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Showing posts with label Infectious disease. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Infectious disease. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Another Class of Benefits Proposed for Workers’ Compensation

The NJ Legislature is considering expanding the multitiered program to compensate the victims of industrial illness. This time a supplemental benefit program is being offered to compensate healthcare workers who contracted COVID-19.

Saturday, August 27, 2022

NJ Workers at Risk Now for West Nile Virus


New Jersey workers again are now at risk for West Nile Virus. The warnings of the mosquito-borne illness are an alert for New Jersey workers to take adequate precautions against this infectious disease.The New Jersey Department of Health has confirmed the state’s first human cases of West Nile Virus (WNV) this year.

Friday, August 26, 2022

Monkeypox in the Workplace

Monkeypox is not merely a sexual or geographic disease it is an infectious disease that can cause many workers to be exposed. It is a contagious disease that is transmitted by body contact. Infectious diseases are compensable under most workers’ compensation acts.

Thursday, August 11, 2022

Back to Work is Going to be Back to COVID

The US Centers for Disease Control [CDC] announced today a continuation of its flawed strategy to reduce the plateaued high transmission rates of COVID throughout the US. As workers return from summer vacation, COVID transmission will remain very high, and the workforce will be subject to primary and repeat COVID infections.

Friday, December 10, 2021

Is the Workers' Compensation System Prepared for Omicron (Updated 12/10/21)

As this holiday season approaches, employers, insurance companies, and employees will be facing what may be the biggest COVID challenges of the year. The highly infectious disease variant Omicron detected initially in South Africa is spreading worldwide, including reported cases in the US.

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

COVID-19: A lesson for the workers’ compensation industry

Michael Lewis’s new book, The Premonition, is about three characters and their struggle to alert the Nation about the COVID-19 pandemic. The book offers a shocking insight into the mismanagement of the public health care system. The workers’ compensation industry lacked adequate information to prepare for the epidemic properly. It must address this deficiency in the future.

Saturday, March 13, 2021

Novavax Confirms High Levels of Efficacy Against Original and Variant COVID-19 Strains in United Kingdom and South Africa Trials

-100% protection against severe disease
-Final analysis in U.K. trial confirms 96% efficacy against original strain of COVID-19
-Efficacy against variants confirmed in U.K. and South Africa

Friday, February 12, 2021

Searching for Vaccine in NJ

NJ Commissioner of Health Judith Persichilli COVID-19 provided a status report yesterday on the status of vaccine distribution in NJ. 

Friday, October 9, 2020

Testing Can’t Promise You a Rose Garden. But What Can It Promise?

Developing a pandemic preparedness strategy for the workplace is critical in control of COVID-19. Today's guest author, Michael Gelman, MD PhD, discusses the how the application of the latest medical information can achieve that goal.

The events of the past week have made it very clear:

Michael A Gelman MD PhD
there is no testing strategy that, alone, can guarantee safety from COVID-19. Rather, a strategy of targeted layered containment represents the best hope for reducing the risk of transmission. Even with the best testing achievable, masks help; distancing helps; being outdoors helps; reducing mass gatherings definitely helps; and in extremis, closing in-person schools and non-essential businesses helps. That’s why Governor Cuomo’s cluster action initiative, as advised by multiple nationally-recognized epidemiologists, is being implemented. It’s uncomfortable and onerous - but the shutdown in March and April was uncomfortable and onerous, and until there’s a lot more immunity than there is now, it’s the best we can do.

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Health Care Experts Discuss a COVID Second Wave

How do we know when the second wave is starting? What should we expect? These are only two of the questions Dr. Chad Kessler, National Program Director for VHA Emergency Medicine, asked during a recent COVID in 20 interview with VA Infectious Disease and Epidemiology wizards, Michael A. Gelman, M.D., Ph.D., and Gio Baracco, M.D., from James J. Peters VA Medical Center in the Bronx, New York and Miami VA Healthcare System in Miami, Florida respectively.

Saturday, May 9, 2020

California Governor Newsom Announces Workers’ Compensation Benefits for Workers who Contract COVID-19 During Stay at Home Order

The state of California joins A growing number of states who are now liberalizing access to Workers Compensation. benefits for injured workers. New Jersey will be discussing similar legislation next week in Trenton New Jersey (NJ S2380).

