Latest news with #RIDOH
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
A rabid bat was found at Beavertail State Park. Here's what to know to stay safe.
An injured bat found at Beavertail State Park in Jamestown on July 30 tested positive for rabies. The Rhode Island Department of Health is alerting the public that the rabid bat was found near the hose spigot on the Lighthouse building by a worker, according to a news release. The bat was taken to a wildlife rehabilitation facility and later euthanized when staff noticed that the bat was displaying symptoms of rabies. It was submitted for testing to RIDOH's State Health Laboratories on Aug. 1. What to know about rabies Rabies is a fatal disease if it is not treated before the onset of symptoms, according to the release. Anyone who may have had direct contact with the bat should immediately call RIDOH's Center for Acute Infectious Disease Epidemiology at 401-222-2577 (Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) or 401-276-8046 after hours. RIDOH should also be contacted if a pet may have come into contact with this bat. The rabies virus infects the central nervous system. If a person does not receive the appropriate medical care after a rabies exposure, the virus can cause disease in the brain, ultimately resulting in death. Rabies treatment must be started as soon as possible after exposure. All dogs, cats, and ferrets are required by state law to have current vaccination against rabies. Vaccination of pets prevents them from contracting rabies and prevents people from becoming exposed to rabies through their pets. How to prevent rabies To prevent rabies, people should: Make sure all dogs, cats, and ferrets are up to date on rabies vaccination. Avoid all contact with and do not feed stray or free-roaming domestic animals. Avoid all contact with and do not feed wild animals. Do not feed your animals outdoors, as this will attract other animals. This is especially dangerous when feeding large numbers of free-roaming cats. Protect your pets by always maintaining control; walk dogs on a leash or let them play in a fenced yard, and do not let pets wander unsupervised. Report all animal bites to your city/town's animal control officer. - Securely cover all garbage cans so wild animals cannot scavenge for food. For more information, see This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Bat with rabies found at Beavertail State Park in Jamestown Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Three years, $98M dollars later state-of-the-art RI public health lab nears completion
Dr. Richard Huard, who leads the Rhode Island Department of Health's Center for Biological Science Laboratories, discusses the state's new laboratories in a June 24, 2025, walkthrough for press. At right is health department Director Dr. Jerry Larkin. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) The governor of Rhode Island, a handful of state scientists, and a flock of reporters walked into an unfinished building in Providence Tuesday. Donning hard hats, fluorescent vests, and safety glasses, and corralled by construction workers, the group congregated in the 90-degrees heat to tour Rhode Island's new public health laboratory — an approximately $98 million project three years in the making, and one that state officials say is finally nearing completion. Gov. Dan McKee invited the press to see the somewhat furnished, but not finished, space that will be home to the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories, which is part of the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH). It's likely the 80,000-square foot lab space will be finished before the end of summer. About 100 people are expected to use the lab space to monitor a range of nearly invisible threats, from infectious germs to milkborne pathogens to seawater pollutants. Currently, the health lab is housed in a nondescript administrative building on Orms Street, near the State House. Dr. Louis Marchetti, who leads the state's Center for Clinical Toxicology and Laboratory Support, joked with reporters that the current facility is 'one microwave away from a blackout.' Still, Marchetti said: 'People are really unaware of the technologies that exist within the state lab. While our current building might be old, our instrumentation is not.' The new health lab is about 20% to 30% bigger than the current space and will have areas for the public to drop off samples for testing, and improved access controls for staff as well as law enforcement who come in to work on forensic samples. An organic chemistry lab will provide space to analyze PFAS, or the plastics known as forever chemicals. Microbiology space will give insight into the safety of beach water or the health of shellfish beds. Rabies, mosquitoes and meningitis are all within the laboratories' purview. The building will also be home to Rhode Island's only Biosafety Level 3 lab — the highest level of containment afforded only the most dangerous pathogens — although officials stressed that the state will only test local samples, and won't import hazardous materials. The labs, Marchetti stressed, are not so much about research as they are public health. State surveillance of infectious diseases has pushed itself to the front of officials' minds in the post-COVID-19 era. Dr. Glen Gallagher, the director of the State Health Laboratories and the tour's leader, said the pandemic taught state health officials the importance of being able to pivot. That's why the new facility includes a flex lab that can accommodate surge testing. There's also space for wastewater surveillance, another trend in epidemiology that became something of a household term during the COVID era. Currently, wastewater testing is 'squished' alongside other lab activities, said Dr. Richard Huard, who leads RIDOH's Center for Biological Science Laboratories. 