Legal Affairs: Teladoc vs. the Texas Medical Board: Challenging the regulation of telemedicine, see page 4
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The Leading Source for Healthcare Business News
Special Report: Infectious Disease
February 2016 • Volume 12, Issue 10 • $3.50
Protect yourself from the Zika virus
INSIDE
▼
Memorial Hermann
Memorial City orthopedic
surgery facility
see page 11
INDEX
▼
Financial Perspectives.......3
Legal Affairs......................4
Integrative Medicine........6
THA...............................8
BY DR. SARFRAZ ALY,
Infectious Disease
physician, Houston
Methodist Sugar Land
Hospital
These days, viruses seem to
move faster than medical science, always
staying one step ahead of researchers and
physicians.
Not long ago, we were introduced to the West
Nile virus. Then came the SARS epidemic
in 2003. These viruses created worldwide
fear. Now, we are faced with another serious
challenge, known as the Zika virus. This
virus has already created a great deal of
concern in the Caribbean and throughout
South America, and now there are worries
it could spread to the U.S.
The Zika virus isn’t new; it was discovered
in 1947 when scientists were researching
yellow fever in Africa. The researchers
found a monkey that had developed a fever
while caged in the Zika Forest; they isolated
a virus that was unique when compared to
yellow fever. Given its place of discovery, it
Moving On Up...............10
was appropriately named “Zika.”
The first human case was identified in 1954,
in Nigeria. Following this, in 2007, there
were a few more human cases found in
Africa and Southeast Asia.
The Zika virus comes from the flavivirus
family. It is spread from person to person
by mosquitoes. Zika can cause a series of
symptoms in the host ranging from flu-like
Please see ZIKA page 19
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Breaking Ground: Memorial Hermann opens third Mental Health Crisis
Clinic
Using community
resources
Memorial Hermann, continuing its effort to
help close the behavioral and mental health
resource gap in the greater Houston region,
recently opened its third and most centrally
located Mental Health Crisis Clinic.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
The new clinic at 4850 West Bellfort is
located in Meyerland’s Meyer Park Shopping
Center and joins two other Memorial
see page 6
Memorial Hermann’s third Mental Health Crisis Clinic
Hermann Mental Health Crisis Clinics
located in Humble and Spring Branch.
The Meyer Park location, like the other
clinics, is designed fill these unmet needs by
providing rapid access to initial psychiatric
treatment and outpatient multi-disciplinary
Please see BREAKING GROUND page 11
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
PAID
HOUSTON TX
PERMIT NO 13187