Past Seminars

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Toxic Mushroom Exposures: Minnesota and National Trends and Therapeutic Challenges

Presented by:

Ryan Fuchs, MD

Join us for a discussion of the mechanisms of toxicity of mushroom exposures, a review of therapeutic approaches and limitations, and the basics of mushroom identification. We will also discuss trends in regional mushroom exposures reported to our regional poison center, with a highlight of potential populations at higher risk for unintentional exposure to toxic mushrooms.

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Lead: New Updates to a Historic Problem

Presented by:

Anna Jeanne Schliep, MS, Lead in Drinking Water Coordinator and Stephanie Yendell, DVM, MPH, Health Risk Intervention Unit Supervisor

Our presenters discussed the impact of new federal regulations on lead in drinking water for water systems, schools and child cares. Other topics include the impact of recent events on childhood testing and follow-up from legislative changes, the COVID pandemic, and changes to federal guidance.

Wednesday, March 3, 2022

Proposed Mining of Copper-Nickel Sulfide-Ore in MN: Considerations for Policy and Environmental Health

Presented by:

Emily Onello, MD and Paula Maccabee, JD

The views expressed during this presentation are solely those of the presenters - Emily Onello, MD and Paula Maccabee, JD. They do not represent the Minnesota Poison Control System, the Minnesota Department of Health nor the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

Wednesday, November 3, 2021

What’s New with Carbon Monoxide (CO) Poisoning?

Presented by:

Christopher Logue, MD, Medical Director and Chief Diving Medical Officer
Center for Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine
Department of Emergency Medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center

Summary and Objectives - after participating in this event, you should be able to discuss the following:

• Limits of CO detectors for measuring low levels of CO
• Testing for CO poisoning
• Health effects of CO poisoning
• Discuss areas of future research

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Health Effects, Historical and Contemporary Use of Tear Gas and Other Riot Control Agents

Presented by:

• Howard Hu, MD MPH ScD, Medical Director for Physicians for Human Rights, Professor & Flora L. Thornton Chair at the Keck School of Medicine of USC
• Anna Feigenbaum, PhD, Associate Professor, Bournemouth University
• Rohini Haar, MD MPH, Adjunct Professor, University of California Berkeley
• Andre Montoya-Barthelemy, MD MPH, HealthPartners Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Recent political unrest across the globe - in Hong Kong, Standing Rock, Portland, Palestine, or at the US-Mexico Border - has brought renewed attention to government use of tear gas and other lachrymatory agents, substances designed to provoke severe acute eye and respiratory pain, skin burning, coughing, and nausea, as a means to disperse protests.

These agents remain in widespread use by law enforcement in domestic settings, justified by the perception that they are generally safe with transient exposure. Research fully describing health effects is limited, however, and true effects can be far worse depending upon the actual use of the substances and their delivery systems. Finally, recent unrest and video recording of tear gas use has revived debates regarding the reasons for their use.

This presentation will describe an occupational case study of tear gas exposure, the current literature on health effects, the work of organizations such as Physicians for Human Rights to better document the use and effects of tear gas, and discuss the economic and cultural forces which may sustain or prevent their use.

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

MDH Response to Vaping-Associated Lung Injuries

Presented by Cory Cole, MPH from the MDH Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Division

Uncertainty about the long-term effects of e-cigarette and other vaping product use on individual and population health has long been a concern for public health officials, clinicians, and researchers alike. During the latter half of 2019, however, the acute effects of vaping proved to be an emergency.

Between June and December of 2019, over 2,500 patients across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 2 US territories were hospitalized with a confirmed or probable case of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury, or EVALI, a mysterious and life-threatening illness characterized by acute respiratory distress and abnormal chest imaging.

This presentation will explore how MDH mobilized to investigate this outbreak and how public health’s collaboration with clinicians, labs, and other government agencies played a key role in understanding and containing EVALI.

Abstract: MDH Response to Vaping-Associated Lung Injuries (PDF)