'Everybody goes to the bathroom and takes a shower,' Huard said. 'Think of everything that goes into wastewater, from your laundry machine, your shower, your sinks.' Yet the state's wastewater-testing tech is so sensitive, Huard said, that it can detect 'a little bit of a viral DNA' even in massive volumes of wastewater. This sewer runoff helps state scientists track outbreaks of pathogens like COVID-19 and flu. It also lets the health department warn local hospitals that a new wave or this or that virus may be emerging in the state. But Huard noted that one category dominates the lab's day-to-day operations: sexually transmitted infections (STIs). A recent state report found that STIs seem to have returned from their period of hibernation during the pandemic — a time when people were having less sex, and with fewer people, according to public health researchers. Huard said part of the state's goal is to return testing results quickly enough to interrupt the spread of these infections, namely chlamydia, gonorrhea, HIV and syphilis, which are the tests most commonly processed by the state laboratories. 'They're important tests, because once a patient gets a diagnosis and is put on treatment, that's how you break the chain of transmission,' Huard said. Prominently planted at the edge of the Jewelry District, a few minutes' walk from many of the city's nightclubs and theaters, the building itself is jewellike, encased in terracotta cladding and adorned with slender windows with 'playful spacing,' in the words of one design planning document. Behind the facade, the interior looks modern and airy, with the sterile white of lab spaces emphasized by the light coming in from the elongated windows — something Gallagher appreciated, along with the accompanying city views. 'You can see the space is really open. There's a lot of windows. So this is really a real improvement,' Gallagher said in the area that will eventually become the STI testing room. The project was primarily funded by a grant worth $82 million from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Asked by reporters if Gallagher thought the construction funding was endangered under President Donald Trump's administration, Gallagher said the grant money was secure and has largely been spent. And it was likely money well spent, as suggested by Gallagher's answer when asked why Rhode Islanders should care about the building. 'The work that happens here really touches every component of their lives, whether they know it or not,' he told reporters. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Boston Globe
06-05-2025
- Boston Globe
R.I. therapist surrenders license over ‘non-professional relationship' with underage client
The client was a 'student under the age of 18' who resided at the career training and education facility, the order states. Advertisement R.I. Department of Health and the state Board of Mental Health Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapists received complaints alleging Vescera was involved in the relationship with the student, according to the order. Get Rhode Island News Alerts Sign up to get breaking news and interesting stories from Rhode Island in your inbox each weekday. Enter Email Sign Up 'In the course of RIDOH's investigation into the allegations, [Vescera] submitted false and misleading statements to RIDOH in an effort to conceal her non-professional relationship … and to thwart RIDOH's investigation,' the document states. In August 2023, RIDOH found the allegations against Vescera were 'reliable' and The department notified Vescera in March that a hearing would be held to determine whether her license 'should be revoked or otherwise disciplined,' as she was charged with unprofessional conduct as a licensed mental health counselor 'based on violations' of state law and the National Board of Certified Counselors 'Code of Ethics,' the order states. Advertisement Under the terms of the order, Vescera agreed to voluntarily and permanently surrender her license and to fulfill 'any continuing obligations she may have with respect to the handling of client records and the appropriate transfer of client records.' Vescera could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. According to court records, Vescera does not face any criminal charges. Christopher Gavin can be reached at
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Sexually transmitted infections returning to pre-pandemic levels in Rhode Island
