1/23/14 Health News: Salmonella Biofilms Resists Disinfectants - Concussions Diagnosed on Sports Field - Toxin Kills of HIV- Mediterranean Diet Cuts Type 2 Diabetes

SALMONELLA BIOFILMS EXTREMELY RESISTANT TO DISINFECTANTS

Researchers have discovered that common disinfectants face an uphill battle killing Salmonella once it has had the time to form a biofilm – a community of cells that attach to each other and a surface, increasing the density of bacterial growth and providing support from harsh environments. Researchers at the National University of Ireland, Galway,... Continue Reading

A New Blood Test to Diagnose Concussions on the Sports Field

A protein could signal the first signs of brain changes due to a concussion.

With a finger-stick and a drop of blood, researchers from the University of Rochester say it may be possible to tell whether a player experienced a concussion. Levels of the brain protein S100B start to rise with intense exertion, but also after a major impact such as a blow to the head. So the scientists investigated whether it would be possible to distinguish the two circumstances in hopes of finding a way to detect the first signs of traumatic brain injury. Based on their findings, the researchers concluded that a rise in S100B of more than 45% is nearly equivalent to a concussion diagnosis, and easily distinguishable from physical exertion..continue reading

Toxin Shows Promise in Killing Off Lurking HIV

An antibody and toxin mix has successfully detected and killed HIV-infected cells lurking in the organs and bone marrow of mice that were altered to have a human immune system. The results, reported offer conceptual proof that a reservoir of HIV-infected cells in organs can sought out and destroyed, a scenario that would potentially end the stalemate between the virus and antiretroviral drug therapies. The altered mice, developed about eight years ago, can be infected by the human immunodeficiency virus in an identical manner to humans; they exhibit the same viremia and respond the same way to current antiretroviral drug therapy, but do not come down with AIDS, according to the study.Continue Reading

Mediterranean Diet Cuts Type 2 Diabetes Risk by a Third

A Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil cut the risk for developing type 2 diabetes by about a third among adults at high risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared with a low-fat diet, a new analysis finds. The results, from the subgroup of subjects in the Spanish cardiovascular prevention study Prevencion con Dieta Mediterránea who did not have diabetes at baseline Source:.continue reading

South Dakota Raw Milk Recalled Due to Listeria

The South Dakota Department of Agriculture (SDDA) is reporting listeria in a sampling of bottled raw (unpasteurized) milk from Jerseydale Farms near Brookings, S.D.

The South Dakota Department of Agriculture advises consumers that bottled raw milk recently purchased from this business may contain harmful bacteria that can lead to listeria infection.

According to the South Dakota Department of Health, listeria can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people and individuals with weakened immune systems. Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. A person with listeriosis may have fever, muscle aches and sometimes nausea or diarrhea. If infection spreads to the nervous system, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance or convulsions can occur.

The contaminated bottled raw milk was sold in the Brookings County area. If you have purchased this bottled raw milk, SDDA advises the product be discarded or returned.

Smoked Salmon Stix Recalled Due to Listeria

Lochiel Enterprises Limited of Sherbrooke, NS is voluntarily recalling 56 lbs of ST MARY’S RIVER SMOKEHOUSES OVEN SMOKED ATLANTIC SALMON STIX, CHILI MANGO FLAVOR, because it has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

St Mary’s River Smokehouses Oven Smoked Atlantic Salmon Stix, Chili Mango Flavor was distributed in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont and New York through retail stores.

The product comes in a 4oz, black Styrofoam tray with an outer sleeve bearing the UPC Code 6 2642510092 9. The recall is specific to product marked with the production code 347 31## on a sticker on the end of the styrofoam tray.

The recall was the result of a routine sampling program by FDA which revealed that samples of the finished products contained the bacteria. Lochiel Enterprises Limited has voluntarily initiated the recall and is continuing its investigation.

Consumers who have purchased the product are urged to return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers with questions may contact the company at 1 902 522-2005.

Syphilis Cases on the Rise in South Dakota

South Dakota Department of Health officials say the number of syphilis cases reported in the state last year [2013] was the most in 44 years. State epidemiologist Lon Kightlinger labeled as "very disheartening" an annual summary of infectious diseases in South Dakota showing that 48 syphilis cases were reported in 2013.

