Public Health links...

PUBLIC HEALTH INFO & LINKS...

August 14, 2009 Update

Effective today I'm no longer providing updates on this page, as I am now using Facebook to track this type of information on my website. Facebook is simply much more efficient, organized, and looks better too!! I will continue to keep this page available, but it will no longer be accessible from my home page, nor will I add any further content to it. You can find these types of public health articles and much more on my Facebook page, which is public. You only need to have a Facebook account in order to view the content on my Facebook. My Facebook is accessible from my home page.

Nationwide Lettuce recall - Salmonella

July 24, 2009 Update

A California company has announced a nationwide lettuce recall due to salmonella found in some lettuce in Wisconsin. At this time, this is only a voluntary recall, but expect that it might grow to a mandatory recall at some point next week - that's what often happens in these cases. The article only references romaine lettuce, not other types of lettuce like iceberg, but to be on the safe side you might want to lay off the lettuce for a few weeks until this blows over. See article below.

Maricopa County Salmonella Outbreak protocol

June 30, 2009 Update

I learned today how the protocol works for salmonella outbreaks in Maricopa County (through an epidemiology contact I have there) - it's actually the "Environmental Specialists" that are sent out to collect information on questionable food samples and to "inspect" restaurants (assuming of course that this is a salmonella outbreak in a restaurant, like we had at El Pollo Loco in Phoenix a few months back). The Epidemiology group at the county health department calls customers that have filed complaints and gathers data about the types of foods they consumed and the date along with when they first noticed symptoms and when they went to their physician or a hospital. This data helps pinpoint when & where the outbreak occurred. However, though the data is collected, the county health department at this time is not really doing anything with that data in terms of trends analysis. It would be interesting I think to compile all of that data on past salmonella cases to look for trends that might predict future salmonella outbreaks. But of course due to budgetary constraints and lack of staff, they are not able to do this. But I think a project such as this would be interesting and certainly useful from an epidemiology perspective.

June 11, 2009 Update

Today the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the N1H1 Flu to be a global pandemic. This is the first such global pandemic announcement in more than 40 years. I'm not sure it is quite warranted however. Yes, many nations have been affected, but still the death toll from this flu doesn't seem to be anymore serious than seasonal flu, although people are contracting it after the end of the traditional flu season. I suppose it's better to be safe than sorry, and by announcing it as a global pandemic, information can be gathered about the flu that otherwise might not occur. However, at this time there really isn't any indication that this is a particularly deadly flu. Both the CDC and the WHO website contain information and numbers on the N1H1 flu.

May 6, 2009 Update

So, it seems now a mere week later that we learn that this Swine Flu (now known as the H1N1 Flu) was really blown out of proportion! Both the media and CDC seem to be covering for one another (lol) indicating that it was a good idea to take these precautionary measures and to have widespread media coverage. However, this flu strain doesn't appear to be anymore serious than the typical seasonal flu strain. Many thousands of Americans die every year from the flu, usually young, elderly and those with other underlying health issues. The "regular flu" is no joke! And even those reported 86 deaths in Mexico have now been reviewed and it determined than less than 25 of them were due to the Swine Flu. Very suspicious I think! Either incompetence on the part of those parties that didn't carefully analyze the situation in Mexico, or there was an overreaction on both the media's part and the CDC's part, or we are looking at some sort of cover-up. Perhaps this was a "training exercise" in the event that we are under some sort of bioweapons attack. Many people don't realize that bioweapons sometimes are difficult to distinguish if the cause is "natural" or the result of an "intentional attack." So just maybe this was an opportunity for our Government to see how the media and the CDC along with local public health agencies (like the one I work for!) handle this sort of possible crisis. At any rate, the media swoon over what appears to be just another seasonal flu strain has quieted.

Swine Flu EmergencyApril 26, 2009 Update
By now if you are reading this, you've probably already heard of the Swine Flu outbreak, which has resulted in a reported 86 deaths in Mexico at last report on MSNBC's website (see link below) and 20 confirmed cases in America. Cases have also been reported in Canada and New Zealand, causing concern that this could be some type of global pandemic.
Salmonella Outbreak, Peanut Butter February 14, 2009 Update
Well, some good news reported today by the Wall Street Journal in their weekend edition. They are reporting that Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) will now be closing their last operating plant in Virginia along with the other plants in Atlanta and Texas that have already been closed by the FDA. And the company has filed for bankruptcy. So hopefully we have seen the last of PCA. The Wall Street Journal reported that PCA was aware of positive salmonella tests dating back as far as three years ago and shipped these products anyway.
February 11, 2009 Update
I'm adding a link below to an article on MSNBC which discusses in detail the plant owner's knowledge of the tainted peanut products and how he authorized distribution of the material knowing it was tainted with salmonella. Unbelievable! Fortunately, it looks as if others are insisting upon jail time for this white-collar scum. Don't expect him to do any serious time with "real" criminals though! Check out the link below, it has video files as well.
Also, yesterday NPR was reporting that PCA is closing one of its Texas facilities as well apparently in relation to this violation of public health standards.
February 8, 2009 Update
It was reported on NPR on Friday and now CNN is reporting today that Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), which manufactures peanuts into various snack foods like peanut butter crackers, energy bars as well as peanut butter, knew about the tainted peanuts and yet chose to do nothing about it. Having very little knowledge in law I still can be sure that though there will be civil cases and some clients reaping a windfall, there should be criminal prosecution if the reported 8 deaths can be confirmed to be the direct result of the salmonella poisoning. But because this is a "white collar crime" because the top brass at PCA didn't kill anyone in a "drive-by" but rather via a deadly infectious bacteria, I doubt we will see any criminal prosecution.
January 23, 2009 Update
The CDC is now reporting a total of nearly 500 cases of confirmed Salmonella poisoning throughout the nation, with the likely culprit named to be peanut butter. National Public Radio (NPR) also reported today that the outbreak had most likely came from a factory in Atlanta and that several hundred workers had already been laid off. In NPR's report it wasn't clear if the workers were laid off as a result of this outbreak or if the layoffs were planned before the outbreak. In Arizona there have been a total of (10) confirmed cases with most of the cases thus far being reported in California and Ohio. For more information, scroll down to find the CDC link. I will continue to track this outbreak and provide updates to this website. You can also bookmark the CDC site linked below as they will update their site weekly with new reported and confirmed cases and they have a nice and easy to read display map with the reported cases broken down by state.
A Phoenix woman is found to have a worm in her brain caused by undercooked pork January 12, 2009 Update
An interesting story on Fox 10 Phoenix tonight, a local woman was diagnosed with a brain worm. Originally doctors suspected she had a brain tumor but when they began operating they discovered it was actually a worm in her brain! The report stated that the worm begins as a tape worm which can be ingested by eating undercooked pork meat. What is worse is that you can be infected by another person that is carrying the disease if they don't wash their hands and they directly touch your food. Pretty scary for those of us who eat out often! Vegetarian anyone?! LOL...For more info on this story, you can click my Facebook link at the bottom of the page and scroll down to look for the story and video clip.

