Paris – Seven children are in serious condition in the French city of Lille following an E. Coli outbreak linked to frozen ground beef. The children, aged from 18 months to 8 years old, are being treated for infections connected to E. Coli, which causes vomiting and severe diarrhea. Daniel Lenoir, head of the health agency in France’s Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, told the Guardian the agency was certain the latest outbreak was not the same bacterial strain identified on German sprouts, but stated five of the children had eaten frozen ground patties. The beef used to make the frozen patties came from farms in France, Germany and the Netherlands. Continue reading…
Entries Categorized as 'Health Care Tips'
E. Coli outbreak hospitalizes seven children in France
Written on July 7, 2011 by Ava Gwynn
NC State Says Reactor Leak Poses No Public Threat
Written on July 6, 2011 by Ava Gwynn
(CNN) — North Carolina State University says a small water leak in the liner of its nuclear research reactor doesn’t pose a risk to public health, a university statement said Thursday.
“This is a research reactor and considerably smaller than a commercial power reactor,” said Gerry Wicks, the university’s reactor health physicist. “Its design significantly limits the possibility that even under the worst circumstances this facility presents any kind of danger.”
While the leak has not risen to the level required to make a formal report to federal and state agencies, university officials have informed the U.S. Continue reading…
Colorado Hangs in (Barely) as the Only State With Obesity Rate Lower Than 20%
Written on July 6, 2011 by Ava Gwynn
While the notion that too many people in the U.S. are fat is by now a truism, its hard to comprehend the magnitude of the problem or how quickly obesity has crept up on Americans.
To get that perspective, have a gander at the annual F as in Fat report from the Trust for Americas Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It shows that adult obesity rates climbed in 16 states last year and didnt fall in any state.
A dozen states have obesity rates of 30% or greater. And only one state has an obesity rate of less than 20% Colorado, hanging on by a very slender thread at 19.8%.
Do Nice Patients Finish First?
Written on July 4, 2011 by Ava Gwynn
As the authors of a published by the Journal of the American Medical Association note, theres been plenty of research on how to deal with difficult patients. So they decided to look at the flip side: how do physicians treat nice patients? Do they get better care?
It all depends on how you define nice and better, one of the authors, Allan Detsky, a professor in the departments of medicine and of health policy, management and evaluation at the University of Toronto.
FDA concludes silicone breast implants mostly safe
Written on July 4, 2011 by Ava Gwynn
Don’t expect breast implants to last for life, the government warned Wednesday: About 1 in 5 women who receive them for cosmetic reasons will have them removed within 10 years, and those odds are even higher for cancer survivors.
It’s not the first time the Food and Drug Administration has issued such a warning. But the agency repeated it Wednesday after reviewing new data on silicone-gel breast implants five years after they returned to the market following a health scare. The agency concluded the implants are basically safe as long as women understand they come with complications.
Smoking cessation drug linked to heart disease
Written on July 3, 2011 by Ava Gwynn
A study of 14 trials found that one of the drugs being prescribed to help people to quit smoking has links to heart disease. Varenicline has been found to increase the risk by 72 percent for serious cardiovascular problems when used as an aid to quit smoking reports CMAJ. The report by Sonal Singh, Yoon K. Loke, John G. Spangler and Curt D. Furberg found that there were cases of ischemia, arrhythmia, congestive heart failure, sudden death or cardiovascular-related death when Varenicline was used for at least one week by smokers or those who used smokeless tobacco raising concerns about the drug’s use in smoking cessation programs. Continue reading…