Wednesday, January 21, 2009

News Clipping Archives

 

Maryland / Regional

2 from city among 8 Maryland salmonella cases (Baltimore Sun)

Hundreds Visit Medical Tents Seeking Care for Cold Feet and Worse (Washington Post)

State budget to include 700 state layoffs (Daily Record)

YMCA to run city pool (Hagerstown Herald-Mail)

Zookeeper identified in jaguar attack (Baltimore Examiner)

National / International

Salmonella Infection Numbers Still Rising (Washington Post)

Health Tip: If You've Got GERD (Washington Post)

After Hookups, E-Cards That Warn, ‘Get Checked’ (New York Times)

EPA Alerts Seniors to Carbon Monoxide Dangers (Washington Post)

Children’s Staph Infections Increasingly Resistant to Drugs (New York Times)

Opinion

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Maryland / Regional

 

2 from city among 8 Maryland salmonella cases

 

By Frank D. Roylance

Baltimore Sun

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

 

Two Baltimore children are among eight Marylanders reportedly sickened by salmonella contamination that federal authorities have traced to peanut butter products from a plant in Georgia.

 

Baltimore's health commissioner, Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, confirmed that the children, ages 1 and 9, were among three Baltimore residents sickened late last year. The third was a 20-year-old. All have recovered.

 

The eight Maryland cases identified so far are among 475 salmonella infections in 43 states linked by DNA analysis to the outbreak that began last fall. About one patient in five was hospitalized, and the illness may have contributed to six deaths, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

Bacterial DNA from the eight Maryland victims has been matched to the Salmonella typhimurium bacteria found in products from Peanut Corp. of America's King Nut plant in Blakely, Ga., according to John Hammond, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

 

Salmonella infections cause nausea and vomiting, leading to stomach pain and diarrhea, fever, chills and muscle pains lasting a few days to two weeks.

 

Citing patient confidentiality concerns, given the small number of cases, Hammond declined to provide further detail about the Maryland victims, except to say the cases came from "across the state." At least two people were hospitalized and discharged, and all had recovered, he said.

 

Alvina Chu, chief of the state Health Department's division of outbreak investigations, said the eight people fell ill between mid-October and mid-November. Their cases were found among a "normal" number of salmonella cases last fall, emerging from the rest only after analysts found the DNA match to the national outbreak.

 

"The majority of the cases we've spoken to seem to have a peanut butter cracker exposure connection," said Kirsten Larson, the DHMH FoodNet coordinator. Investigators continue to look for additional cases.

 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration traced the outbreak to peanut butter and peanut paste produced at the Blakely plant. The bulk products are sold to institutions and manufacturers in 24 states, including Maryland, and used as ingredients in such food products as peanut butter crackers and ice cream. Jarred peanut butter sold directly to consumers is not affected.

 

Among the many recalled products are Food Lion Bake Shop peanut butter cookies; Little Debbie Peanut Butter Toasty sandwich crackers; and Wegman's Peanut Butter Ice Cream, manufactured by Perry's Ice Cream of Buffalo.

 

The FDA has posted a growing online recall list of products containing the suspect King Nut peanut products. The FDA recommends that consumers discard any of those products they may have purchased.

 

If consumers can't find their items on the recall list, they should call the toll-free number on the package or visit the manufacturer's Web site, the FDA said. If you can't determine whether a product is safe, the FDA recommends that it not be eaten.

 

For the recall list, go to www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/salmonellatyph.html#recalls

 

Copyright 2009 Baltimore Sun.

 

Hundreds Visit Medical Tents Seeking Care for Cold Feet and Worse

 

By David Brown

Washington Post

Wednesday, January 21, 2009; A20

 

Marshall Anderson, park ranger and paramedic, arrived at his first aid tent northeast of the Washington Monument at 5:30 a.m. yesterday. His first patient arrived at 5:31.

 

"She walked in right behind me," he said at midmorning, by which time he and his colleagues had seen 17 people.

