthy Michigan Plan coverage starting January 2020, some beneficiaries will be required to report 80 hours per calendar month of having a job or income, being a student, looking for a job, volunteering, doing job training, participating in a tribal employment program, participating in rehab, doing vocational training or doing an internship.
In September, it was reported that eight Michigan residents were diagnosed with Eastern Equine Encephalitis, a mosquito-borne disease. No cases were reported in Oakland County.
EEE is one of the most dangerous mosquito-borne diseases in the U.S., with a 33 percent fatality rate among humans who become ill and a 90 percent fatality rate among horses that become ill.
People can be infected with EEE from the bite of a mosquito carrying the virus. The disease is not spread by horse-to-horse or horse-to-human contact. In humans, signs of EEE include the sudden onset of fever, chills, body and joint aches. EEE infection can develop into severe encephalitis, resulting in headache, disorientation, tremors, seizures and paralysis. Permanent brain damage, coma and death may also occur in some cases.
In January, it was reported that Oakland County schools are making an effort to emphasize childhood health and wellness.
Michigan has the 12th highest rates of childhood obesity in the nation among youth aged 10-17, according to data from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The Oakland County Health Division maintains that there is no one single cause of childhood obesity. The ability to consider a number of contributing factors, said health officials, is essential.
The Oakland County Health Division reported in January that 927 cases of the flu were confirmed in the 2018-2019 flu season.
Of those reported cases, there were 29 hospitalizations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that, nationally, approximately 9.8 million to 11.4 million people have come down with the flu since Oct. 1, 2018. Of those numbers, 113,000-136,000 people were hospitalized for flu-related illnesses.
In March, it was reported that the state tested public drinking water supplies after manufacturing chemicals showed up across the state.
In Oakland County, the state has tested 133 public water supplies, and 64 that provide water to schools, child care centers and Michigan Head Start programs for the chemicals in the category of PFAs. The chemicals were found in eight public water supplies, and seven that supply schools or child care centers.
In Macomb County, the state has tested 20 public water supplies and four that supply schools and child care centers. Levels of chemicals were found in one public water supply and no school water systems.
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs), such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), are part of a group of chemicals used globally during the past century in manufacturing, firefighting and thousands of common household and other consumer products.
In September, the Oakland County Health Division was notified by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services of an Oakland County blood donor testing positive for West Nile Virus (WNV).
It was the first blood donation in 2019 that tested positive for West Nile virus in Oakland County in 2019.