3648
Get the clean hands habit

This was one of a series of instructional images used by the Minnesota Board of Health in the 1930s used to train the state’s public health workers. The purpose of these images and the appropriate training was focused on protecting food supplies from bacterial contamination.

Many people do not think about food safety until a food-related illness affects them or a family member. While the food supply in the United States in 2005 was deemed to be one of the safest in the world, CDC estimates that 76 million people get sick, more than 300,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 Americans die each year. Text and photo courtesy of PHIL, Public Health Image Library.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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3641
Travel by walking
I must be missing something. Researchers have determined that 6th grade girls who walk to and from school (called "travel by walking" in the published study) have more minutes of physical activity than non-walkers. Eight people with a doctorate and one with an MS participated in designing and publishing this study. http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/161/2/153 The next thing you know someone will want to study the cutting edge concept that pop, potato chips and candy bars contribute to childhood obesity.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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3637
If this had happened in Iraq
or to gay men in San Francisco or blacks in New York, there would be a full fledged congressional investigation to see why the President hasn't done something. There has been a substantial increase in unintentional poisoning mortality. Actually, it's way beyond substantial. Poisoning mortality rates in the U.S. rose 62.5% during the 5-year period 1999 to 2004. 20,950 deaths in 2004 alone, up from 12,186 in 1999.

And the increase has happened mostly to white women. The largest increases were among females (103.%), whites (75.8%), persons living in the southern U.S. (113.6%), and persons aged 15-24 years (113.3%). Among all sex and racial/ethnic groups, the largest increase (136.5%) was among non-Hispanic white females. So what's included? Overdoses of illegal drugs and legal drugs taken for nonmedical reasons (think Anna Nicole Smith), legal drugs taken in error or at the wrong dose, and poisoning from other substances (alcohol, pesticides or carbon monoxide). Deaths from proper doses are not included.

Where's the outrage? Where's Barbara Walters and Katie Couric and their deep analysis?

Story in JAMA, March 28, 2007, and MMWR, 2007:56Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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3614
My take on the John Edwards' campaign
People who have criticized John and Elizabeth Edwards for their decision to continue in pursuit of the White House are being pilloried in the media. Even the WSJ had nothing but brave, kind thoughts for the family.

My take is this. Blunt and short. For God's sake, woman, you have stage IV cancer--spend the time left with your kids.

In 1963 our oldest son died when he was a year and a half. I knew then that I'd lost the rest of his life. Then a miscarriage; then another boy who died at birth. But it wasn't until we were blessed with a second family in the late 60s and I was a stay-at-home mom (I had worked part days before and he died while I was at work), that I realized I'd lost the few months we did have him by the decisions I'd made about working and going to grad school. Even when we were together as a family, my head was somewhere else frantically trying to juggle a schedule of graduate classes, translating Russian medical newspapers at home, working at the office, and child care. No, this isn't guilt speaking, just experience. I did what I thought was right at the time. I was 23 and just wrong. I've forgiven myself for my warped view of time, but it doesn't change history.

The Edwards have already experienced something that most parents never face. They have outlived one of their sons who died when a teen in an automobile accident. They will never face down that fear--at least I haven't--it colors every thing they do today and seems to have made them a stronger family unit. But their other children lost a brother (2 born after his death), and for the last 2.5 years have probably heard a lot of happy talk from their parents about mommy's illness and how they are winning the fight. Now it has metastasized to her bones. It's treatable, but not curable. Maybe she'll live five years; maybe five months.

(See medical opinion here.)

Elizabeth EdwardsSource URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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3604
Denial isn't the name of a river
Two weeks ago I blogged about my daughter's DVT--she put up with the pain in her leg making excuses, first that it was the antibiotic for her sinus infection, second that she'd forgotten to take her calcium (lack of a thyroid causes leg cramps). The blood clot meanwhile was moving up her leg toward her heart or lungs. Tomorrow a friend of ours goes in for a quadruple by-pass--one 100% blocked, and three 95% blocked. He was having chest pain and sweating profusely, so he drove himself about 30 miles to the hospital. Our friend was busy doing the Lord's work, and almost ended up in the heavenly choir. My father lived into his 90th year instead of dying at fifty, because when he started coughing up blood at 39, he quit smoking, cold turkey.