 

The first patient, a Maryland woman in her 30s on dialysis, "was on a shoebox full of medications," Anderson recalled. "She was cold, and she just wasn't feeling well."

 

His advice after a quick assessment: Go home and watch the inauguration on television.

 

It's impossible to know how many people wished at some point yesterday that they had heard or taken the same advice. What's clear is that the cold -- intermittently piercing and dangerous, sun-diluted and benign -- was the cause of most of yesterday's medical problems.

 

In most cases it was nothing more than painful extremities that brought hundreds of people to the 56 tents and warming stations set up for the occasion. In some cases, the cold triggered chronic illnesses, such as asthma. In others, it exacerbated dehydration and hunger from long waits.

 

"We've seen a lot of people who didn't really dress for the weather," said Anderson, 28, who wore a wool cap pulled down snugly and had a pair of orange-handled bandage scissors tucked in a strap around his torso like a ceremonial dagger.

 

He was one of several dozen National Park Service rangers brought in from distant sites (in his case, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona). Although all park rangers are trained in emergency medical care, those in Western parks are especially experienced, a spokesman said, because they often provide the only ambulance service for large geographic areas.

 

The park service ran 16 medical tents on the Mall. In addition to paramedics, each tent had a doctor and two nurses, most provided by the U.S. Public Health Service and other federal health agencies. For many, yesterday was a big change from their day jobs.

 

At Tent No. 6, near the World War II Memorial, among the people treating a 73-year-old woman with asthma worsened by the cold was Tammie Brent, a nurse with the Food and Drug Administration whose usual task is reviewing the pregnancy and lactation sections of drug labels.

 

A lieutenant commander in the Public Health Service's commissioned corps, she and her fellow officers "are all required to keep our clinical skills current," she said.

 

The tents were busier the closer they were to the Capitol end of the Mall. In one across from the National Museum of American History, eight people huddled in a circle of folding chairs, wrapped in the gray felted blankets sometimes seen on homeless people. One in the circle was Martha Bronitsky, a 48-year-old lawyer from the San Francisco Bay area.

 

The president of the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees, she came to town last week for a meeting and stayed for the inauguration. Her parents, who are 73 and 74, joined her from California. Yesterday morning, they set up camp on the Mall, with the parents on chairs and their daughter on the ground.

 

"After a while I started shaking, and my mother, who is a nurse, told me it was time to come in here," Bronitsky said.

 

Seated next to her was Monique Vance, 26, a member of the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Ga., who came to the inauguration with 50 fellow parishioners. One of them was a tear-stained 14-year-old whose very cold feet were wrapped in a fleece jacket in an attempt to warm them up.

 

"She's just not used to this type of weather," Vance said.

 

Off the Mall, the District's Department of Health operated 13 tents, 13 warming buses and four warming rooms in government buildings. The Health Department was also staffing first aid stations at 10 inaugural balls and evening events.

 

Most of the physicians were local practitioners who volunteered for duty, people like Sisom F. Osia, an internist who practices in Upper Marlboro. The most serious case of the day at his tent at Sixth and D streets was a 19-year-old woman's grand mal seizure.

 

By the time the swearing-in was over, the Health Department had seen 326 people, with a long afternoon of chilly parade-watching still ahead.

 

Sunday's Lincoln Memorial concert featured a similar range of complaints -- and one save. A Park Service official said that a man in his 50s was resuscitated from cardiac arrest with a portable defibrillator. The first responders who performed CPR and delivered the shock were a team of Explorer Scouts from Post 521 in Montgomery County.

 

Copyright 2009 Washington Post.

 

State budget to include 700 state layoffs

 

By Andy Rosen

Daily Record

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

 

ANNAPOLIS — Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Calvert and Prince George’s, said Wednesday that Gov. Martin O’Malley included at least 700 worker layoffs in the budget to be introduced around 1:30 this afternoon.

