Listeria--a few more details you should know

Listeriosis is a disease that the CDC staff, public health departments and medical people work together to identify source of outbreaks and remove the contaminated food from the market. 

Listeria germs can grow in food while in a person’s refrigerator.  The CDC staff recommends using a refrigerator thermometer to ensure your refrigerator stays at a temperature of 40^OF or lower.  The freezer compartment should be 0^OF or lower. 

Another safe food tip says clean up spills (especially juice from raw meat, poultry, even hot dog and lunch meats) in your refrigerator with hot water and liquid soap, before rinsing with water. 

Eat leftovers within 3-4 days.  Divide leftover food into shallow containers.  Use airtight lids or coverings.  

Throw away outdated foods; notice the ‘use by’ date and do not eat expired food.   More details about safe food practices can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/divisions/dfbmd/diseases/listeriosis/

People at high risk of Listeriosis can find additional suggestions on how to protect themselves at http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/divisions/dfbmd/diseases/listeriosis/

Listeria outbreak--how to protect ourselves --part 2

WebMD staff adds more tips we can use to protect ourselves

Use safe food practices.   Wash your hands before and after handling food.  Wash your hands after

you change a baby’s diaper or after your use the bathroom yourself.  When grocery shopping, you should separate raw meat, poultry, or fish from other food items in your shopping bags.  Take those food items home and refrigerate them immediately.  When preparing food, use one cutting board for fresh vegetables and fruits; use a separate cutting board for raw meat.  Dishwasher wash and sterilize these cutting boards and any knives you use. 

“Store foods safely.  Cook, refrigerate, or freeze meat, poultry, eggs, fish, and ready-to-eat foods within 2 hours…Reheat leftovers to at least 165^OF.  Do not eat undercooked hamburger, and be aware of the risk of food poisoning from raw fish (including sushi), clams and oysters…When in doubt, throw it out.  If you are not sure whether a food is safe, don’t eat it.”  http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/listeriosis-topic-overview

Listeria outbreak--how to protect ourselves?

Where do we encounter the germ which causes Listeria?  This germ lives in dirt and water.  It can infect animals both domestic and wild who carry the germ and contaminate water.  Food sources become contaminated and make the person who eats the contaminated food ill.  

How can a person protect himself from Listeriosis infection?  Safe food handling practices

Safe food handling practices from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) include “thoroughly cook raw food from animal sources, such as beef, pork, or poultry to a safe internal temperature…rinse raw vegetables thoroughly under running tap water before eating…keep uncooked meats and poultry separate from vegetables and from cooked foods and ready-to-eat foods…do not drink raw (unpasteurized) milk and do not eat foods that have unpasteurized milk in them…wash hands, knives, countertops, and cutting boards after handling and preparing uncooked foods…consume perishable and ready-to-eat foods as soon as possible.”  http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/divisions/dfbmd/diseases/listeriosis/

Listeria outbreak--symptoms and what you should do

Listeria  food poisoning—what are the symptoms and what should you do?

What are the symptoms of Listeriosis (listeria)?  Symptoms vary but may include fever, muscle aches, nausea and/or diarrhea, headache, confusion, stiff neck, loss of balance and convulsions. 

http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/divisions/dfbmd/diseases/listeriosis/   

What should a person do if he exhibits the symptoms of Listeria?  See your doctor. Since most healthy people recover on their own, the doctor may or may not prescribe medication.  For at-risk people showing symptoms, the doctor may prescribe antibiotics.   http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/divisions/dfbmd/diseases/listeriosis/   

Listeria outbreak

Recent news reports talk about a Listeria outbreak.  The experts believe this outbreak is linked to fresh cantaloupe.  So what’s listeria?  Who is at risk for Listeria?

Listeria (Listeriosis is the medical term) is one type of food poisoning caused by a germ called Listeria monocytogenes.  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 1600 Americans become seriously ill and 260 will die from this form of food poisoning each year. 

People at highest risk include pregnant women and the unborn child they carry, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems.  The unborn child of a woman infected with listeriosis may become very ill, even life threatening. This danger includes miscarriage, stillbirth or premature labor and delivery. 

People with compromised immune systems include people who have received organ transplants, people taking medications which suppress their immune systems, people who have cancer, liver or kidney disease, diabetes, or alcoholism and people with HIV/AIDS.  The elderly and people with compromised immune systems are in danger of severe symptoms and possibly death. 

Most healthy people who become infected with the listeria germ deal with the symptoms and then recover.  http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/divisions/dfbmd/diseases/listeriosis/

4 behaviors which contribute to a longer life

Exercise.  The healthy human body is an amazing organism.  Our bodies can respond to the demand we put on it.  (Obviously there is a point beyond which it cannot go.)  But most of us (myself included) do not put excess demand on our bodies.  If a person begins to exercise and slowly builds, a healthy body responds by becoming stronger and fit. 