Folks. Listen up. Pain is a gift. Pay attention to it!Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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3581
Alternative Medicine--buy this book!
Alternative medicine; the Christian handbook, updated, expanded, Zondervan, 2006 by Donal O'Mathuna, PhD and Walt Larimore, MD (£13.57 / US$26.37 /EUR19.99) is a good investment for your home or public library. I know the author personally (he lives in Ireland, but got his PhD from Ohio State and married the daughter of friends) and Zondervan is a publisher I trust. It is written in a rather dry, non-confrontational, common sense style that I'd almost forgotten existed in books for the general public, especially for a topic that exalts in sound bites and teaser phrases like "secrets to," "seven steps to," "never before revealed," "they don't want you to know this," "as seen on television," "all-natural," and "suppressed." If you are familiar with the term "evidence based medicine," or "literature review," this would be that. These authors take the claims of alternative therapies (acupuncture, chiropractic, energy medicine, herbal medicine, garlic, noni juice, etc. and many others) and then look at the clinical and research studies (if they exist) and give the therapy, claim or technique ratings. At first I found the rating system of 1 to 4 a bit off-putting--check marks (4 for multiple high-quality randomized controlled trials), x-marks (evidence against, 4 for multiple high-quality randomized controlled trials), recommendation scale of happy faces (4 for 75%-100% confidence that the therapy is potentially beneficial), area of spiritual concern of interest to Christians is designated with thumbs down (4 thumbs down is a therapy involving spiritual practices in direct conflict with biblical teaching). But once I got used to it, found the system easy to follow.

Noni juice, for instance, a product I've only tasted, gets 2.5 pages--what it is, what the claims are, the study findings, the cautions, recommendations, dosage, treatment categories, whether its claims are scientifically questionable, is it quackery or fraud (these differences are explained in another chapter) and further reading.

Some concerns are: 1) there are no quality standards unlike most herbals, so there is no way to judge what you're buying; 2) some companies take the leftover by-products of juicing and sell as "100% noni fruit powder," and so the product would not have the ingredients of noni juice, 3) the published literature is for a tree native to Hawaii, but most of the products come from trees grown on other South Pacific Islands which probably have different chemical constituents, 4) "wild harvested" is not of consistent quality or origin, 5) when commercially grown, it has pesticides and herbicide residues, including some not allowed in the U.S. and Canada, 6) some, but not all, noni juice is pasteurized, which kills pathogens but may inactivate some compounds, but no studies have been done.

Noni juice can interact with other medications (and drinkers may neglect to mention it to their doctor who is prescribing a diuretic or blood pressure medication) causing nausea or cardiac arrhythmias, and shouldn't be used by anyone with kidney or liver problems, and the authors don't recommend it for breast-feeding women. There were no spiritual claims for this product.

However, the authors say it does have many vitamins--just no curative properties for arthritis, menstrual cramps, digestion or cancer, and if what you're buying hypes that, disregard it and just enjoy it as a juice that smells like rotten cheese that tops the list of worst tasting and best selling to a very gullible public.

The book has 510 pages, is well indexed (by subject, scripture and therapy) and formatted, has lengthy bibliographies, a rating system, and the authors are a medical doctor and a pharmacist whose PhD research was in identifying potential new drugs from herbal remedies and an MA in theology from Ashland Seminary in Ohio and who taught at Mt. Carmel College of Nursing here in Columbus. And as mentioned above, I know him--went to his wedding which was during the worst spring snow storm in the history of central Ohio. The minister couldn't get there.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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3575
Compression hose
I've been checking regularly on my daughter, diagnosed with deep vein thombosis (DVT) a week ago. She had three shots in her abdomen to dissolve the clot, and is now on coumadin. She says that although she still has a lot of pain, the compression hose help a lot. Since we're flying to Ireland in the fall, I thought I'd try them. Her vascular surgeon (actually not "hers" specifically, but she has worked with him in his medical practice and he is consulting with her) recommends that everyone wear compression hose for travel--even men. There are medical level and comfort level, so I went to CVS and bought a $15 pair of compression hose designated 8-15 for tired legs. My legs weren't tired, but I am only experimenting, remember.

