Two Dead - A Bad Year For Cantaloupe!!!

Two Dead - A Bad Year For Cantaloupe!!!

Several farms in Southeastern Indiana have stopped shipping cantaloupe while the FDA is investigating to find out which farm has the melons that are infected with salmonella. As a precautionary measure, Walmart has taken all cantaloupe from southeastern Indiana off their shelves.

So far, two people are dead, 31 have been hospitalized, and 141 people have been reported as being infected. Alabama, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin have reported cases. More cases are expected.

The California Cantaloupe Growers put out a statement that California cantaloupe have never been responsible for any outbreak of foodborne pathogens. In fact, most growers are doing a good job of keeping us safe. But a few growers are making people sick, which hurts the whole industry because people shy away from cantaloupe.

There are 167,033 Registered Domestic Facilities that the FDA has to inspect. Of these they have personally inspected 11,007 facilities this year. The FDA is critically underfunded. The FDA's funding is through the USDA; the USDA keeps 80 % of the money and gives 20 % to the FDA.

The FDA needs to be funded by the Department of Health rather than by an agency that is in the business of promoting agriculture. This way we could improve the safety of the products we eat.

Urinary Tract Infections Caused by Chickens

 

A recent Canadian study found that the drug-resistant E. coli found on the chicken we eat is genetically the same as the E. coli that causes urinary tract infections (UTIs) in humans. They checked the E. coli found on beef and pork and found they were less likely to be genetically the same as this human UTI bacteria. The Canadian researchers suggest that chicken is the most probable source of the E. coli that causes UTIs.

E. coli is the leading cause UTIs in humans, causing more than 85% of these infections. Each year there are 6 – 8 million UTIs diagnosed in the United States, and 130 – 175 million worldwide. Costs related to uncomplicated UTIs in the United States are $1 – $2 billion per year. UTIs can also lead to more severe illnesses, such as pyelonephritis, bacteremia, and sepsis. During the past decade, the emergence of drug-resistant E. coli has dramatically increased. Because of this it has become harder to cure UTIs and the risks for treatment failure are higher, thus increasing hospital costs.

Almost 100% of the chickens we eat have drug-resistant bacteria on them because they are given antibiotics mixed with their feed. Because antibiotics make the animals grow faster, it is unlikely factory farms will give up this practice any time soon.

So what can be done? There are a variety of ways to approach the problem. More effectively fighting infection would be an important step. In Poland, they have found they could dramatically improve outcomes and reduce costs by using Phage Therapy instead of antibiotics. Not only is Phage Therapy cheaper, the reduced time that the patient has to stay in the hospital saves money.

Careful safety precautions help. If you eat chicken, make sure to cook it thoroughly. Wash your hands and disinfect all surfaces in the area where the chicken was prepared.

However, prevention is the key to solving this problem. Eliminating or strongly curtailing the use of antibiotics in meat production could do much toward reducing the incidence of drug-resistant bacteria, but as previously mentioned, this is unlikely to be a voluntary effort on the part of meat producers. Avoiding chicken certainly reduces your personal risk. Look into the benefits of a plant-based diet.

More informatiom on the Canadian study.

Burch Farms Recall Expanded to Honeydews

Burch Farms Recall Expanded to Honeydews

Burch Farms has increased their recall to include to include honeydew. These honeydew were not labeled. If you purchased a honeydew without a label, you can contact the store where it was purchased to see if it was part of the recall.

Because of unsanitary conditions in there packing shed, Burch Farms is expanding the recall to include everything that was packed there.

In other news, Jensen Farms - whose cantaloupe caused 30 deaths last year - has gone bankrupt and the government is investigating as to whether they should file criminal charges.

Onions and Cantaloupe Recalled Due to Listeria Contamination

The FDA found Listeria in onions produced by Gills Onions, LLC in a retail store. Later they found Listeria in one of their packing plants. Gills Onions, LLC is the largest producer of onions that are chopped, slivered, or peeled. They also produce chopped celery. They initiated a voluntary recall of all products made at this plant. Most of their products are used as ingredients in other products. Their products are distributed throughout the United States and Canada. You can check www.foodsafety.gov for more information on the recall.

They have not found any listeria in the other products that have been recalled. So far, no cases are reported of illness from the onions. Gills Onions, LLC has hired a bacteriologist to help them improve the safety of their products.