Friday, April 17, 2020

Back to Work Needs Congressional Support

As employee and employers look to their state governor’s for direction upon return to work, an undiscussed issue remains, the responsibility for work-related occupational exposures. While this is new territory, one might look toward other potential mass exposure scenarios in the US history for guidance.

Friday, March 20, 2020

NJ Governor Murphy Signs Legislation to Prohibit Employers from Terminating or Refusing to Reinstate an Employee Who Misses Work Due to an Infectious Disease

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy today signed legislation (A3848), which prohibits an employer, during the ongoing Public Health Emergency and State of Emergency declared by the Governor in Executive Order 103, from terminating or refusing to reinstate an employee who has, or is likely to have, an infectious disease which requires the employee to miss time at work.

Sunday, March 8, 2020

Emergency Federal Coronavirus Funding - Better late than never

The recently enacted emergency coronavirus Federal funding legislation will offer some support to ease the burden of the epidemic on the workers’ compensation benefit system. Since the containment phase has been hampered by the lack of valid test kits, the US is now entering the mitigation phase. The additional resources to treat and eliminate the credible COVID-19 virus epidemic will prove beneficial.

Monday, December 31, 2018

Nebraska Doctor Exposed to New Ebola Outbreak

An American providing medical assistance in the Democratic Republic of Congo recently experienced a possible exposure to the Ebola virus and is in Omaha for monitoring. This person has no Ebola symptoms but will be monitored closely. Should any symptoms develop, the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit would be activated and the person admitted.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

1 in 3 swimming-related disease outbreaks occur at hotels

Crypto parasite continues to cause most outbreaks and illnesses linked to pools and water playgrounds.

A third of treated recreational waterborne disease outbreaks during 2000 through 2014 occurred in hotel pools or hot tubs, according to a report published today in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Cryptosporidium (also known as “Crypto”), Pseudomonas, and Legionella causes most of the outbreaks in swimming venues in the United States during this time period. Crypto is a parasite tough enough to survive even in properly maintained pools. Pseudomonas and Legionella are bacteria that can survive disinfectants in slimy areas of hot tubs, pools, and water playgrounds.

The report describes mixed progress in preventing outbreaks caused by germs spread through treated recreational water. The 493 outbreaks reported during this period resulted in at least 27,219 illnesses and eight deaths. The number of respiratory disease outbreaks caused by Legionella increased over time and skin infection outbreaks caused by Pseudomonas decreased over time. Diarrheal disease outbreaks caused by Cryptosporidium leveled off during 2008 through 2014. More than half of outbreaks started in the summer, the peak season for swimming.

Common parasite remains the leading cause of illness from pools

Crypto causes 58 percent of outbreaks where a germ was identified linked to pools, hot tubs, and water playgrounds and 89 percent of the illnesses. Crypto spreads in pools when someone sick with the parasite has diarrhea in the water and other swimmers swallow that contaminated water. Swimmers and parents of young swimmers play an essential role in preventing Crypto outbreaks.

“Swallowing just a mouthful of water with Crypto in it can make otherwise healthy kids and adults sick for weeks with watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, and vomiting,” said Michele Hlavsa, R.N., M.P.H., chief of CDC’s Healthy Swimming Program. “Chlorine cannot kill Crypto quickly. We need to keep it out of the water in the first place. Don’t go into the water, and don’t let your kids go into the water if sick with diarrhea.”

Bacteria cause respiratory illness and skin rashes

The bacteria Legionella and Pseudomonas are the next most leading causes of these outbreaks, with 16 percent of outbreaks caused by Legionella and 13 percent caused by Pseudomonas. Legionella can cause severe pneumonia and symptoms similar to the flu. Pseudomonas can cause hot tub rash and swimmer’s ear.

Legionnaires’ (LEE-juh-nares) disease is a serious type of pneumonia (lung infection) caused by Legionella (LEE-juh-nell-a) bacteria. Legionella can also cause a milder illness called Pontiac fever. People can get sick when they breathe in a mist or accidentally swallow water into the lungs containing Legionella. Most people exposed to Legionella do not get sick. However, people 50 years or older, current or former smokers, and people with a weakened immune system or chronic disease are at increased risk.

Legionnaires’ disease is a risk in healthcare facilities across the United States, according to a new CDC Vital Signs report. Unfortunately, this serious bacterial lung infection is deadly for 1 in 4 people who get it from a healthcare facility.