 

Miller said the budget would seek to reconcile two holes, one for the remainder of fiscal 2009 and another for fiscal 2010, which amount to more than $2 billion. The cuts come from a wide range of programs, Miller said. One place they do not come from, though, is the state’s payment for teacher pensions owed by local governments.

 

Those costs had appeared to be on the chopping block, much to the dismay of the governments that would be forced to foot the bill, but Miller said O’Malley did not cut them. Miller said he would discuss the idea of cutting the pension share with House Speaker Michael E. Busch, D-Anne Arundel, and may introduce a bill to do that.

 

Copyright 2009 Daily Record.

 

YMCA to run city pool

 

By Dan Dearth

Hagerstown Herald-Mail

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

 

HAGERSTOWN - Allegations of alcohol and drug use last summer by some of the employees at Claude M. Potterfield Pool in Hagerstown have prompted city officials to transfer the pool’s management to the YMCA, City Administrator Bruce Zimmerman said after a City Council work session Tuesday.

 

He said the allegations also included hiring lifeguards who weren’t certified properly by the American Red Cross.

 

“We did a review of our operations that began in the late summer,” Zimmerman said. “We identified issues that needed to be addressed.”

 

Zimmerman said the review began after some parents came forward and complained about inappropriate activities at the pool.

 

The city’s review did not include a rape that allegedly occurred last August in a Hagerstown apartment that police believe involved a male lifeguard and one of his female co-workers, Zimmerman said.

 

Adam E. Deiseroth, 20, of Winchester, Va., has been charged with one count each of second-degree rape, second-degree assault, second-degree sex offense and fourth-degree sex offense in connection with the alleged incident.

 

Deiseroth’s hearing is scheduled for Feb. 3 in Washington County Circuit Court.

 

Zimmerman said the Hagerstown Police Department is handling the rape investigation.

 

Some of the lifeguards were certified last year by the pool staff, Zimmerman said. In a few cases, the certifications did not meet Red Cross standards.

 

“The lifeguards went through a process, but not one required by the Red Cross,” Zimmerman said. “They went through a process guided by the city’s pool management. They thought they were following the right process. It turned out they weren’t following Red Cross procedures.”

 

During the work session, Zimmerman said the contract to hire the YMCA would cost the city about $12,000 to $15,000.

 

“We don’t see this as increasing our costs,” Zimmerman said.

 

As part of the agreement, the YMCA will “provide evidence of insurance of $1 million,” according to city documents.

 

Zimmerman said City Recreation Facilities Manager Lewie Thomas, who was in charge of running the pool last year, will “oversee the contract, but the lifeguards will report to the (YMCA).”

 

Copyright The Herald-Mail.

 

Zookeeper identified in jaguar attack

 

By Carolyn Peirce

Baltimore Examiner

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

 

The zookeeper who was attacked and critically injured by a jaguar at the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo in Thurmont this weekend was identified Tuesday as Deborah Gregory, of Severn, according to Maryland state police.

 

Gregory, 32, remained in critical, but stable, condition Tuesday at University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore after she was attacked about 11 a.m. Sunday while working in the interior den area of the jaguar enclosure at the Frederick County zoo, about an hour outside Baltimore.

 

When Gregory called for help, staff members moved the animals from the interior den to the exterior exhibit area, so Gregory could receive first aid by staff members and emergency medical technicians before being taken to Shock Trauma.

 

Zoo officials said Gregory suffered several bite wounds to her upper body from a 13-year-old black jaguar named Diego, a male weighing between 180 and 200 pounds.

 

Animal control workers did not know for sure if a second jaguar, a female, entered the indoor area or participated in the attack.

 

The two jaguars, which were properly vaccinated, were placed in quarantine Monday, while zoo officials continued investigating the attack.

 

Frederick County Animal Control Director Harold Domer said he surveyed the jaguar enclosure Monday and found the safety precautions were "extremely adequate."