University of Arizona study finds 40% of meat in grocery stores is tainted! November 18, 2008 Update
An interesting article on MSNBC today regarding tainted meat found in 40% of the meat in supermarkets in Arizona. The study was done by the University of Arizona, and though the CDC says this is nothing serious to worry about. I'd worry! You can access the full article at the link below (scroll down).

October 20, 2008 Update
Nothing to report at this time. The air quality has begun to improve as the hottest part of summer has now passed. The light rail system will begin operation in Phoenix in December, I remain optimistic that this might alleviate some of the traffic pollution that damages our air quality. I haven't heard of any updates to the previously reported cases of salmonella in Phoenix linked to local eateries, thus I assume the significance of it has passed. If you know of any public health issues or concerns within the Phoenix metro area that you would like me to include on this page, send me an email and I'll follow-up on it. If you do send an email, please put "Public Health Information" in the subject line so that I know it is not junk mail.

SALMONELLA OUTBREAK IN PHOENIX - EL POLLO LOCO!
August 29, 2008 Update
Planning to eat at El Pollo Loco this week? Think again! They are one of the local eateries at the center of an investigation being conducted by the state health department. There have been 44 cases of confirmed Salmonella poisoning in the Phoenix metro area in the last few months. To be fair, not all the cases are from El Pollo Loco, it seems other restaurants are involved too. I've included a link below to the story that was carried on our local Fox station. I'll add more links as more info becomes available.

PHOENIX METRO AIR QUALITY
The Phoenix metro area has been getting some national press and news coverage lately about how bad our air quality is. Move over Los Angeles we are coming through! I say it jokingly, but I know first hand how bad the air quality is in this city. The drinking water isn't much better, but at least with water you can buy bottled water and eliminate some of the health risks. But with air quality, unless you stay indoors 24/7, and who wants to do that (!), there are some health risks or at a minimum headaches.
After suffering countless headaches due to what I believe is the poor air quality in Phoenix, I decided to buy an air purifier for my apartment. So far, so good. I can tell the air quality in my ground floor, centrally located apartment has improved with the air purifier and I plan to purchase one for my office at work as well. But what about when I go out exercising? I love to run and hike in the desert, and I like to go on weekends in the afternoon. This is not exactly my area of specialty within public health, but clearly something needs to be done in the city of Phoenix to improve the air quality. Check out the links below for more information.

TAINTED TOMATOES/SALMONELLA
If you are looking for information on the tainted tomatoes found in several states, including Arizona, click the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) link below. You will find information about this topic directly on their homepage.
July 21, 2008 Update
Now the FDA has determined that the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) were wrong all along, and it wasn't tomatoes making everyone sick, but rather jalapeno peppers imported from Mexico. They just can't catch a break in Mexico! The CDC claims they had a positive testing for salmonella on (1) jalapeno pepper imported from Mexico, found in Texas. This, conveniently, comes at the same time that a lot of national news was focusing on the millions of dollars lost in revenue due to people avoiding eating tomatoes because of the salmonella concern. Mix that millions of dollars loss with a recession and soaring gas prices plus the ever dwindling housing values and you have all the makings of a good ol' conspiracy to blame the Mexican jalapeno instead of the American tomato. Go figure! Now, thanks to the FDA, Americans can eat their tomatoes and feel good again while avoiding those always dangerous Mexican jalapenos.
For more info, read the news link below entitled "Dangerous Mexican Jalapenos!"
July 17, 2008 Update
Today the FDA declared that tomatoes are now safe again to eat, although the CDC continues to investigate some farms in Mexico where it believes the salmonella may have originated from. Apparently, jalapeno and other peppers are also being investigated as another potential contaminant. The FDA came to the conclusion about it being safe to eat tomatoes again because in the past (2) weeks the number of individuals confirmed to have Salmonella poisoning has dropped to about 20 reported cases per day nationwide.