Disease Management

Making a Comeback: Texas Leads the Nation in Congenital Syphilis - 07/29/2022

Texas leads the nation in congenital syphilis cases, and physicians are key to bringing both syphilis and congenital syphilis under control again.

Challenge of a Lifetime: Jennifer Shuford, MD, Helped Lead Texas Through the COVID-19 Pandemic - 07/29/2022

Chief State Epidemiologist Jennifer Shuford, MD, found innovative ways to lead Texas through the COVID-19 emergency.

COVID Relief Fund Offers Extension for Late Reports - 04/21/2022

Physicians who received money from the federal COVID-19 Provider Relief Fund and missed the first two reporting deadlines now have until April 22 to request to report late, thanks to an extension by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.

Talk to Patients About: COVID-19 Variants - 03/31/2022

Alpha. Delta. Epsilon. Omicron. These and other variants of COVID-19 have made their way through the U.S. and Texas. Help patients understand what variants are and why they're important.

Report: High Alzheimer’s Prevalence Among Texas Blacks, Latinos - 08/10/2021

Texas is home to 13 of the 41 U.S. congressional districts with the highest prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias among Blacks and Latinos in the Medicare fee-for-service program. That’s according to a report by UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, a group dedicated to improving treatment for that disease.

Beating the Drum on CMV Prevention - 06/15/2018

CMV infection is preventable, and its effects on our tiniest patients are worth preventing. Join me in shouting it from the rooftops of social media and in the exam rooms.

Call in the Swat Team: Texas Tackling Vector-Borne Diseases - 06/05/2018

Just in time for summer, the June issue of Texas Medicine magazine takes an in-depth look at vector-borne diseases in the Lone Star State.

The State of Health in Texas - 04/24/2018

At the beginning of the 20th century, the major health threats to individual and community health in the United States were infectious diseases, injuries due to unsafe workplaces, diseases due to poor nutrition, and poor maternal and infant health. During the next 100-plus years, tremendous advances were made in longevity and health status. As the impact of certain historically significant diseases decreased, however, the pattern of public/population disease burden became dominated by chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma, and cancer. In Texas in 2015, chronic diseases made up the top four causes of death. Public health professionals are largely focused on identifying the risk factors for these chronic diseases via enhanced morbidity and mortality surveillance. In addition to health care providers and the health care sector, a cross-section of other stakeholders, including businesses, communities, and social services, must work collaboratively, creatively, a...

Hepatitis C Screening, Treatment: A Public Health Priority - 11/01/2016

In the past two decades, cancer-related deaths in the United States have declined dramatically due to advances in prevention, early detection, and treatment. One notable exception, liver cancer, has had a 38-percent increase in incidence and a 56-percent increase in deaths in the past decade. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common type of primary liver cancer. The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force has endorsed one-time screening of all Americans born from 1945 to 1965 (baby boomers) for HCV because 75 percent of people living with HCV are in this age range.