I wash my hands more than 30 times a day, do you? January 3, 2008
Posted by healthandsurvival in Infectious Disease, health, medicine.Tags: chest cold, colds, flus, head cold, infections, Life
1 comment so far
Washing your hands is the best way to prevent infections this time of the year. I literally wash my hands 30 times a days seeing patients, maybe more. I try not to shake too many hands so I won’t spread anything they did not come in with. There is definitely a lot of head colds, chest colds and stomach flus going on this time of the year, prevention is the best medicine and the best way to stay healthy and survive.
—
HealthDay Reporter 1 hour, 36 minutes ago
THURSDAY, Jan. 3 (HealthDay News) — The highly contagious norovirus, often called the stomach flu, can be passed from one person to another through contact with commonly shared items such as computer keyboards and computer mice, U.S. health officials report.
On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on a norovirus outbreak at a Washington, D.C., elementary school last February in which some of the victims picked up the virus from contaminated computer equipment.
“There is evidence that shared objects and surfaces help transmit disease,” said Dr. Shua Chai, a CDC epidemiologist and co-author of the report, published in the Jan. 4 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
“This is the first time that we have demonstrated that keyboards and computer mice can be a source of transmission of norovirus,” he added.
Of the 314 students and 66 staffers at the D.C. school, 103 came down with the illness — 79 students and 24 staff members. To find the sources of contamination, samples were taken from various surfaces around the school. In one first-grade classroom, a computer mouse and keyboard tested positive for norovirus, according to the report.
The virus can live on surfaces for several days, Chai said. To prevent infection with the virus, people should wash their hands after using shared objects, and computer keyboards and mice should be disinfected regularly with diluted bleach, he said.
“In addition, people who are ill should stay home for one to three days after they have had their last symptom, because they continue to shed the virus and can still contaminate objects,” Chai added.
One infectious disease expert said norovirus is a common infection, second only to the common cold.
“These outbreaks are extremely common, and they occur in a variety of settings,” said Dr. Pascal James Imperato, distinguished service professor, chairman of the department of preventive medicine and community health, and director of the master of public health program at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, in New York City.
Most outbreaks are food-borne, Imperato said. “A smaller percentage are due to person-to-person contact, and an even smaller proportion are water-borne,” he said. “Outbreaks in schools account for about 12 percent of all the outbreaks.”
Contamination of surfaces such as computer keyboards is fairly common, Imperato added.
Norovirus causes severe vomiting and diarrhea that can last for several days. The virus is usually not serious, and most people get better without treatment. However, it can be life-threatening to infants, older people and those with weakened immune systems.
In New York City, an outbreak of norovirus has been ongoing since November. Some 500 infected people have been showing up each day at emergency rooms around the city, health department officials said.
“The best way to stop the spread of norovirus is to wash your hands regularly with soap and stay home from work or school if you are sick,” Dr. Sharon Balter, director of enteric disease for the New York City Health Department’s Bureau of Communicable Disease, said in a prepared statement. “Norovirus is common at this time of year and is not serious for most people, but it is important to take these steps to keep others from getting sick.”
Imperato agreed. “Hand-washing remains the foundation of preventing the spread of norovirus,” he said.
More information
For more on norovirus, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Democrats want more health insurance for children, Bush says no January 3, 2008
Posted by healthandsurvival in Politics and Medicine, health, medicine.Tags: bush, democrats, health, insurance, republicans
add a comment
CRAWFORD, Texas – President Bush on Saturday signed legislation that extends a popular children’s health insurance program after twice vetoing attempts to expand it. Politically, the move was a victory for Bush, although Democrats say it will come back to hurt Republicans at the polls.
The extension of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program is expected to provide states with enough money to cover those enrolled through March 2009. Bush and some Republican lawmakers say the program will still serve those that it should: children from families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance.
“We’re pleased that the program will be extended and that states can be certain of their funding,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.
Yet many Democrats — with help from other Republicans — wanted to give the program a significant cash infusion and broaden coverage to an estimated 4 million children. They overwhelmingly supported use of a tobacco tax increase to pay for the expansion.
The matter came to dominate legislative debate and further sour relations between the Democratic leadership and Bush this year. Twice, Bush vetoed bills that would have expanded the government-provided health insurance for children.
The Democratic-pushed bills would have expanded the program by $35 billion . Bush said the legislation did not put the neediest children first. He opposed the tax increase and, more broadly, fought against what he saw as a movement toward more government health coverage.
The joint federal-state program currently provides benefits to roughly 6 million people, mostly children. Democratic lawmakers plan to try again to expand enrollment.
Got Milk? Don’t drink it, throw it away… it does not do the body good but may harm it. January 3, 2008
Posted by healthandsurvival in Diet and Nutrition, Diseases, medicine.Tags: cancer, growth hormone, Life, milk, prostate cancer, Survival
add a comment
Good thing I don’t go out of my way to recommend milk to my patients. Actually, I usually discourage it. I have always felt that the growth hormone in milk may be a problem. Bovine Growth Hormone is usually given to cows to help increase their milk production. The more milk a cow makes, the milk money… Perhaps milk does not do the body good after all! It may actually harm you..
———
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The amount of calcium and vitamin D in the diet appears to have little or no impact on the risk of prostate cancer, but the consumption of low-fat or nonfat milk may increase the risk of the malignancy, according to the results of two studies published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. ADVERTISEMENT Dietary calcium and dairy products have been thought to increase the risk of prostate cancer by affecting vitamin D metabolism. Data from several prospective studies have supported an association, but many other studies have failed to establish a link. To explore this topic further, Dr. Song-Yi Park, from the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, and colleagues, analyzed data from subjects enrolled in the Multiethnic Cohort Study. This study, conducted between 1993 and 2002, included adults between 45 and 75 years old, were primarily from five different ethnic or racial groups, and lived in California or Hawaii. A total of 82,483 men from the study completed a quantitative food frequency questionnaire and various factors, such as weight, smoking status, and education levels were also noted, Park’s group said. During an average follow-up period of 8 years, 4,404 men developed prostate cancer. There was no evidence that calcium or vitamin D from any source increased the risk of prostate cancer. This held true across all racial and ethnic groups. In an overall analysis of food groups, the consumption of dairy products and milk were not associated with prostate cancer risk, the authors found. Further analysis, however, suggested that low-fat or nonfat milk did increase the risk of localized tumors or non-aggressive tumors, while whole milk decreased this risk. In a similar analysis, Dr. Yikyung Park, from the National Cancer Institute at National Institutes (NIH) of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues investigated the relationship of calcium and vitamin D and prostate cancer in 293,888 men enrolled in the NIH-American Association of Retired Persons Diet and Health Study, conducted between 1995 and 2001. The average follow-up period was 6 years. No link between total or supplemental dietary calcium and the total number of non-advanced prostate cancer cases was noted. Total calcium intake was tied to advanced and fatal disease, but both associations fell short of statistical significance. Similar to the first study’s findings, skim milk was linked with advanced prostate cancer. Calcium from non-dairy food, by contrast, was tied to a reduced risk of non-advanced prostate cancer. “Our findings do not provide strong support for the hypothesis that calcium and dairy foods increase the risk of prostate cancer. The results from other large…studies, with adequate numbers of advanced and fatal prostate cancers, may shed further light on this question,” Park’s team concludes.
SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, December 1, 2008.