 

"For whatever reasons, the jaguar was able to get from the outside exhibit into the inside enclosure," he said. "But at no point, did either of the jaguars escape from the outdoor enclosure into the zoo, so, there was never any risk to anyone else."

 

Gregory was a relatively new animal caretaker who'd been working at the privately owned zoo for about a month as a big-cat keeper, officials said.

 

The incident was the zoo's first serious attack since it opened in 1993.

 

The zoo is closed to the public for the season.

 

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

 

Copyright 2009 Baltimore Examiner.

 

 

National / Iternational

 

Salmonella Infection Numbers Still Rising

 

HealthDay Reporter

By Steven Reinberg

Washington Post

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

 

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 21 (HealthDay News) -- The number of people sickened in the salmonella outbreak involving peanut butter products has now climbed to 485 in 43 states and Canada, with possibly six deaths, according to U.S. health officials.

 

Meanwhile, peanut butter products continued to disappear from store shelves as one pet food producer joined the growing list of grocery chains and specialty companies issuing precautionary recalls.

 

The flood of recalls followed a U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning over the weekend that consumers should avoid peanut butter products containing peanut butter or peanut butter paste while the widespread salmonella outbreak probe continued.

 

The U.S. health warning is focused on products made with peanut butter or peanut paste, like crackers or cookies or ice cream.

 

Jars of peanut butter on store shelves appear to be safe, the agency said.

 

As of Wednesday morning, these were the latest precautionary recalls:

 

PetSmart, of Phoenix, Ariz., is recalling seven of its Grreat Choice Dog Biscuit products.Nature's Path Organic Foods of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada is recalling peanut butter-flavored Optimum Energy Bars.Country Maid, of West Bend, Iowa, is recalling two-pound packages of Classic Breaks Peanut Butter Cookie Dough, which were distributed nationwide to fund-raising groups.Ready Pac Foods, of Irwindale, Calif., is recalling apple and celery with peanut butter packages that were distributed in 13 states.Clif Bar & Co., of Berkeley, Calif., recalled Clif and Lund brand bars made with peanut butter and sold throughout the United States. Abbott Nutrition of Columbus, Ohio, recalled ZonePerfect Chocolate Peanut Butter bars, ZonePerfect Peanut Toffee bars and NutriPals Peanut Butter Chocolate nutrition bars. The products were sold in the United States, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore.Kroger Co., of Cincinnati, recalled Private Selection Peanut Butter Passion Ice Cream, sold in some but not all of their stores. Safeway, of Westmont, Ill., recalled Ready Pack Eating Right Kids Apples with Peanut Butter and Orchard Valley Harvest's Organic Bark Peanut Butter Cookies and Cream, according to the

Associated Press.

 

Ralcorp Frozen Bakery Products Inc. of Downer's Grove, Ill., has recalled all Food Lion and Wal-Mart Bakery brands of peanut butter cookies, peanut butter no-bake cookies and peanut butter fudge no-bake cookies. It is also recalling its nationally distributed Lofthouse brand versions of those cookies as well as Parco Foods' Chuck's Chunky brand of peanut butter cookies and Pastries Plus gourmet cookies.Meijer Inc. of Grand Rapids, Mich., is pulling back two types of crackers and two varieties of ice cream sold in five states at its stores and at gas stations.The South Bend Chocolate Co., of South Bend, Ind., is recalling assorted chocolates, valentine hearts, peanut butter fudge and peanut butter chocolate fudge.General Mills of Minneapolis is recalling two flavors of snack bars: Larabar Peanut Butter Cookie snack bars and JamFrakas Peanut Butter Blisscrisp snack bars.McKee Foods Corp. of Collegedale, Tenn., has recalled Little Debbie Peanut Butter Toasty and Peanut Butter Cheese Sandwich Crackers. Hy-Vee Inc., of Des Moines, which distributes in several states in the midwest, recalled various bakery products containing peanut butter.Food Lion, of Salisbury, N.C., with stores in the southeast and mid-Atlantic states, has removed Bake Shop peanut butter cookies from its shelves. Perry's Ice Cream, of Buffalo, N.Y., announced a voluntary recall of select ice cream products containing peanut butter sauce, which were distributed in five states.

