Publications by authors named "M Goldoft"
Background: Rabies is a zoonotic viral disease that can affect all mammals. In the United States, the majority of human rabies cases are caused by bats, which are the only known reservoirs for rabies virus (RABV) in Washington State. We sought to characterize bat RABV epidemiology in Washington among bats submitted by the public for RABV testing.
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- HPV vaccination is crucial for preventing most cervical cancer and other HPV-related cancers, but national vaccination rates are low, even with effective vaccines available.
- In Washington State, HPV vaccination coverage among adolescents aged 11-12 years was significantly higher for girls (48.5% for the first dose) compared to boys (31.2% for the first dose), but still below recommended levels.
- Many eligible teens had missed opportunities to receive the vaccine, indicating a need for targeted strategies to improve vaccination rates across different demographics.
Use of Death Records to Augment Notifiable Conditions Reporting in Washington State.
J Public Health Manag Pract
March 2017
Context: Health care providers are required to report newly diagnosed notifiable conditions including the case's vital status according to state regulations, but it is uncertain how many cases remain unreported. Death certificates could potentially serve as a data source for detecting unreported deaths due to notifiable conditions.
Objective: We sought to evaluate the usefulness of electronic death records to augment notifiable conditions reporting in Washington State.
We used real-time polymerase chain reaction and culture to demonstrate persistent colonization of soils by Coccidioides immitis, an agent of valley fever, in Washington State linked to recent human infections and located outside the endemic range. Whole-genome sequencing confirmed genetic identity between isolates from soil and one of the case-patients.
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