A colorized electron micrograph shows Treponema pallidum, the bacteria that cause syphilis. The inset shows a closeup of a single strand. (Image by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) appear to be a slowly rising tide in the Ocean State, according to the most recent data from the state health department. STI surveillance data is reported on a lag, so the March report issued by the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) contains long- and short-term data ending in 2023, plus some tentative findings for 2024. But recent increases in infections could also be trends returning to their baseline prior to the pandemic. 'If you look at the data starting in 2020 we did see some significant declines starting with the pandemic, and that is because we were seeing less testing, less healthcare visits,' said Dr. Philip Chan, a primary care physician with Brown University Health and a medical consultant on the RIDOH report. But people's behavior also changed during that time, Chan added. 'People were more likely to stay at home, more likely to isolate. What we were seeing on the ground was that a lot of people had a lot less sex partners, so there was just a lot less sex going on.' The good news is that the state usually succeeds in treating HIV, with outcomes more positive than national averages and patients' illness often stops before the virus progresses into AIDS. Less ideal are higher rates for other STIs like syphilis and gonorrhea, which climbed past pre-pandemic levels in 2023. 'From year to year, it's tough to tell exactly what's happening,' Chan said. 'But I think that the trends the last couple years are clear that things are going up.' Data for the more ubiquitous infections includes: Syphilis has increased 58% from 2014 to 2023. There were 328 cases recorded in 2021, the highest number in decades. That fell to 240 cases in 2022, and 190 in 2023 — about the same as pre-pandemic levels, which had already risen since 2014. Preliminary data for 2024 shows similar trends. From 2020 to 2023, there were also about 10 cases of congenital syphilis — the state's first instances in about a decade, and one example of testing's importance in early detection, Chan said. Gonorrhea cases rose 183.4% over the last 10 years. There were 590 cases in 2014, compared to 1,672 cases in 2023. There has not been a year with fewer than 1,000 cases since 2016. Men account for about twice as many cases as women. Chlamydia cases have remained more consistent since 2014, and rose 21% over the decade, from 4,349 cases in 2014 to 5,269 cases in 2023. Women ages 20-24 exhibited the highest increase over that same period, but the report notes that women access routine screenings more than men, who are often asymptomatic when infected. 'A key theme for all these STIs is that most people may not have symptoms,' Chan said. 'And so the only way that you know that you may have it is to get tested, and that's why testing is so so important.' Chan pointed to primary care doctors and sex education as two ways people can become educated about the necessity of screening. Only 52% of adults ages 18 to 64 who had multiple sex partners received an STI test in the past year, according to 2022 data. Only 60% had ever received an HIV test. What we were seeing on the ground was that a lot of people had a lot less sex partners, so there was just a lot less sex going on. – Dr. Philip Chan, primary care physician and medical consultant for RIDOH STI surveillance report Demographic and geographic factors also shaped the data. Racial disparities exist: In 2023, HIV rates were four times higher among Black residents and nearly sevenfold higher among Rhode Island's Latino population, compared to caucasian residents. New HIV cases among Latinos have risen 132% since 2019, while dropping 63% among Black Rhode Islanders. Of newly diagnosed HIV cases in 2023, 31% were diagnosed in people born outside the United States, most frequently in the Caribbean and Central and South America. Younger people ages 15-24 account for most new STI diagnoses, about half. The state's urban core of Providence, East Providence, North Providence, Pawtucket, Woonsocket, Central Falls, and Cranston consistently reports the highest STI rates, with cases numbering in the dozens to hundreds, compared to fewer than five reported cases in many smaller towns. 'A lot of these STIs do disproportionately affect communities of color and other sorts of underserved populations,' Chan said. 'It's important, from a public health perspective, to think about how to continue and promote and increase access to care for those groups in order to address disparities like we see in STIs and frankly, many other things.' While an assortment of drugs can stop bacterial infections, there's no cure for HIV. But HIV-positive people are living longer than ever due to modern antiretroviral drugs that suppress the virus and prevent it from progressing to a more serious diagnosis of AIDS. An adequately suppressed viral load can also make the disease intransmissible, and greatly improves quality of life by halting the virus from replicating. Advances in HIV drug therapy largely account for the deep reduction in the rate of HIV-related deaths, which nationally fell by almost half from from 2010 to 2017. In Rhode Island in 2022, 93.2% of people living with HIV knew their status, 76% were receiving treatment and 71% had achieved viral suppression. And 93% of people who received their medical care within Rhode Island