05/11/18

Friday, May 11, 2018

Day care center closed in typhoid scare

Students and staff at Bright Horizons day care and preschool in North Quincy, Massachusetts, are being tested for possible exposure after a child was diagnosed with typhoid. Christina Hager of CBS Boston station WBZ reports.

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/day-care-center-closed-in-typhoid-scare/

Products for Black Women May Disrupt Hormones

Eleven products contained seven chemicals prohibited in the European Union or regulated under California's Proposition 65. Hair relaxers marketed for children had the highest levels of five such chemicals, the report said.

From: https://www.webmd.com/beauty/news/20180511/products-for-black-women-may-disrupt-hormones?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Typhoid scare at day care after child diagnosed

Officials were told that the child had traveled abroad recently

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/child-in-massachusetts-diagnosed-with-typhoid-fever/

Update on Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo - 11 May 2018

From: World Health Organization https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_oHJ-qUyGs

Program aims to get NYC foster kids easier access to dental care

New York — Children in foster care are expected to have easier access to dental care thanks to a partnership announced in May between the New York City Administration for Children’s Services and the New York University College of Dentistry.

From:

By Michelle Manchir

https://www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2018-archive/may/program-aims-to-get-nyc-foster-kids-easier-access-to-dental-care

Depression Striking More Young People Than Ever

Diagnosis rates in 2016 varied by as much as 300 percent between states, from a high of 6.4 percent in Rhode Island to lows of 2.1 percent in Hawaii and 3.2 percent in Nevada.

From: https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20180511/depression-striking-more-young-people-than-ever?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Deadly Falls On the Rise Among U.S. Seniors

Across the nation, the rate of deaths from falls among those 65 and older increased 31 percent from 2007 to 2016 -- from about 18,000 to nearly 30,000, researchers found.

From: https://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/news/20180511/deadly-falls-on-the-rise-among-us-seniors?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Bone Drug 'Holiday' May Raise Fracture Risk

Bisphosphonates, such as alendronate (Fosamax) and risedronate (Actonel), are the most widely prescribed osteoporosis drugs. They are designed to slow or prevent bone loss.

From: https://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/news/20180511/bone-drug-holiday-may-raise-fracture-risk?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Mayo Clinic Minute: A nation seeking over-the-counter pain relief

From: Mayo Clinic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3SxZfqcIQc

EPA moves forward with possible ban on deadly chemical found in paint strippers

CBS News correspondent Anna Werner joins CBSN to talk about the latest move by the EPA, which is once again considering a ban on a chemical found in paint strippers.

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/epa-moves-forward-with-possible-ban-on-deadly-chemical-found-in-paint-strippers/

Babies prefer sounds of other babies

A new study found 5-month-old infants spent 40 percent longer listening to other infants than to adults making the same sounds

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/babies-prefer-sounds-of-other-babies-to-adults-cooing-study-finds/

How depressed is your state?

New data shows wide geographic differences in the diagnosis of major depression, and one age group is hit especially hard

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-depressed-is-your-state/

More Illnesses in Salmonella Outbreak Tied to Eggs

Since its last update on April 19, 12 more illnesses have been reported, the CDC said.

From: https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/food-poisoning/news/20180511/more-illnesses-in-salmonella-outbreak-tied-to-eggs?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Massage Therapy for Children

From: Mayo Clinic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw4Uf9Y3wyU

Alcohol, Tobacco More Harmful Than Illegal Drugs

Worldwide, more than one in seven adults smoke tobacco, and one in five reports at least one occasion of heavy drinking in the past month, the review of 2015 data found.

From: https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/news/20180511/alcohol-tobacco-more-harmful-than-illegal-drugs?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Cancer Docs Seek More Study of Medical Marijuana

Seven out of 10 oncologists surveyed in the United States said they aren't informed enough about the risks and benefits of medical marijuana to recommend its use to patients, according to findings published May 10 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

From: https://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20180510/cancer-docs-seek-more-study-of-medical-marijuana?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Once again, EPA considers ban on deadly paint stripper chemical

EPA is once again considering a ban of a potentially deadly chemical found in paint strippers. Earlier this year, the Trump administration was backing away from banning methylene chloride. The Obama administration first proposed the ban. Anna Werner reports on how pressure from families who lost loved ones helped influence the agency.

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/once-again-epa-considers-ban-on-deadly-paint-stripper-chemical/

The bacterial horror of hot-air hand dryers

Follow me on Twitter @JohnRossMD

If you’re the kind of person who avoids public bathrooms at all costs, you may feel validated, as well as disturbed, by a new study from researchers at the University of Connecticut and Quinnipiac University. They suspected that hot-air hand dryers in public restrooms might be sucking up bacteria from the air, and dumping them on the newly washed hands of unsuspecting patrons.

To test this theory, scientists exposed petri dishes to bathroom air under different conditions and took them back to the microbiology laboratory to look for bacterial growth. Petri dishes exposed to bathroom air for two minutes with the hand dryers off only grew one colony of bacteria, or none at all. However, petri dishes exposed to hot air from a bathroom hand dryer for 30 seconds grew up to 254 colonies of bacteria (though most had from 18 to 60 colonies of bacteria).

Were the bacteria multiplying inside the hand dryers, or were they being pulled into the hand dryers from the air inside the bathroom? To answer this question, the researchers attached high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters to the dryers, which would eliminate most of the bacteria from the air passing through the dryer. When they exposed petri dishes to air from the hand dryers again, the quantity of bacteria in the dishes had fallen by 75%. As well, the researchers found minimal amounts of bacteria on the nozzles of the hand dryers. They concluded that most of the bacterial splatter from the hand dryers had come from the washroom air.

How did the bacteria get into the air in the first place? Unfortunately, every time a lidless toilet is flushed, it aerosolizes a fine mist of microbes. This fecal cloud may disperse over an area as large as six square meters (65 square feet). Aerosols from flushed toilets may be especially harmful in the hospital setting as a means of spreading Clostridium difficile.

Is there any good news from this study? Well, the vast majority of the microbes that were detected do not cause disease in healthy people, with the exception of Staphylococcus aureus. Some of the bathroom bacteria, such as Acinetobacter, only cause infections in people in the hospital, or in those with weak immune systems. The others that were found are relatively harmless. In addition, air from real-world bathrooms may contain fewer bacteria than the bathrooms in the study. The sampled restrooms were located in a university health sciences building, and at least some of the bacteria came from experiments going on in laboratories within the building.

So what’s a person to do to avoid picking up bacteria in a bathroom? You should still dry your hands, as not drying them after washing them helps bacteria to survive on them. Paper towels are the most hygienic way to dry your hands. For this reason, use of paper towels is already routine in health care settings. You may also wish to avoid jet air dryers, which have also been associated with the spread of germs in bathrooms. And remember that your chances of picking up a serious pathogen in a restroom are small. Direct contact with other people is much more likely as a means of acquiring infection.

The post The bacterial horror of hot-air hand dryers appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

From: John Ross, MD, FIDSA https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-bacterial-horror-of-the-hot-air-hand-dryer-2018051113823

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