Tips For Your Family's Health

WASHINGTON AP — Sprouts from the sandwich chain Jimmy John’s have been linked to an outbreak of foodborne illness — again

    The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that 12 cases of E coli poisoning in five states are linked to clover sprouts eaten at Jimmy John’s restaurants The outbreak comes a year after sprouts from one of the chain’s suppliers were linked to 140 salmonella illnesses Sprouts from the chain were also linked to a 2009 salmonella outbreak in several Midwestern states and were suspected in an E coli outbreak in Colorado in 2008     The CDC reports more than 30 sprout outbreaks in the last 15 years Sprouts need warm and humid conditions to grow, encouraging bacterial growth     Illnesses were reported in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Wisconsin

Midlothian Council has been hit with a £140,000 fine after its social services department sent sensitive information about children and their families to the wrong recipients on five separate occasions.

The five serious data breaches occurred between January and June 2011. In one case, papers relating to the status of a foster carer were sent to seven healthcare professionals, who had no reason to see the information.

In another, minutes of a child protection conference were sent in error to the former address of a mother’s partner, where they were opened and read by his ex-partner. Th

Full Post…

Doing yoga in a room heated to between 90 and 105 degrees — known as “hot yoga” — is increasing in popularity, but it may not be for everyone, an expert warns.

Exertion in high temperatures may be dangerous for people with certain health conditions, said Diana Zotos, a yoga instructor and physical therapist in the rehabilitation department at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

“If you have sensitivity to heat, if you’ve ever had heat stroke or tend to get fatigued, dizzy or dehydrated quickly, you should ask your doctor before starting hot yoga,” cautioned Zotos in a hospital news release.

Full Post…

When he was diagnosed 10 years ago, Kovacic promptly informed the hospital where he worked as a nurse.

“They kept transferring me from post to post. Finally, when they wanted me to work in the hospital archives, a woman working there threatened to resign if I came,” he said.

“I realized that I had nothing to do there,” 43-year-old Kovacic said. Instead he turned to disability benefits for the chronically ill, which he began receiving six years ago.

He is now an official of USOP, an umbrella group of Serbian organizations helping people with HIV/AIDS.

“Because of stigma and discrimination, people sometimes do not tell anyone that they are HIV-positive,” Kovacic said. “Knowing wh

Full Post…

>

KANSAS CITY, Mo AP — Four cases of infants sickened by a rare bacteria sometimes linked to powdered formula, including two who died, are not related and parents can continue using the products to feed their babies, two federal agencies announced Friday

Scientists with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration tested various types of powdered infant formula and distilled water, known as nursing water, and found no cases of contamination by Cronobacter sakazakii

Four babies, including one in Missouri and another in Florida who died, were sickened by the bacteria that are found naturally in the environment and in plants such as wheat and rice Cronobacter also has been traced to dried milk and powdered formula

Two other babies, in Illinois and Oklahoma, were sickened by the bacteria but survived

The Missouri baby, Avery Cornett of Lebanon, Mo, died earlier this month after appearing lethargic and displaying what his family said were signs of a stomach ache Tests at a Springfield hospital showed he had Cronobacter, and he died a few days later after being removed from life support

The infection can be treated with antibiotics, but it’s deemed extremely dangerous to babies less than 1 month old and those born premature

Avery’s death prompted the CDC to ask public health officials from around the country to look for other cases of Cronobacter infection among infants That request generated reports from three other states about their cases

Avery’s case also prompted Wal-Mart and several other national retailers to pull Enfamil Newborn formula, which Avery had consumed before getting sick, from 3,000 stores until the batches could be tested for contamination Those tests came back negative, CDC announced Friday

“The FDA tested factory sealed containers of powdered infant formula and nursery water with the same lot numbers as the opened containers collected from Missouri and no Cronobacter bacteria were found,” the FDA said

Powdered infant formula is not sterile, and experts have said there are not adequate methods to completely remove or kill all bacteria that might creep into formula before or during production

The FDA said it gets four to six reports a year of infant infections related to formula and has not found a powder that tested positive since 2002 The CDC said with recent increased awareness of the illness, it has received 12 cases in 2011

“CDC laboratory tests of samples provided by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services found Cronobacter bacteria in an opened container of infant formula, an opened bottle of nursery water and prepared infant formula,” the agency said Friday “It is unclear how the contamination occurred”

CDC also tested bacteria in the Illinois case and found it differed genetically from that found in the Missouri case It said bacteria from the Oklahoma and Florida cases were not available for testing

The national IT system that allows professionals to record details of assessments for children and young people is to be scrapped.

Children’s minister Tim Loughton confirmed plans to decommission the national electronic common assessment framework (eCAF) system in a statement to parliament.

The government had been consulting on getting rid of the system since the Munro report into child protection argued that nationally prescribed IT systems constrain local innovation.

Officials also carried out a “market sounding exercise” to see if a private company would take over the running of the system from government, but no suitable company was found.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said: “The consultation and market sounding exercise have not provided compelling evidence that the government should continue to fund the national eCAF system. <

Full Post…