"Through most of the 1990s and the 2000s, we didn't have any or one or 2 cases in a year," Kightlinger told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader (http://argusne.ws/1mkcf2O).

The most reports of the sexually transmitted disease were in the Sioux Falls area, the largest population area in the state, with 23 cases, and Corson County, where the Standing Rock Reservation is located. Standing Rock reported 14 cases.

The Sioux Falls cases involve mostly men, and the Corson County cases both men and women. Kightlinger said people coming to Sioux Falls and having anonymous sex are largely responsible for the spread of the disease in the state, and Corson County represents the disease going through a specific population.

"Somebody goes someplace, gets syphilis and brings it home," he said. "They're having sex with somebody at home, and it's not recognized right away. That person has sex. It's like a spider web." The Standing Rock Reservation straddles North and South Dakota.

Kightlinger said health officials are particularly worried about the syphilis increase because unlike some other diseases where outbreaks can be controlled by eliminating specific sources of contamination, "there's so much personal choice involved." Left untreated, the disease can affect the liver, nervous system, and brain, and it can be transmitted by pregnant women to their fetuses. Sioux Falls public health officials said they would be looking at grant funding to deal with disease outbreak prevention.

"If we know a disease is in the community, it provides us an opportunity to drive an education program," Sioux Falls public health manager Sandy Frentz said. "It's part of the picture of overall community health. How can we impact community health through prevention and education?"

Great Britain: Jelly Mini-cups Recalled

New Choice brand 'Mini Fruity Gels' (jelly mini-cups) - potential choking hazard.During a routine inspection of a Vietnamese supermarket in the London area, an environmental health officer discovered 'New Choice' brand 'Mini Fruity Gels' on sale.

Jelly mini-cups are not permitted to contain a number of additives, including 'alginic acid' , 'agar' , 'Carrageenan' and 'processed euchema seaweed' as they may pose a choking hazard. As these additives are included in this product they are in breach of the legislation.

Despite investigations by the enforcement authorities, it has not been possible to obtain full distribution details or product traceability records for these products.

This Recall includes all dates and batch codes. If you have purchased any products with the above packaging information, please do not eat them.

The use in jelly mini-cups of certain additives specified in Annex II of Regulation 1333/2008 is prohibited, jelly mini-cups are defined as 'confectionery of a firm consistence, contained in semi-rigid mini-cups or mini-capsules, intended to be ingested in a single bite by exerting pressure on the mini-cup or mini-capsule to project the confectionery into the mouth'.

In addition, the use of konjac in all jelly confectionery, including jelly mini-cups, and the sale of such confectionery, is prohibited under Regulation 1333/2008. These provisions are enforced by way of The Food Additives, Flavourings, Enzymes and Extraction Solvents (England) Regulations 2013.

Label of Mini Fruity Gels

1/22/14 Health News: "Mad Cow Disease" in Germany - Screening Pregnant Women for Diabetes - New Blood for Heart Attack,

GERMANY IDENTIFIES FIRST ‘MAD COW’ CASE SINCE 2009

German officials have identified one beef cow with a case of bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE), the fatal neurological disorder also known as “Mad Cow Disease.” This is Germany’s first reported case since 2009. The cow was killed and its body destroyed, with none of the meat entering the human food chain. Health officials said that... Continue Reading

New ‘Sunshine Act’ Requirements Will Track and Publish Financial Relationships Providers Have With Healthcare Vendors

Some physicians fear disclosure of payments by drug and medical device companies could damage patient confidence and physician-patient relationships. Over the course of 2014, pathologists and medical laboratory managers will experience a different relationship with in vitro diagnostic (IVD) manufacturers and other lab industry vendors. That’s because a new federal law requires vendors to publicly disclose financial and other arrangements they have with providers. That law is the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, and it became effective on August 21, 2013. The intent of this new law is to shed light on financial aspects of relationships between physicians and healthcare vendors.Continue reading

Screen All Pregnant Women for Diabetes, Task Force Says

All pregnant women should be screened for gestational diabetes, an independent task force advised, endorsing a test that most doctors routinely perform. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force found an overall benefit to screening and treatment, including a reduced risk of preeclampsia in pregnant patients and of having an overly large baby and birth-related injuries to the newborn. The task force’s recommendation noted that 96 percent of obstetricians screen for the condition, and that other medical groups also recommend screening. The group said women with no history of diabetes should be screened after 24 weeks of pregnancy.Continue Reading

New Blood Test for Heart Attack?