But what about the person who has not been exercising?   What if you have a heart condition?   Can you begin an exercise program?  Talk to your doctor about your health problems and safe exercise before you begin.  Many people can add exercise to their lives.  Any exercise is beneficial. 

4 behaviors which contribute to a longer life

Eat healthy.  Have you seen the new plate diagram?  It can be found at http://www.choosemyplate.gov/

The new recommended nutrition guide says fill one half of your plate with fruits and vegetables.  Switch your carbs (grains) to whole grains.  Add healthy proteins and fat-free or low-fat milk. 

The other thing we need to do as Americans is quit supersizing our portions.  I personally think the plate illustration is a better visual than a pyramid.  After all, no one eats off a pyramid. 

4 health behaviors which contribute to a longer life

Don’t smoke tobacco.  According to the World Health Organization, “smoking is the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death.”  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1160597/

Smoking tobacco gets the credit for causing lung cancer and emphysema (COPD).  Does it contribute to inflammation?   An article from the Public Library of Science says yes:  “Smoking triggers an immunologic response to vascular injury, which is associated with increased levels of inflammatory markers, such as C-reactive protein and white blood cell count.”  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1160597/   What does this mean?  The inflammation from smoking causes damage to our vascular system, including the heart. 

What about smokeless tobacco products?  WebMD says “smokeless tobacco is a major cause of oral cancer, pancreatic cancer and esophageal cancer.”  http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/features/snus-tobacco-health-risks   Smokeless tobacco carries risks also. 

What should a smoker do?  The human body has  amazing healing potential.  Many former smokers find their health improves when they quit.  QuitSmokingSupport.com gives details of how a person's health improves when he stops smoking at  http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/benefits.htm

4 behaviors which contribute to a longer life

Let me elaborate on 4 health behaviors which contribute to a longer life.

Avoid excess alcohol. While studies talk about the health benefits of a glass of red wine, experts recommend a limited intake of alcohol. They recommend a daily maximum of two drinks for men and one for women –what size are those drinks? According to WebMD, one drink equals 1.5 oz spirits, 5 oz of wine and 12 oz beer. http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20110224/moderate-alcohol-drinking-may-boost-heart-health

And if you drink, please do not drive. Too many people have been injured and killed by drunk drivers. Thank you.

Four behaviors which contribute to a longer life

Four health behaviors which contribute to a longer life:

The Centers for Disease Control reports their findings:  “people who engaged in all four healthy behaviors were 66 percent less likely to die early from cancer, 65 percent less likely to die early from cardiovascular disease and 57% less likely to die early from other causes compared to people who did not engage in any of the healthy behaviors.” http://www.cdc.gov/Features/LiveLonger/?source=govdelivery

These four health behaviors contribute to a longer life:  avoid excess alcohol, don’t smoke, eat healthy and exercise.  The CDC recommendations

People who drink alcohol should limit their daily intake to two drinks for men and one for women.

Don’t smoke tobacco.  They recommend 1-800-Quit-Now, a free tobacco support service.

Eat healthy:  more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat dairy and seafood.

They suggest we decrease the amount of fats, added sugars and refined grains and salt we eat.

Exercise more.  Any exercise is beneficial.  However, they recommend 30 minutes of moderate exercise for 5 days each week or vigorous exercise 3 or more days per week. 

Protect yourself from community acquired methicillin staph aureus

CA-MRSA Can you protect yourself?

Because MRSA is spread by contact with someone’s infection, there are several things you can do to protect yourself and your family.  Be aware of the potential infection.  We never know when a person who has CA-MRSA has touched something and the germs can survive for hours, maybe days. 

Wash your hands often throughout the day with soap and water.  Dry your hands with disposable towels  and use disposable towels to turn off the water.  Keep alcohol-based antiseptic available for times when hand washing isn’t possible. 

Do not share personal items such as towels, razors, yoga mats, swim suits, bar soap, etc.  The germs can be spread passed around in items and equipment which is shared.  If you know a person has an infection, wash your hands but especially after helping with wound care or touching used bandages.  (Wear gloves to protect your hands if possible and then wash your hands after you remove the gloves.)

At the gym, use the spray disinfectant/disinfectant wipes to wipe down equipment before you use it (to protect you) and afterwards (to protect others).  Sit on a towel or wear long exercise pants to protect your skin from germs.  Use a towel to protect yourself from mats (yoga) or better yet, buy your own yoga mat and do not share it.  Ask your gym staff if the gym towels are dried at a temperature which kill MRSA germs.  Good suggestions from My Best Health Portal.  http://www.mybesthealthportal.net/health-and-medicine/hot-topics/how-to-protect-yourself-from-community-associated-contagious-staph.html

What are symptoms of Community acquired methicillin resistant staph aureus ?

