Certain Diamond Pet Foods products have been recalled due to contamination with the bacterium Salmonella Infantis
CDC podcast on this topic
At least fourteen people in nine states have been infected with Salmonella Infantis as a result of contact with contaminated dry dog food, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Although no deaths have been reported, five of the patients were hospitalized. Those infected range in age from less than one year to 82 years old. No dogs have been reported sickened.
CDC determined that all of the ill individuals had handled dry Diamond Pet Foods produced in one Gaston, South Carolina, plant. A list of products recalled can be found on this Food & Drug Administration (FDA) website and on the Diamond Pet website. Pet owners can learn how to… READ MORE >>
Rocky Ford cantaloupe being planted at Hirakata Farms, Colorado (Photo courtesy of BCDemocratOnline.com)
Spring cantaloupe planting is under way in Colorado, and following a tragic foodborne disease outbreak last year, growers are determined to regain consumer confidence. In 2011, over 30 people died and at least 146 were sickened during a Listeria outbreak traced to contaminated cantaloupe (see January 20, 2012 blog). Jensen Farms, the source of the Listeria outbreak, is located near Holly, Colorado, about 100 miles east of the Rocky Ford region, which was initially identified in news reports as the “epicenter” of the outbreak. Those reports took an economic and reputational toll on all Rocky Ford cantaloupe growers. This spring, as cantaloupe seeds are being pressed into Colorado soil, growers are taking aggressive measures to shore up their practices to avoid a repeat of last season’s… READ MORE >>
This downloadable poster for healthcare providers is available on the CDC website in English or Spanish. Would you consider presenting it to your healthcare provider?
It’s a well-known fact that hand-washing is one of the most important measures for reducing the spread of infection. Yet, healthcare workers, of all people, often fail to wash their hands! One potential approach to this problem is to encourage patients, before submitting to treatment, to confirm verbally that doctors and nurses have indeed washed their hands. But a new pilot study published in the Journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology finds many patients are reluctant to question the hand hygiene of medical personnel.
According to an article on the study in Infection Control Today, patients in an Australian hospital were provided a brochure giving them… READ MORE >>
Image of hand sores associated with Hand, foot and mouth disease; image courtesy of CDC
Hand, foot and mouth diseasei is a viral illness caused by coxsackievirus. Afflicting mostly children, coxsackievirus normally causes mild fever and rash or sores on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, and sores or blisters in the mouth. Recently, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported coxsackievirus A6 in four states. Previously seen only in some European and Asian countries, the “A6” strain causes more severe symptoms and more hospitalizations. An April 20 article in USA Today states the virus “can hit kids and adults hard, causing fingernails and toenails to fall off two to three weeks after the illness has passed.”
The Reno Gazette-Journal cited 30 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease in… READ MORE >>
Recycle a clean, clear plastic, one-liter beverage bottle by filling it with water and three tablespoons of chlorine bleach, secure the bottle in a hole in a metal roof, and you have all the technology needed to illuminate the dark interiors of thousands of homes of the world’s poorest people. In an ingenious use of optics and chlorine chemistry, and for very little money, 55 watts of solar energy are streaming into formerly unlit homes in communities in Brazil and the Philippines. Many of the homes being outfitted with the device were perpetually dark due to the close, side-by-side construction of rudimentary dwellings. Now the spirits of residents are brightening along with their interior dwellings: Daylight is penetrating their living quarters.
The solar bottle bulb was invented by a group of resourceful Massachusetts Institute of Technology students; bulbs take approximately an hour to install. Solar bottle bulbs are… READ MORE >>