achieved viral suppression. Still, there was an above average number of HIV diagnoses, the preliminary 2024 data showed. From 2019-2023, RIDOH also observed that about 20% of people newly diagnosed with HIV had progressed to stage 3, or AIDS. On average, it takes eight years for HIV to develop into AIDS. Rhode Island has tried to prevent those outcomes by early diagnosis, and by fortifying its residents against HIV through preventative measures — namely, PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis. Patients who adhere to the schedule for taking this group of antiretroviral drugs can have up to a 99% lower chance of contracting HIV from unprotected sex. PrEP provides an approximate 74% reduction in the likelihood of contracting HIV via injectable drug use. Successful state laws from 2023 and 2024 made PrEP as widely available as possible by slashing away potential restrictions from insurers and eliminating out-of-pocket costs. Chan, only had 'good things to say' about those laws — including the resulting interactions with insurers, who have largely been quick to correct mistakes in patient billing. The main challenge now, Chan said, is when interruptions occur, and a person loses their job, insurance, and access to PrEP. Several sexual health clinics and community health centers in Rhode Island offer low or no cost services and assist in minimizing any out-of-pocket costs associated with PrEP prescriptions and testing. For a list go to Rhode Island's PrEP Champions Network. 'I actually had a patient of mine for several years who had insurance and was on PrEP,' Chan said. 'They lost their insurance for a couple months and had to go off PrEP, and they actually, unfortunately, acquired HIV during that time. This was just a month ago.' RIDOH continues to promote the Rhode Island PrEP Champions Network, which has participating clinics across the state that expedite access to PrEP as well as its sibling PEP, or post-exposure prophylaxis, which is taken for about a month, starting within 72 hours of possible HIV exposure. Properly taken, the drug prevents HIV infection. The comparable treatment for preventing bacterial STIs is DoxyPEP, which usually consists of a single, two-pill, dose of doxycycline taken after sex. Doxycycline is an old drug, and thus an inexpensive means of lowering contraction rates, Chan suggested. 'DoxyPEP is the newest kid on the block,' he said, noting that the nationwide rollout is still in its early stages. But so far the data looks good, with evidence from places like San Francisco suggesting it can make a difference. 'We're very optimistic about it, and I think the coming years will be able to tell whether or not it's making a significant impact on overall population trends,' Chan said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
RI Health Dept. applauds kids meal bill, but can't enforce it
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — In an effort to address childhood obesity, some Rhode Island lawmakers have introduced a bill that would require restaurants offering children's meals to have at least two that meet certain nutritional standards. Rhode Island is the worst state in New England and the 39th worst state in the country when it comes to the rates of overweight and obesity among children between the ages of 10 and 17, according to Rhode Island Kids Count. ALSO READ: RI's Pre-K lottery open for 2025-26 school year The required meals would have to include at least two of the five main food groups, and they must not exceed 550 calories, 700 milligrams of sodium and 15 grams of added sugar. Dr. Amy Nunn, the CEO of the Rhode Island Public Health Institute, testified in favor of the bill at the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services last Thursday. 'The idea is to avoid pizza and chicken nuggets and all of the things that are calorie-rich and may be actually nutrient poor,' she told 12 News on Tuesday. 'And to promote more fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, less sugars, and lower-sodium options.' The bill stipulates that the Rhode Island Department of Health would be required to 'implement, administer and enforce' the proposed mandates. There are approximately 7,000 restaurants in Rhode Island, according to the Health Department. In a letter to committee chair Melissa Murray, health officials applauded the efforts to address childhood obesity, but noted that the department would not be able to implement the bill's provisions as it is currently drafted. 'RIDOH would need additional staffing capacity to develop and disseminate the required informational materials and respond to complaints received against restaurants that do not comply with the statutory requirements as outlined in the bill,' Health Director Jerome Larkin wrote in the letter. According to the Health Department, the requirements are pricey and the costs would only continue to increase. 'Specifically, RIDOH would need an FTE nutritionist (Grade 27) at an annual cost of $116,544,' Larkin explained. 'This amount is anticipated to increase in future years due to increases in salaryand benefits.' If the bill were to become law, it would take effect on Jan. 1, 2026. You can read the proposed legislation here. Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