 

Meanwhile, Kellogg of Battle Creek, Mich., said Monday that tests confirmed salmonella bacteria in a single package of one of its recalled peanut butter crackers.

 

According to the Associated Press, Kellogg said U.S. health officials confirmed the finding in a packet of Austin Quality Foods Toasty Crackers with Peanut Butter. The company had issued a major recall late last Friday for 16 of its products made with peanut butter, including Keebler cheese and peanut butter sandwich crackers and Keebler and Famous Amos peanut butter cookies.

 

All the recalls followed a request late last week from the FDA for salmonella testing by food companies that may have bought peanut butter or peanut paste from a Blakely, Ga., facility owned by Peanut Corp. of America.

 

On Sunday, the FDA said sources of salmonella contamination had been traced to the plant.

 

"At this time, the FDA has traced a source of Salmonella Typhimurium contamination to a plant owned by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), which manufactures both peanut butter that is institutionally served in such settings as long-term care facilities and cafeterias, and peanut paste - a concentrated product consisting of ground, roasted peanuts -- that is distributed to food manufacturers to be used as an ingredient in many commercially produced products including cakes, cookies, crackers, candies, cereal and ice cream," the agency said.

 

Peanut Corp. issued a wider recall over the weekend for more products and lot numbers relating to peanut butter and peanut paste products manufactured on or after July 1, 2008, at the plant.

 

"The products being recalled are sold by PCA in bulk containers ranging in size from five to 1,700 pounds. The peanut paste is sold in sizes ranging from 35-pound containers to product sold by the tanker container," an FDA statement said.

 

The FDA urged companies to inform their customers whether their peanut butter products have peanut butter or peanut paste obtained from the factory.

 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said late Tuesday that the latest salmonella illness was recorded on Jan. 9 and that the victims range in age from younger than 1 to 98. Forty eight percent are female.

 

The strain of salmonella involved with the outbreak has been identified as Salmonella Typhimurium, the most common of the more than 2,500 types of salmonella bacteria in the United States.

 

The recalls come two years after ConAgra recalled its Peter Pan brand peanut butter, which had been linked to at least 625 salmonella cases in 47 states.

 

On Sunday, ConAgra issued a notice that none of its products were at risk this time because the company does not buy from Peanut Corp. of America.

 

On Monday, J. M. Smucker, of Orville, Ohio, and Russell Stover Candies Inc. both said none of their products were at risk either for the same reason.

 

More information

For a detailed and searchable list of the recalls, visit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

 

SOURCES: Jan. 20, 2009, news release, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Jan. 18, 2009, news release, U.S. Food and Drug Administration; Jan. 19, 2009, news release, Clif Bar & Co.; Jan. 19, 2009, news release, Abbott Nutrition; Jan. 18, 2009, news release, Ralcorp Frozen Bakery Products; Jan. 17, 2009, news release, Perry's Ice Cream Co.; Jan. 17, 2009, news release, Hy-Vee Bakery; Jan. 14, 2009, news release, Kellogg Co., Battle Creek, Mich.; Jan 10, 2009, online statement, Peanut Corp. of America; Associated Press

 

© 2009 Scout News LLC. All rights reserved.

 

Health Tip: If You've Got GERD

 

Washington Post

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

 

(HealthDay News) -- Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) occurs when stomach contents back up into the esophagus, often causing a feeling of heartburn.

