County data charts communicable diseases BY MELISSA KARSH Staff Writer Based on data collected from 2001 to 2006, the Monmouth County Regional Health Commission (MCRHC) has compiled a health report of descriptive statistics of communicable diseases in the county for 2006. The report on communicable diseases is the first of its kind for the commission since the MCRHC and six other municipal health departments, Long Branch, Middletown, Colts Neck, Hazlet-Aberdeen, Manalapan and the Freehold Township, jointly hired an epidemiologist through a SHARE grant in 2005. Public health epidemiologist Huimin Shen has been giving presentations to the seven health departments and commissions detailing the communicable disease reporting and surveillance system statistics she has gathered. "I have not seen this kind of report before. The data has been collected and they should interpret and translate it into meaningful data for health-care providers and the administration," said Shen. Shen was hired as part of a grant program to promote regionalization of services, according to Sidney B. Johnson, health officer for the MCRHC, which is located in Tinton Falls. Shen's presentation includes a comparison of the disease incidence rate for Monmouth County and the entire state and a trend analysis to identify disease patterns over a six-year period from 2001 through 2006. In Monmouth County, the No. 1 reported communicable disease in 2006 was chronic hepatitis C, which represented 34 percent of the reported cases of communicable diseases, according to Shen. "Chronic hepatitis C is a sharp increase in both the state and Monmouth County," said Shen, but she also cautioned to be wary of the "so-called" increase. She said, "The increase regarding the incidence rate is not clear because over the years the communicable disease protocol has been changing. More people are reporting hepatitis C than before." Shen said her data is based on about 60 reported communicable diseases. Another type of hepatitis that has been decreasing steadily in the state since 2001 is hepatitis A, but, Shen said, in 2005 and 2006 the incidence of hepatitis A in Monmouth County slightly increased. "More than 50 percent of [hepatitis A] cases are acquired outside of the United States. The best thing is to go to the county clinic to get an immunization because when they get [hepatitis A] and bring it back to the U.S., it is very contagious," said Shen. According to her presentation, the data is based on the total number of reported cases to the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, and the data is also based on population information from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Monmouth County Planning Board. Another communicable disease on the rise in the county in 2006, according to Shen's data, is Lyme disease, which represented 28 percent of the total reported cases of communicable diseases. "In 2006 Lyme disease increased in cases in Monmouth County, but New Jersey as a total decreased [in cases]," said Shen. "One possibility might be because we have a better reporting system [in Monmouth County]." Shen said that reporting system includes her unit, which kicked off in 2006 by following up on and confirming reported cases. According to Shen's presentation, Lyme disease, which, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected black-legged ticks, is "highly endemic" in Monmouth County, particularly in the northeast portion of the county such as Middletown, Holmdel and Red Bank. The third highest reported communicable disease in the county in 2006 was salmonellosis, which, according to the CDC, is an infection with bacteria called salmonella. Shen, who was most recently set to make a presentation at the Hazlet-Aberdeen Health Department Nov. 28, said her data may be used by health officials to develop intervention programs. "[Let officials] see what is the problem in their jurisdiction and what they can do," said Shen. For example, she said, in the Holmdel area, where Lyme disease is endemic, health officials could develop some kind of program to educate residents about the disease.