Before I put them on, both my shoes and the waist band in my slacks fit. Within 2 minutes of putting them on (and that's not easy), the shoes were too big and the waist band too small. It's the first time I've ever had any body part go north instead of south.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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3565
Deep Vein Thrombosis
If you see a leg on local TV tonight, it's not Dick Cheney's, it's my daughter's. He flew 25,000 miles; all she did was fly to Florida to give a workshop, a two hour trip. There's apparently a number of myths about DVT, because she and I knew them all--like long flights and older people. But her vascular surgeon who told her she shouldn't have ignored the pain, says the cabin pressure, wearing high heels at the workshop, standing on her feet long hours, then getting back on the plane and not enough hydration, had a lot to do with it. He told her he's had a number of patients in their 30s who travel a lot develop pulmonary embolisms and not survive.

She was taking an antibiotic for a sinus infection, and thought this was why she was having leg pain. Also, because of her thyroid cancer of some years back, she is calcium deficient and gets leg pains from that, so thought maybe she just needed some calcium. Then she caught the flu from her husband and was sick over the week-end, and she works in a doctor's office, so you know how those folks are. By today she knew something was really wrong with her leg, but kept thinking it was a muscle or tendon. She finally agreed to a doppler test because the pain was so bad and her ankle was swelling. She was stunned to hear she had a blood clot moving up into her thigh. Her employer/doctor who does a medical story once a week on WSYX was planning to do a story on Cheney's DVT, so I think the film will be my daughter's leg. She's had a blood thinner directly into her abdomen, so we're praying this will eliminate any immediate danger. She'll be on coumadin for some time.

If you're flying, even short trips, pay attention to any unusual leg pain. FAA Safety brochure.

Update: She has finished the round of shots (extremely painful) and now has to wear compression stockings (ca. $180 a pair) to relieve the swelling, can walk upstairs only once a day, and must keep her leg elevated and do nothing physical for awhile. Her doctor told her that if we fly or even if we're just traveling in a car (men or women), we should wear compression stockings (the non-prescription type that only cost about $50).Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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3562
Smoking and movies
No matter what you say about violence, sex and dirty language in movies, they aren't going to kill your children (later in life), but cigarette smoking will. And it is on the increase in movies. Over at Facts and Fears, which warned in an op ed about this a few years back they now report a study published in a pediatric journal:

"A new study appearing in this month's Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine evaluates the relationship between smoking initiation and movie-going habits from a different perspective -- but the results are analogous, to an amazing degree. The authors, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, evaluated 735 youngsters, aged twelve to fourteen, at the beginning of the study, in 2001. One of the key measures they recorded was which of ninety-three popular films they had seen over approximately the past year. Two years later, the researchers re-interviewed the study group to determine how many of them had begun to smoke, and the relationship of smoking to their earlier, self-described moviegoing habits.

White teens who had higher exposures to R-rated movies -- and about two-thirds had such exposures -- had an almost three-fold higher rate of smoking than their peers who had lower or no R-rated movie exposures. (Interestingly, and for no obvious reason, black teens did not have that same increased rate of smoking based upon R-rated movie viewing.) Girls and boys both had higher smoking initiation with increased attendance at R-rated movies.

The authors point out that several other studies -- one of which is the study I discussed in my 2003 op-ed -- have now confirmed that young teen exposure to movies that portray, or are likely to portray, smoking have a significant impact on initiation of smoking by a factor of about three (this degree of elevation was found in all the studies). It should be noted here that approximately 100% of R-rated movies do have smoking scenes."

Personally, I don't know why you are letting your kids see R-rated movies, but maybe you need a heads up here.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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3533 Why do Republicans try so hard to look stupid?

Laura Ingraham (radio talk show host based in California) sounds like she's living 3 centuries back by trying to equate the HPV vaccine with conservative, Christian values. Did she ever raise a daughter? Was she ever a daughter? Your little virgin sweety pie could have saved herself from birth through age 30 for her future husband because of all your careful upbringing, private schools, Sunday school and VBS, and your selection of her peer group, but you didn't raise the man she will marry! And since women get HPV from men, who are you kidding lady? For some reason she thinks that 6th graders will run out and have sex if they have this vaccine's protection from a cancer they won't get until they are 40, despite what they are taught at home and church, but won't behave that way if they don't have the vaccine, being taught the very same values. Are our values that fragile? Someone in this future couple will have had pre-marital sex. HPV vaccine cannot protect your daughter from pregnancy, or herpes, or syphilis, or any number of STDs--nor can a condom--and the vaccine can't protect her against a broken heart and an unfaithful husband. But for the love of God, give her the protection you can for the cancer!