 

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons offers these suggestions to help tame GERD symptoms:

 

Lose weight. Most people are helped "substantially" when they lose significant weight, the society says.Wear loose clothing.Eat meals at least several hours before bed time, giving the stomach some time to empty.Keep the head of the bed about 6 inches to 8 inches higher than the foot of the bed.Steer clear of smoking, high-fat foods, spicy foods, caffeine, chocolate and peppermint.Talk to your doctor about medications to help control GERD. And while on the subject of medications, ask your doctor if anything you're taking could actually be making your symptoms worse.

 

© 2009 Scout News.

 

After Hookups, E-Cards That Warn, ‘Get Checked’

 

By David Tuller

New York Times

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

 

SAN FRANCISCO — Steve, a health care worker in his 30s, had been told more than once that he had been exposed to a sexually transmitted infection. So when it happened again, he was not upset — even though this time he learned about it through an anonymous online postcard, e-mailed by a man with whom he had had sex.

 

“What was important was that I was being notified that there was a possibility that I may have been exposed to syphilis,” said Steve, who asked that his last name be withheld to protect his privacy.

 

The Internet has made it much easier to connect for sexual hookups. In response, public health officials have been exploring ways to harness the online world for conducting safe-sex education and preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases by alerting people exposed to them.

 

The e-card, which allows the sender to select the disease involved and includes links to public health sites and services, is part of that strategy.

 

“Notifying the person exposed to a sexually transmitted infection is the critical piece in preventing further spread,” said Dr. Susan Blank, New York City’s assistant health commissioner for sexually transmitted disease. “And as the reach of the Internet expands for use in finding instant sex partners, we’re using that technology as part of the solution.”

 

Along with eight other cities and three states, New York City has been working with inSPOT, the online partner notification system through which Steve, in San Francisco, received his syphilis e-card. (It is currently aimed at gay men but is expanding its audience to include heterosexuals, and plans to start a national site this year.)

 

The system was developed in 2004 by Internet Sexuality Information Services, a nonprofit agency in Oakland, Calif., with the support of health officials in San Francisco. Deb Levine, the agency’s executive director, said two factors in San Francisco led to the idea: the rise in Internet use among men who have sex with men, and an increase in syphilis among that group.

 

Research indicated that men with a sexually transmitted disease often failed to tell their casual sexual contacts about it.

 

“They did tell their partners, the people they saw every day, but they didn’t take the time to follow up with other people they were having sex with,” Ms. Levine said. “They said to us, ‘If there was an easy and convenient way to do it, we would.’ ”

 

In a parallel strategy, some public health departments have established online profiles on popular gay-oriented social network sites.

 

Through these profiles, self-identified health outreach workers are available to counsel men about safe sex and, when requested by members with a sexually transmitted disease, to electronically notify sexual partners they have met through the site.

 

David S. Novak, a public health strategist at Online Buddies, a company in Cambridge, Mass., said almost 30 city and state health agencies now had partner notification profiles on its popular gay site, manhunt.net.

 

Mr. Novak said that men who met on a social networking site often did not exchange e-mail addresses and therefore could not use inSPOT. Moreover, he said, because public health agencies confirm cases of infection before contacting sexual partners, their involvement reduces the risk that false information will be disseminated. “I think there’s room for both approaches,” he said.

 

Ms. Levine said inSPOT was intended to complement rather than replace the role of public health workers in partner notification, especially for easily treatable illnesses like gonorrhea and chlamydia. Public-health notification programs are aimed primarily at more serious diseases, in particular H.I.V. and syphilis.

 

Evaluating inSPOT is difficult, since the agency cannot measure whether recipients of e-cards have been tested. And Mary McFarlane, a specialist in sexually transmitted diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she wondered whether many of those who sent anonymous cards about crabs and scabies were playing pranks on friends. Still, she said, “if people are engaging in risk online, we need to engage in public health online and to make it as usable and feasible as possible.”

 

Dr. Kees Rietmeijer, director of sexually transmitted disease control at Denver Department of Public Health, which has an inSPOT site, said that because in-person partner notification was time-consuming and expensive, it was important to find other ways to communicate.