If a pool, hot tub, or water playground is not cleaned properly, bacteria can grow and form a slime called biofilm on wet surfaces. Legionella and Pseudomonas can live in this biofilm. It is harder for disinfectants to kill these bacteria when they are protected by biofilm. Pool operators need to maintain proper cleaning practices and disinfectant levels to prevent bacteria from growing and causing illnesses in swimmers. CDC provides specific recommendations for operating public pools, hot tubs and water playgrounds in the Model Aquatic Health Code.

Some people are more likely to get sick from Legionella, including people 50 years or older, current or former smokers, people with chronic lung disease, and people with a weakened immune system. These people should see a doctor right away if they develop pneumonia symptoms and let the doctor know about any possible exposures to Legionella, including recent hot tub use.

Protect yourself and your family from germs spread through the water we swim in and share

  • Take the following steps to protect yourself and loved ones from germs when swimming in pools, soaking in hot tubs, or visiting water playgrounds: 
  • Don’t swim or let your kids swim if sick with diarrhea. If Crypto is the cause of diarrhea, wait until 2 weeks after diarrhea has stopped to go swimming. 
  • Check the pools, hot tubs, and water playground inspection scores. 
  • Before getting in the water, use a test strip from your local retailer or pool supply store to check if the water’s pH and bromine or free chlorine level are correct. 
  • Don’t swallow the water. 
  • Take kids on bathroom breaks hourly, and change diapers in a diaper-changing area and away from the water.

Jon L. Gelman of Wayne NJ is the author of NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thomson-Reuters) and co-author of the national treatise, Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thomson-Reuters). 


For over 4 decades theLaw Offices of Jon L Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com  has been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Zika: The Next Compensable Infectious Disease - Benefit Challenges Begin




Workers' Compensation insures for the consequences of infectious diseases arising out of and in the course of employment. Is the system ready for a potential onslaught of Zika claims?

The line in the sand has been drawn in the State of Florida, where an infected Miami Beach police officer has been denied benefits. The union has actively supporting the municipal employee in an effort to rule the claim compensable.

The NJ Supreme Court in establishing compensability in an occupational disease cited Justice Learned Hand, “Few adults are not diseased … an infection mastered, though latent, is no longer a disease, industrially speaking, until the individual's resistance is again so far lowered that he succumbs.” Bober v. Independent Plating Corp., 28 N.J. 160, 145 A.2d 463 (1958).

Saturday, October 5, 2013

US data show higher flu vaccine uptake in health workers

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) final flu vaccine coverage estimates for the 2012-13 season, released today, showed a healthy bump in children and a small gain in adults.
The CDC also found improved flu vaccine coverage in healthcare workers, one of the groups the agency has targeted with more intensive efforts to raise immunization levels.

Federal officials unveiled the findings today at a press conference sponsored by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The event was part of a broader effort to rally health groups and the public behind this season's flu vaccination efforts.

Vaccine makers expect to produce about 135 million doses for the US market, and so far 73 million doses have been distributed, according to the latest estimate from the CDC. Two new types of vaccine will debut this flu season, a quadrivalent (four-strain) version containing two influenza B strains offered by three different companies and a cell-based version, made by two companies, including Protein Sciences' FluBlok, which has been recommended for adults up to age 49 who have egg allergies.

Health officials said today that limited quantities of quadrivalent flu vaccine will be available in its first season, and that some people may not be able to find it in their area. According to an earlier report, roughly 25 million doses of the 135 million to 139 million doses manufacturers expect to produce will be the...
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Friday, February 1, 2013

Workers Are Getting Sick to Their Stomach - A New Virus

A new outbreak of the "stomach virus" is affecting workers and some fatally. The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has explained why this is happening and what cautions can be taken to prevent the spread of this illness.

A new strain of norovirus called GII.4 Sydney was the leading cause of norovirus outbreaks in the United States from September to December 2012, according to a study published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new strain was detected in Australia in March 2012, and caused outbreaks in that country and several other countries.

CDC researchers analyzed 2012 data collected through CaliciNet on norovirus strains associated with outbreaks in the United States. They found that of the 266 norovirus outbreaks reported during the last four months of 2012, 141 were caused by the GII.4 Sydney strain.