Then they try to top that stupid behavior by seriously considering Rudy Giuliani or John McCain as presidential candidates for 2008, both unfaithful to their wives and personally not men of good character, instead of Romney because he's (whisper) a Mormon.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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3496 Brain aging--a test

The book Making a good brain great has a quiz for risk factors for diseases of brain aging. The number in parentheses indicates how significant the risk factor is.

1.____(3.5) One family member with Alzheimer's or other dementia.
2.____(7.5) More than one family member with Alzheimer's or other dementia.
3.____(2.0) A single head injury with loss of consciousness for more than a few minutes.
4.____(2.0) Several head injuries without lost of consciousness.
5.____(4.4) Alcohol dependence or drug dependence in past or present.
6.____(2.0) Major depression diagnosed by a physician in past or present.
7.____(10) Stroke
8.____(2.5) Heart disease or heart attack.
9.____(2.1) High cholesterol.
10.___(2.3) High blood pressure.
11.___(3.4) Diabetes
12.___(3.0) History of cancer or cancer treatment.
13.___(1.5) Seizures in past or present.
14.___(2.0) Limited exercise (less than twice a week).
15.___(2.0) Less than a high school education.
16.___(2.0) Jobs that do not require periodically learning new information.
17.___(2.3) Smoking cigarettes for 10 years or longer.
18.___(2.5) One apolipoprotein E4 gene (if known)
19.___(5.0) Two apolipoprotein E4 genes (if known)

_____ Total Score (Add up the numbers in parentheses for checked items)

Score 0,1,or 2, you have low risk factors for developing brain diseases of aging.
Score 3,4,5, or 6, moderate risk
Score greater than 6, then prevention strategies should be part of your life.

Book: Making a good brain great, by Daniel G. Amen, Harmony Books, 2005. p.180

Note: This author makes a BIG deal about keeping a journal (which if you're blogging, you're already doing), and taking supplements, and exercising regularly. Well, 2 out of 3 isn't bad. He also likes meditation, extra sleep, affection, salmon, and practicing gratitude.

There is a chart on p. 178 that shows what happens to the cerebral cortex over time, based on 4,000 people. Looks like the biggest drop in blood flow to the brain is during adolescence; about age 30 it bumps up again, then levels out. The author says that if you go to a party, have a little too much champagne, go home and sleep it off, several hundred thousand neurons have died from alcohol toxicity by the time you wake up. No wonder alcohol dependence scores right around Alzheimer's in the family!Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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3409 Wash your hands and other good stuff

I heard on the news today that the "cruise ship virus" has hit some Columbus hospitals--both patients and staff. The recommendations are that people wash their hands when around patients, preparing food, or using the bathrooms. Duh!

Did you know there are an estimated 1.4 million salmonella infections annually in the U.S.? Most are food borne, but many are acquired from animals, particularly pet rodents, such as hamsters, mice or rats. Another reason to wash you hands after handling animals, particularly at the pet store. NEJM 356:21-8 (January 4, 2007)

Nearly 20% of automobile crashes involve driver sleepiness unrelated to alcohol, and the total direct and indirect costs of sleepiness and sleep disorders amount to hundreds of billions of dollars annually in the U.S. An estimated 50-70 million Americans have sleep-related problems. This information was included in a review of Sleep disorders and sleep depreivation: an unmet public health problem, published in 2006 by the National Academies Press, published in NEJM 356;2, January 11, 2006. You can read the summary and chapters here. I personally think this book belongs in your public library--it's not very expensive--because the recommendations involve national issues and policies. Mine would only have to give up one cook book or one Elvis title to buy it. Hand washing won't help you sleep better, but good sleep hygiene will.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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3408 You can't marry your dental hygienist

or optician, or massage therapist because current law in some states won't even let you get acquainted. Even if you change doctors, you're prohibited from any contact for two years. You can't even date her sister or brother! Read Eugene Volokh in Opinion Journal to see how far we've gone with that bugaboo term "health care provider/practitioner," and sexual harrassment. This makes Victorian manners and morals look positively decadent.