 

“Having said that,” he added, “as far as the effectiveness, the jury is still out. If you have X number of hits on the Web site, we don’t really know if that translates to people coming to the clinic to be tested and treated.”

 

Copyright 2009 New York Times.

 

EPA Alerts Seniors to Carbon Monoxide Dangers

 

Washington Post

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

 

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 21 (HealthDay News) -- If you didn't know better, you could confuse carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning with the flu.

 

That's why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a new fact sheet out to help prevent people from becoming part of the 500 deaths and 15,000 visits to the emergency room caused each year by unintentional CO poisoning.

 

The sheet focuses on older people, who can be more vulnerable to CO poisoning if they have health issues, especially anemia or heart or breathing conditions.

 

Carbon monoxide, an odorless and colorless gas, is the most common cause of poisoning death in the United States. It is produced by gasoline engines, stoves and heating systems, and, without proper ventilation, the gas can build up in enclosed or semi-enclosed spaces.

 

The EPA says people can help prevent this by remembering "I CAN B":

 

Install CO alarms near sleeping areas. (Less than one third of homes have them installed.)Check heating systems and fuel-burning appliances annually.Avoid the use of non-vented combustion appliances.Never burn fuels indoors except in devices such as stoves or furnaces that are made for safe use.Be attentive to possible symptoms of CO poisoning.

 

More information

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has more about preventing carbon monoxide poisoning.

 

SOURCE: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, news release, Jan. 13, 2009

 

© 2009 Scout News LLC. All rights reserved.

 

Children’s Staph Infections Increasingly Resistant to Drugs

 

By Roni Caryn Rabin

New York Times

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

 

Children are picking up more stubborn staph infections that don’t respond to common antibiotics, and the proportion their of ear, nose and throat infections resistant to standard drug treatment increased dramatically over a six-year period, a new study has found.

 

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections, known as MRSA, accounted for 28.1 percent of children’s head and neck staph infections in 2006, up from just 11.8 percent in 2001, according to researchers at Emory University in Atlanta. It once was rare for an ear, nose and throat doctor to see MRSA infections, noted Dr. Steven E. Sobol, the paper’s senior author and director of pediatric otolaryngology at Emory University School of Medicine. “That was the impetus for the study,” he said.

 

The report was published in this week’s issue of Archives of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.

 

“Over the past four or five years, we’ve seen an increased prevalence of these infections that used to be caused by other organisms that are now being caused by MRSA,” said Dr. Sobol. The researchers excluded from their analysis skin infections not caused by staph.

 

Though the study captured information from only a limited number of laboratories, the report’s authors said the overall trend is clear, concluding that there is “an alarming nationwide increase” in the prevalence of MRSA infections in children. The change parallels an increase in so-called community-acquired cases of MRSA among relatively healthy people who aren’t hospitalized or infirm.

 

The scientists analyzed 21,009 head and neck staph infections occurring among children from January 2001 to December 2006. The data came from a national electronic microbiology database that collects strain-specific drug resistance test results from labs affiliated with 300 hospitals around the country. The average age of the patients was 6.7 years old.

 

The proportion of drug resistant head and neck staph infections increased dramatically over the six-year period, the researchers found. Overall, 21.6 percent, or 4,534 samples, were methicillin-resistant, the greatest proportion of them involving the ear, nose and sinus and pharynx.

 

Only 11.8 percent of childhood head infections were resistant in 2001, but the figure jumped to 12.5 percent in 2002, 18.1 percent in 2003, and 27.2 percent in 2004.

 

The rate fell to 25.5 percent in 2005 and rose again to 28.1 percent in 2006, the researchers reported.

 

Almost 60 percent of the head and neck infections occurred among children who had not been in medical settings beforehand and were seeing doctors as outpatients, the researchers said, suggesting that children were exposed to resistant bacteria in the community.

 

Copyright 2009 New York Times.

 

 

Opinion

 

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