Keeping New Yorkers healthy
Story and Photos By DEBORAH A. MILES
Keeping New Yorkers as healthy as possible is the quest of two PEF members who
work at the state Department of Health. Both women are research scientists, and
they both have dedicated the last 18 years to public health.
Gerry Johnson is the program director for the Regional Epidemiology Program and
manages a staff of 28 people who stay hot on the trail when it comes to
infectious disease threats, bad lettuce or flu outbreaks.
The other is Rosalind Thomas who conducts research and evaluates prevention and
education initiatives related to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs.
Both women said if they could send one message through this story, it would be
that the DOH staff is highly committed, provides important services in
preventing and controlling serious diseases, and really cares about the health
of New Yorkers.
Gerry
Johnson
Johnson’s program works closely with the DOH Wadsworth Center laboratory and
local health departments when people are affected by a sudden infectious
illness. Depending on the nature and location of the outbreak, Johnson also may
work with health officials from other states or the federal government.
That was the case when a number of people were diagnosed with E.coli related
illness in December 2006 and prompted Johnson’s team to investigate. The cause
was the shredded lettuce served at a fast-food restaurant chain with locations
in many northeastern states, including New York.
“By asking a lot of questions and interviewing people, we assisted the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention in narrowing it down to the lettuce at
restaurants. There is a lot of data analysis involved with most investigations,”
she said.
When an infectious outbreak of any type occurs, Johnson said it is their mission
to find out why and add to the body of knowledge already present on how to
prevent disease from spreading on a local and national level.
“With advance lab testing, we have the ability to discover what we refer to as a
common DNA fingerprint in the samples,” Johnson said. “This helps us to rapidly
link diseases happening throughout New York and other states.”
New York has a list of more than 70 reportable diseases, and Johnson and her
crew of sleuths keep a vigilant eye on them.
“There are all sorts of little clusters of illness going on that cause us to
investigate to stop the spread of disease,” she said.
There have been some big ones too, such as when West Nile virus infections were
first identified in New York, which she referred to as “a challenging
investigation.”
Rosalind
Thomas
The U.S. has the highest STD rate of any country in the industrialized world.
Despite this, there is no national campaign to promote the prevention, treatment
and cure of these infections, according to the American Social Health
Association.
In New York, however, Thomas and her co-workers are working to stop the spread
of STDs, especially among young people.
“One in four sexually active adolescents will have an STD,” she said. “Many are
asymptomatic and unaware of the consequences. Without treatment, these diseases
can lead to major health problems such as sterility, permanent brain damage,
heart disease, cancer and even death.
“STD‘s have been referred to as a hidden epidemic,” Thomas said. “And having an
STD increases the chance of getting infected with HIV by three to five times.”
What’s being done?
The state is decreasing the spread of STDs through partner notification. More
than 60 DOH field staff provide counseling, education and referral for partners
of people recently diagnosed with an STD or HIV.
Other staff are involved with surveillance, which means they review the cases
reported by labs and physicians, identify key STD trends, and share the data to
help target services to areas of great need.
“I work on behavioral surveillance where we try to understand the attitudes of
New Yorkers and their behaviors related to STD and then use that information to
help plan prevention programs,” Thomas said.
“Our main goal is finding prevention strategies in interrupting the transmission
of disease.”
Her bureau also provides seed money and grants to communities for STD education.
For more information, visit www.nyhealth.gov.
The Communicator June 2007
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