And you alternative medicine folks aren't off the hook. In Minnesota "the law applies to a wide range of alternative health care practitioners, and not just massage therapists [where a suit was brought by the former husband of a woman who married her former client under this crazy law]. In particular, it covers people who practice "(1) acupressure; (2) anthroposophy; (3) aroma therapy; (4) ayurveda; (5) cranial sacral therapy; (6) culturally traditional healing practices; (7) detoxification practices and therapies; (8) energetic healing; (9) polarity therapy; (10) folk practices; (11) healing practices utilizing food, food supplements, nutrients, and the physical forces of heat, cold, water, touch, and light; (12) Gerson therapy and colostrum therapy; (13) healing touch; (14) herbology or herbalism; (15) homeopathy; (16) nondiagnostic iridology; (17) body work, massage, and massage therapy; (18) meditation; (19) mind-body healing practices; (20) naturopathy; (21) noninvasive instrumentalities; and (22) traditional Oriental practices, such as Qi Gong energy healing."Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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3394 Respect your brain

The library notified me that there was a book waiting for me that I had requested (placed a hold several weeks ago when someone else had it checked out). I had no recollection of the book, and didn't remember when or why I requested it. The title? Making a good brain great, by Daniel G. Amen, MD. Hmmm. Looks like I needed it, doesn't it?

I leafed through it and noticed the chapter on brain injury. In 1989 my daughter was in an automobile accident--hit by a drunk driver while waiting at a stop sign. I think I blogged about it some time back. Since you aren't told much on the phone at 3 a.m. except to come to the hospital, I was fully expecting to claim a body when we got there. Even as I type this, my heart rate has soared from the stress of remembering that awful night. She was in ER with a concussion, but was sent home after a few hours. She had years of trouble resulting from that "mild concussion" and a huge hassle getting the other driver's insurance company (Nationwide) to pay up. She started stammering, was depressed, tested very low on IQ tests (done for the court), and developed debilitating migraines. She told me the other day that she had a few sessions with a neuropsychologist (also court ordered) who taught her some cognitive skills to work around the injured area. Even today, she will occasionally use what he taught her if she feels a migraine coming on, and her speech cleared up and she's her old self at problem solving and intelligence.

So I was interested to read in Dr. Amen's book that many people have had brain injuries and don't know it--particularly from falls and sports like biking, snowboarding, sledding and skating. He writes:

"A concussion or mild "traumatic brain injury" (TBI) is far more than just a bump on the head. According to the American Academy of Neurology, "There is no such thing as a minor concussion." A study from UCLA found that "the level of brain glucose use in people who suffered mild concussions was similar to that in comatose, severely brain-injured patients. . . Even mild head injuries result in major changes to the brain's metabolism and could make victims susceptible to more serious damage from a repeated blow."

Dr. Amen advises parents to never let their child knock the soccer ball with his head--heading drills, in which a child's head is knocked repeatedly, are of greater concern to pediatricians than is the occasional head-punt in a game. A study of adult soccer players found 81% had impairment of attention, concentration, memory, and judgment when compared to non-players of similar age and circumstances. He says football players are struck in the head 30-50 times per game and regularly endure blows similar to those experienced in car crashes.

Dr. Amen, who has seen over 30,000 brain scans, says: "I would not let my children hit a soccer ball with their heads, play tackle football, or snowboard without a helmet. I encourage my own kids to play tennis, golf, table tennis, and track. Your brain matters. Respect and protect it."

traumatic brain injurySource URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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3390 One more thing I have to remember

Folic Acid.

"A randomized, placebo-controlled trial has shown daily folic acid significantly improves cognitive performance in older adults — specifically as it relates to memory and information processing.

The study, which included 818 subjects aged 50 to 70 years who were folate deficient, showed that those who took 800 µg daily of oral folic acid for 3 years had significantly better memory and information processing speed than subjects in the placebo group.

Furthermore, serum folate concentrations increased by 576% and plasma total homocysteine concentrations decreased by 26% in participants taking folic acid compared with those taking placebo." Medscape story here. “Effect of 3-year folic acid supplementation on cognitive function in older adults in the FACIT trial: a randomized, double blind, controlled trial” Lancet 2007; 369: 208-216.