CA-MRSA What are symptoms

As mentioned yesterday, community acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA) is caused by a germ (staph aureus) which mutated and became resistant to the penicillin family of antibiotics.  CA-MRSA affects people who had no recent contact with health care environment.  Often the CA-MRSA involves skin infection.  One place a person can pick up a CA-MRSA infection is at a gym.

What does a MRSA infection look like?  It begins as a bump on the skin which becomes swollen, reddened, painful and warm to the touch, full of drainage or pus, and may be accompanied by a fever. 

What should you do if you see these symptoms?  “Cover the area and contact your healthcare professional.  It’s especially important to contact your healthcare professional if signs and symptoms of an MRSA skin infection are accompanied by a fever.”   

http://www.cdc.gov/Features/MRSAInfections/?source=govdelivery

Community Acquired Methicillin-resistant Staph aureus

Community Acquired Methicillin-resistant staph aureus (MRSA)

MRSA has been called a “superbug” because the original germ has changed (mutated) and become resistant to the penicillin family of antibiotics (methicillin-resistant).  Staphylococcus aureus is a germ that normally lives on human skin.  It’s considered a normal flora (germ).  When the staph germ changed, the penicillin type antibiotics would no longer cure it and the scientists named it methicillin-resistant staph aureus (MRSA). 

For years MRSA was considered a hospital acquired infection.   Progress has been made; the number of hospital acquired MRSA infections decreased by 28% from 2005 through 2008.  During the decade of 1997 to 2007, the rates of MRSA bloodstream infections decreased by almost 50%. 

http://www.cdc.gov/mrsa/statistics/index.html

A few years ago, MRSA infections began to show up in people who had no recent contact with  healthcare facilities.  This became known as community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA).

The CA-MRSA infections are usually skin infections.   The rate of CA-MRSA is rising.  What can you do to protect yourself and your family from CA-MRSA?  More tomorrow.

How to protect yourself during flu season

So I will get the flu shot.  What else can I do to protect myself, my family and others I contact?

               During flu season, be mindful to protect yourself.  Wash your hands often with soap and water.  Alcohol-based hand sanitizer is a good 2^nd choice for hand hygiene. 

               Use a tissue to cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze or cough and throw the tissue away after use.  If you do not have a tissue, sneeze or cough into your shirt sleeve and protect those around you.  If you forget to use your shirt sleeve and sneeze into your hand, please immediately wash your hands with soap and water/alcohol based sanitizer before you touch anything with your hand. 

               If you have symptoms of flu (fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fever, feeling bad and fatigued) please limit your contact with people.  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that “you stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone except to get medical care of for other necessities.  Your fever should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.”  CDC Says Take 3 Actions to Fight the Flu at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/preventing.htm

               If your doctor prescribes anti-virals, take them to shorten the flu illness and make it a lighter case.  Flu antivirals are most effective is started within 2 days of symptom onset. 

The flu vaccine--revisited

Last Saturday I saw the first “flu shots given here” table set up at our local Walmart.  Are you planning to get the flu shot?  If not, consider this:  history tells us the Influenza epidemic of 1918 infected 28% of the American population.  It killed 675,000 Americans and between 20 and 40 million people worldwide.  That flu was vicious; it was most deadly to young healthy adults (ages 20-40).  By comparison, World War I resulted in 18 million deaths worldwide. 

Could we have an influenza epidemic like that again?  Maybe.  The flu shots offer our best protection from a flu epidemic.  How is the flu shot developed?  This year’s flu shot is developed based on last year’s 3 most virulent (able to cause disease) strains of flu virus found.  It’s an educated guess by scientists and an advisory committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and World Health Organization (WHO).  They choose three viruses to include in the next year’s flu shots.  This years’ (2011-2012) flu vaccine will protect against three virus strains, one of which is the H1N1 virus (a concern last year.)

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says more pregnant women and health care workers should get the flu shot.  Last year 49% of pregnant women got the flu shot.  Only 63.5% of health care workers received the flu shot last year.  The CDC is recommending 90% of health care workers get the flu shot.

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2011/08/18/cdc-says-more-pregnant-women-health-care-workers-need-flu-shot/

For you needle-phobic people, the flu vaccine does come in a nasal spray form.  For more details about this form of flu vaccine,  the CDC health provides information a person can use to become informed at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/fluvaccine.htm   If you still have questions, talk to your family doctor. 

September is National Fruits and Vegetables month

September is National Fruits and Vegetables month

My girlfriend said it well, “it costs more to eat healthy.”  How can you add more fruits and vegetables into your diet without breaking the bank? 

