Barriers and facilitators to influenza-like illness absenteeism among healthcare workers in a tertiary-care healthcare system, 2017-2018 influenza season.

Objective: Influenza can be introduced and propagated in healthcare settings by healthcare workers (HCWs) working while ill with influenza. However, reasons driving this behavior are unclear. In this study, we examined barriers to and facilitators of absenteeism during the influenza season.

Passive Animal Surveillance to Identify Ticks in Wisconsin, 2011-2017.

The introduction of new tick species poses a risk to human and animal health. Systematic active surveillance programs are expensive and uncommon. We evaluated a passive animal surveillance program as a monitoring tool to document the geographic distribution and host associations of ticks in Wisconsin.

Enhanced Arboviral Surveillance to Increase Detection of Jamestown Canyon Virus Infections, Wisconsin, 2011-2016.

Jamestown Canyon virus (JCV), a mosquito-borne (within the California serogroup), can cause severe neuroinvasive disease. According to national data during 2000-2013, 42% of the 31 documented JCV disease cases in the United States were detected in residents from Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Division of Public Health enhanced JCV surveillance by implementing routine use of JCV-specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody testing followed by confirmatory JCV-specific plaque reduction neutralization testing on all patients with suspected cases of arboviral infection who had tests positive for arboviral immunoglobin at commercial laboratories.

Barriers and Facilitators to Injection Safety in Ambulatory Care Settings.

OBJECTIVEIdentify factors referred to as barriers and facilitators that can prevent or assist safe injection practices in ambulatory care settings to guide quality improvement.DESIGNIn this mixed-methods study, we utilized observations and interviews.SETTINGThis study was conducted at ambulatory clinics at a midwestern academic medical center from May through August 2017.

Proposal to reclassify Ehrlichia muris as Ehrlichia muris subsp. muris subsp. nov. and description of Ehrlichia muris subsp. eauclairensis subsp. nov., a newly recognized tick-borne pathogen of humans.

We have previously described a novel taxon of the genus Ehrlichia (type strain WisconsinT), closely related to Ehrlichia muris, that causes human ehrlichiosis among patients with exposures to ticks in the upper midwestern USA. DNA from this bacterium was also detected in Ixodes scapularis and Peromyscus leucopus collected in Minnesota and Wisconsin. To determine the relationship between the E.

Occurrence of Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodidae) and Human Infection With Ehrlichia chaffeensis in Wisconsin, 2008-2015.

Because of the increasing incidence of human ehrlichiosis in Wisconsin, we assessed reports of human infections by Ehrlichia chaffeensis and the distribution of its vector, the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum (L.)). From 2008 through 2015, 158 probable and confirmed human cases of E.

Borrelia mayonii sp. nov., a member of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex, detected in patients and ticks in the upper midwestern United States.

Lyme borreliosis (LB) is a multisystem disease caused by spirochetes in the Borrelia burgdorferisensu lato (Bbsl) genospecies complex. We previously described a novel Bbsl genospecies (type strain MN14-1420T) that causes LB among patients with exposures to ticks in the upper midwestern USA. Patients infected with the novel Bbsl genospecies demonstrated higher levels of spirochetemia and somewhat differing clinical symptoms as compared with those infected with other Bbsl genospecies.

Jamestown Canyon Virus Disease in the United States-2000-2013.

Jamestown Canyon virus (JCV) is a mosquito-borne orthobunyavirus in the California serogroup that can cause an acute febrile illness, meningitis, or meningoencephalitis. We describe epidemiologic and clinical features for JCV disease cases occurring in the United States during 2000-2013. A case of JCV disease was defined as an acute illness in a person with laboratory evidence of a recent JCV infection.

Notes from the field: update on Lyme carditis, groups at high risk, and frequency of associated sudden cardiac death--United States.

On December 13, 2013, MMWR published a report describing three cases of sudden cardiac death associated with Lyme carditis. State public health departments and CDC conducted a follow-up investigation to determine 1) whether carditis was disproportionately common among certain demographic groups of patients diagnosed with Lyme disease, 2) the frequency of death among patients diagnosed with Lyme disease and Lyme carditis, and 3) whether any additional deaths potentially attributable to Lyme carditis could be identified. Lyme disease cases are reported to CDC through the Nationally Notifiable Disease Surveillance System; reporting of clinical features, including Lyme carditis, is optional.

Hunter-killed deer surveillance to assess changes in the prevalence and distribution of Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) in Wisconsin.

As a result of the increasing incidence of Lyme disease and other tick-borne pathogens in Wisconsin, we assessed the distribution of adult blacklegged ticks through collections from hunter-killed deer in 2008 and 2009 and compared results with prior surveys beginning in 1981. Volunteers staffed 21 Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources registration stations in 21 counties in the eastern half of Wisconsin in 2008 and 10 stations in seven counties in northwestern Wisconsin in 2009. In total, 786 and 300 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) were examined in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

Multistate outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection associated with consumption of packaged spinach, August-September 2006: the Wisconsin investigation.

Background: Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection often causes hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome.

Methods: In 2006, the Wisconsin Division of Public Health and the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, in cooperation with other local, state, and federal partners, investigated an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infection.