On Saturday, North Carolina's Burch Farms and Hannaford Supermarkets recalled 188,902
cantaloupes due to possible contamination with Listeria. These were shipped out between July 15 to July 27. The cantaloupes have a red label that reads 'Burch Farms' and 'Cantaloupe PLU 4319.' Some of the cantaloupe are branded as "Cottle Strawberry, Inc They were shipped to to FL, GA, IL, MD, ME, NC, NJ, NY, PA, SC and VA.

If you purchased on of these, please throw it out. So far no one has reported any illness from these cantaloupe.

Hopefully no one will get sick from these onions or cantaloupe, but. Listeria is very dangerous. Twenty percent of those who get a Listeria infection will die. Just last August, 33 died from Listeria-infected cantaloupe from Jenson Farms in Colorado.

This time, the FDA seems to have done a good job of protecting the American public. But they are working with their hands tied behind their back. Congress only gives the FDA enough money to inspect three percent of the produce that we eat.

Better Way to Treat Whooping Cough

The Center for Disease Control announced that in Washington State there was a 1300% increase in cases of whooping cough over 2011. As of July 14, they had 3014 reported cases, the most since 1942. They think the real number is much higher. The heartbreaking part of this is that babies and young children the ones most likely to die.

There is an increase in cases of whooping cough all over the United States, but not as dramatic as in Washington. Some think the bacteria causing whooping cough may have become more virulent. The Center for Disease Control feels they may have to have people vaccinated more often.

One of the problems is that adults do not get vaccinated. Even though adults don’t usually die from whooping cough, they can infect children. It is especially important that pregnant women should get vaccinated. Right now it is suggested that adults get vaccinated every 10 years, but considering the increase in cases that will likely be reduced in the near future.

The antibiotics used to treat children with whooping cough have many side effects. Here is an incomplete list to give you an idea of the problems:

• Azithromycin - diarrhea, nausea, fever, headache, blistering peeling red skin.

• Erythromycin - diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain,vomiting, arrhythmia, reversible deafness, anaphylaxis, psychotic reactions.
• Clarithromycin - diarrhea, nausea, severe allergic reactions, bloody stools,depression, dizziness, fast or irregular heartbeat, hallucinations, loss of taste or smell, red swollen blistered or peeling skin, tremor, and trouble sleeping.
• TMP-SMZ - allergic reactions, severe liver damage, renal failure, aseptic meningitis, hallucinations, apathy and shortness of breath.

One of the main reasons I am in favor of using Phage Therapy is because there are no side effects and there is less likelihood of secondary infections. Antibiotics kill good as well as bad bacteria. Many people are aware that good bacteria help us digest food, but the good bacteria also help our immune system fight off disease. Since Phage Therapy is very selective, it only kills the bacteria that is causing your illness.


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One Hundred Thousand Dead

One Hundred Thousand Dead

In Science Daily July 13,2011 they announced that one hundred thousand Americans will die from bacterial infections this year - that’s equivalent to the entire population of Burbank, CA. Unfortunately, the number of these unnecessary deaths will only continue to increase in the future as more bacteria becomes antibiotic-resistant. What can be done to stop this?

At the moment, food animals consume more antibiotics than humans. A recent report noted that 80% of the antibiotics used each year in the U.S. are used in livestock feed. We could slow the development of antibiotic-resistance by taking preventive antibiotics out of livestock feed and only giving the animals that are sick antibiotics. We can also stop giving antibiotics to patients with viral illnesses. Antibiotics are only effective against bacterial diseases, but often prescribed for viruses.

Overuse of antibiotics is not the only way that resistance spreads, however. Bacteria has two sets of DNA in each cell. If a resistant bacteria touches another bacteria, it can pass one set of its DNA to the adjacent bacteria thus spreading resistance. Also the resistance can spread to the offspring of a resistant bacteria. Another way of spreading bacterial resistance is through a virus called a bacteriophage. There are two types of bacteriophage (phage, for short): one of these, which is called lytic phage, kills bacteria, whereas the other, which is called temperate phage, will live in the bacteria and let the bacteria survive. This phage will reproduce itself in the offspring. When the bacteria becomes weak, this phage will leave the bacteria and infect other bacteria. Many times the temperate phage’s DNA will mix with the DNA of the bacteria and can spread resistance. With all the ways to spread resistance and all the overuse of antibiotics, resistance is increasing faster than ever.