Eat what’s in season

Try out your local farmers’ market and enjoy locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables

Plant a small garden.  We planted two pepper plants and two tomato plants in our flower beds this year.  We planted herbs in our flower bed (basil, rosemary, and oregano have been prolific this year.)  Our tomato crop was poor but we’ve enjoyed lots of fresh peppers and herbs.

Buy frozen fruits and vegetables for nutritious, lower cost foods. 

I welcome suggestions from readers.  How do you add fruits and vegetables to your diet while keeping the costs down?  The CDC shares 30 Ways to stretch your fruit and vegetable budget at http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/downloads/Stretch_FV_Budget.pdf

This picture of the New York skyline (taken en route to La Guardia on our way home) will look differently the next time we visit New York.  I expect to see One World Trade in the skyline.

If you, like me, want to revisit the 9/11 tragedy in New York, Pennsylvania and the Pentagon, check out photos and information at http://www.life.com/topic/september_11

The Pentagon Memorial with photos and timeline can be found at

http://pentagonmemorial.org/learn/911-pentagon

For more information about the World Trade Center project, check it out at

http://www.myfoxny.com/generic/news/World-Trade-Center-Tour

Ground Zero site

The 9/11 tragedy involved three sites:  New York City, The Pentagon (Washington D.C.) and Pennsylvania.  Because of the bravery of the passengers who fought back against the highjackers, the Pennsylvania crash site did not involve any heavily populated city or government building.  The Pentagon 9/11 damage was repaired and rebuilt over a period of eighteen months.  All tenants were back in their offices by February 2003.   

Did you ever wonder why it has taken 10 years to rebuild the Ground Zero (New York) site and it is not finished yet?  When you visit the area, one thing you recognize is it’s located in the middle of the downtown Manhattan (only a few blocks from Wall Street, our financial center).   Just removing the debris from the site took months and years and it all had to be trucked and ferried away from the area (remember, Manhattan is an island).  Also, the World Trade Center Twin Tower buildings were located on top of the Path commuter train/subway transportation hub.  Several stories of below-ground building and infrastructure had to be dealt with before rebuilding could begin.  For several years, discussions went on as to what to do:  build or not, leave the site open as a memorial, etc. 

I personally like what the builders are building.  When One World Trade is finished, it will soar 1776 feet in the New York skyline and be the tallest building in America.  The memorial pools/waterfalls are located on the footprint of each WTC twin tower building as a memorial site.  The trees in the memorial park were moved from the Pentagon and Pennsylvania crash sites.  All these symbols fit together so nicely.  

9/11 Ground Zero memorial

This memorial plaque is attached to the side of the New York Fire Department  (FDNY) Ladder No. 10 home (around a corner but across the alley from the Ground Zero site).

When you visit the site (which I would recommend highly), you understand why Ladder Company #10 responded so quickly.  Their fire station is across an alley (almost the back yard of the World Trade Center twin towers).  I  recognized that's why so many of their co-workers/comrades died while responding and trying to save the lives of people trapped inside the buildings. 

We toured the World Trade Center memorial located next door to the FDNY Ladder Company #10.  It was sobering and touching.  

September 11 Ground Zero site

I took this picture last October when we visited New York City.  I wanted to visit Ground Zero, the site of 9/11 tragedy.  This year marks the 10 year anniversary. 

Recently we watched a Discovery Channel special “Rising:  Rebuilding Ground Zero.”  For much of the past year the people involved with rebuilding Tower One had set a goal of building one floor every week.  Those involved want Tower One to be a visible part of the downtown Manhattan skyline by this September 11 with the completion of the building scheduled for 2013. 

During the Discovery channel program, the people interviewed said similar thoughts in different words, our country needs this place to be both a memorial and a declaration of the American spirit.  We were wounded and we lost citizens, but we are not defeated.  This building will rise again.

A final quote from Robin McGraw's book, Inside my Heart

You cannot control other people.  You cannot control what they say, what they think, or what they do.  People have the right to think and say whatever they want to.  But you have the right not to take it to heart, and not to react.  (pg. 113)

Wow,  I really like this quote from Robin McGraw (Dr Phil's wife).  I want to remember this one.  

Quote from Robin McGraw's book, Inside my Heart

I absolutely believe that in order for a woman to experience happiness, fulfillment, and peace, she needs to know two things:  who she is and who she is meant to be.  They’re not quite the same thing:  the first one has to do with the reality of your life, and the second one has to do with your purpose for being in this world, which is something each of us has to discover for herself and cannot be dictated by any other person in our lives—not by our husbands, parents, children, employers, or friends.  (pg 3-4)

Another quote I liked from Robin McGraw's (Dr Phil's wife) book.