A blood test might eventually help detect the early stages of a heart attack, and another challenger to warfarin takes its case to the FDA. Early clinical results suggested that it might be possible to develop a blood test to determine who is at the highest immediate risk for a myocardial infarction.Source continue reading

Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Attacks South Africans

Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) appears to be spreading in South Africa, fueled by patients who are discharged despite failing therapy, researchers reported.

In a prospective cohort of patients with XDR-TB [1], most patients died and only a handful were cured, according to Keertan Dheda, PhD, of University of Cape Town in South Africa, and colleagues.

About 40 percent were eventually discharged into the community and of those, almost half had failed treatment and remained alive and contagious for a median of 19.8 months, Dheda and colleagues reported online in The Lancet

Analysis showed clusters of new cases and transmission within families containing a patient who had failed therapy. Dheda said in a statement, the study shows that "treatment failure and discharge of such patients into the wider community, is occurring systematically on a countrywide level in South Africa."

The problem, he said, is that "little bed space is available in designated tuberculosis hospitals, and alternative long-term residential and palliative care facilities are scarce." The study is a "stark reminder" of the threat of drug-resistant TB, argued Max O'Donnell, MD, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine.and Neil Schluger, MD, of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, both in New York City

In an accompanying Comment article, O'Donnell and Schluger noted that global TB control efforts have resulted in modest gains in the past decade, but drug resistance threatens to reverse those improvements . Drug-resistant TB "is an out-of-control problem with potentially vast and devastating repercussions for global public health," they argued.

Most cases of TB succumb to a regimen consisting of isoniazid (Nydrazid), rifampin (Rifadin), ethambutol (Myambutol), and pyrazinamide for 8 weeks, followed by isoniazid and rifampin for another 18 weeks. But multidrug resistant-TB (MDR-TB) -- defined by resistance to [at least] isoniazid and rifampin -- is more difficult to treat. Still more difficult is XDR-TB, defined by resistance to isoniazid and rifampin, as well as any fluoroquinolone and at least one of 3 injectable 2nd-line drugs, such as amikacin (Amikin), kanamycin (Kantrex), or capreomycin (Capastat).

Between March 2008 and August 2012, Dheda and colleagues followed 107 patients from 3 provinces in South Africa who had been diagnosed with XDR-TB between August 2002 and February 2008. The study is a follow-up to a retrospective analysis, including many of the same patients, that was reported in 2010.

All were treated empirically as inpatients with a median of 8 drugs; genotypic testing of a subset of patients showed resistance to at least 8 drugs and in one case resistance to all 10 drugs that were tried.

After 60 months, the researchers reported, just 12 patients had a favorable outcome. Another 78 had died, 4 had interrupted treatment, and 11 remained alive but were considered to have failed treatment -- they remained TB culture-positive despite at least 12 months of therapy.

Patients who ran out of therapeutic options were discharged, Dheda and colleagues reported, after a median treatment duration of 22 months. All told, 56 patients died in the hospital, 6 transferred out of the region, and 45 patients were discharged.

Of those discharged, 19 had failed treatment and a third of those were smear-microscopy-positive at discharge. Their median survival was 19.84 months. "These patients can survive for months or even years, and are contributing to the community-based spread of XDR-TB," Dheda said.

Indeed, he and colleagues reported, DNA fingerprinting showed that in one instance an XDR-TB patient, who had failed treatment and been discharged, infected his brother who later died.

What's needed, O'Donnell and Schluger argued, are "major new investments in drug development, diagnostics, and operational research." But, they noted, global TB research budgets are shrinking, so that "the situation regarding MDR and XDR-TB is bleak."

Source ProMED-mail