So how can we stop bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics? One way might be with new and different antibiotic drugs. Right now, there are no new antibiotics being developed. Since the sixties there have been fewer and fewer of these drugs in development. It costs an estimated eight hundred million to bring an antibiotic to market; since some of the drugs will not get through the approval process, that eight hundred million may go for nothing. It is quite a risk to take for a medicine that will only be taken for two or three weeks. Congress is trying to pass a law to extend the length of a patent on antibiotics, giving the drug companies more incentive to develop them.

Of course, antibiotics have disadvantages other than resistance. Many times they are not effective in treating parts of the body where there is poor blood circulation. They also kill the beneficial bacteria in a body - such as the bacteria that helps us digest our food - along with the the disease-causing bacteria. This may lead to fungal infection in the lungs and other organs, or can cause secondary bacterial infections in people with weakened immune systems.

What if there were a solution other than antibiotics to fight stop the tide of infection-related deaths? In fact, there is a different way to fight bacterial infections - using lytic phage to kill bacteria. Phage therapy has been used for over 90 years with only minor side effects. Low blood circulation is not a problem. Killing beneficial bacteria is not a problem. Fungal infections are not a problem. Secondary bacterial infections are not a problem.

So why is this safe and effective therapy not used in the United States? Mostly because of the way our drugs are approved in this country, and because of a disrespect for scientific research done in the former USSR. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a “one size fits all” mentality. The phages that work well in Florida may not work as well in New York because different places have different bacteria. Even people in the same geographical area can have different bacteria. So because phage therapy cannot be tested using the same “formulation” for every infection, the FDA won’t accept the research showing the safety and efficacy of this solution.

What I want to achieve with this blog is to spread awareness of the problem. I want to get other people’s ideas on how to solve this issue. I want to get other people involved in spreading the word - to find people willing to talk to their congressman. I want to see the day when we are not losing 100,000 people a year needlessly! Leave a message on the blog and I will get back to you,

Tuberculosis taking over from AIDS as #1

In April 2012, an outbreak of tuberculosis began in Jacksonville, Florida. There were 99 cases with 13 deaths -- the largest outbreak in the United States in the last 20 years. Because only a small portion of the people that were exposed have been tested, more cases are expected. This outbreak took place in the homeless community, which is very mobile, so we can expect more case throughout Florida and in other states.

In the United States, 5 to 10% of the population is infected with the bacteria that cause tuberculosis. Most of the infected individuals do not show any symptoms. Their immune system is protecting them. As with most bacterial diseases, children under 6, seniors over 65, and people with a compromised immune system are more vulnerable. It is important to treat people without symptoms because about 5 to 10% of them will come down with tuberculosis within 10 years. There is a tuberculosis vaccine, but it is not totally effective.

Many tuberculosis bacteria strains are becoming resistant to multiple antibiotics. This makes it harder to treat the disease. The treatment for tuberculosis can require up to two years of antibiotic treatment. If someone stops taking the drugs during this period, the bacteria can develop resistance to the drugs that are being taken. To prevent this, health departments send workers to the patients’ houses each day to make sure they take their meds. People who are hard to manage are usually hospitalized. Even with antibiotics, 10% of those who contract tuberculosis will die.

In people who do not get antibiotic treatment, there is a 50% death rate. In Italy, Iran and India they have a strain of tuberculosis that is totally drug-resistant. They have no way to treat it. Tuberculosis is the second most deadly disease on Earth, second only to AIDS. With the advent of totally drug-resistant tuberculosis, it is likely to become #1. It is only a matter of time before it spreads over the whole world.

There is an answer to this problem. It was used in the United States in the 1930’s before the advent of penicillin. It is called Phage Therapy. Phage is short for bacteriophage, a virus that kills bacteria. The great thing about phage is that, like bacteria, it mutates. So when bacteria develops resistance, phage can mutate to a form that will kill the bacteria. In most cases, a new phage can be found within a few weeks.

Worldwide, deaths from malaria have dropped in half. We can now cure 90% of stage one cancer. The lifespan of humans is longer than ever before. It’s a shame to go backwards because of drug-resistant bacteria. There are already several bacteria that are resistant to all but one antibiotic. The World Health Organization stated that in the near future our current antibiotics won’t work. The time to bring back phage therapy is now.