Three years of treatment with folic acid conferred on individuals resulted in the performance of someone 4.7 years younger for memory, 1.7 years younger for sensorimotor speed, 2.1 years younger for information processing speed, and 1.5 years younger for global cognitive function.

World's Healthiest Foods chart
World's Healthiest Foods site has an article on the important of Folate. Calves liver is right at the top. Yuck. I don't kill or eat babies.

My vitamin supplement has 400 mcg, but that's obviously not doing the trick, since I can't remember what mcg stands for. Let's try some of my lunch mixtures, of which I would mix maybe 1/4-1/2 cup of each: corn: 76 mcg per cup; greens (either collard or turnip) 177 or 170 mcg per cup; bell peppers 20 mcg per cup; tomatoes 27 mcg per cup; black beans 256 mcg per cup; onions 30 mcg per cup; brown rice zero. Looks like black beans are the winner if I avoid the liver.

I'm guessing that senior vitamins will increase the folate content (currently at 400) if this research continues to be so positive. It's obviously very difficult to get 800 mcg just through eating.

folate
healthy eatingSource URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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3388 Common sense consumption, pt. 1

We'd better develop a taste for it, because the lefties, greenies and tree huggers are hooking up with socialized medicine and Democrats for more regulations and laws about food.

If only solvent white people were obese, we'd be safe from the food police. But unfortunately for all of us, non-white and poor individuals are more obese than wealthier and Euro-gened folks. I'm a retired WASP (Irish-German-English 9th generation American) with a decent pension, two homes and investments. No one cares if I'm fat (and I'm not).

Even Asians, who can skew our academic and educational achievement graphs and statistics, pack on the pounds by the second or third generation of living in the USA. It's world wide, and it is primarily economic, but because Europe is about a decade behind us in weight gain, and there are fewer fast food restaurants and less marketing to children there, we're told these are the reasons. (We've been in Germany, Austria, Finland, Estonia and Russia in the last two years, and I can assure you they are gaining on us even without a McDonald's on every corner.) I'll tell you what I think the reasons for USA obesity are in pt. 2.

Just keep this in mind. Lawyers are salivating. Sociologists and anthropologists are rubbing their hands with glee waiting for the grant money. Foundation CEOs, people with zero regulation and accountability, see a steady income stream--if only they can get on the obesity bandwagon. And the medical community--looking at 20 million of us with diabetes--to say nothing of stroke and heart problems--well, you're giving them a very nice lifestyle. And Congress is gearing up. Hear the distant parade music? Folks, all we have to do to stop the biggest invasion of our wallets and privacy in the history of this country, is eat less and move more--shed those pounds you wrote about in your New Year's resolutions. Don't let the government take your French fries and Twinkies. Be pro-active!!!! Dump them on your own.

Source of irritation: JAMA 297:1:87 (January 3, 2007)Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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3218 How's your hygiene?

Today Medscape.com and a lot of other sources reported:

Staph Infections Rise Among Athletes

"An alarming rise in cases in the general population and athletic community of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus has led to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue warnings about the dangers of staph infections. Staph has long been a health hazard for athletes who share towels, whirlpools, and common areas like locker rooms. The CDC is working closely with several sports organizations, including the NFL and NCAA, to educate athletes on hygiene and preventive measures to stop the spread of MRSA that has increasingly found its way into locker rooms, weight rooms, and athletic training facilities."

Guess I'll just keep walking around the condo grounds for exercise.

Here's a link to the CDC page on staph infections and MRSA

Tundra Medicine Dreams has a very interesting MRSA story about an Alaskan Native who used an unsanitary steambath.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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3201 Chlorhexidine Gluconate

You've probably heard all the scare stories about the number of people who get sick or die in hospitals--from an unrelated cause. Think NOSOCOMIAL (hospital-acquired)*. The stories, may be hyped a bit, but are most likely true and a quick literature search in Google will bring up articles from the mid-70s. Even architects study the problem. Also veterinary medicine has a big problem. (Which is why I think no health staff should have artificial nails--now there's a good science project for your kid.) But here's some good news.

"A team of Dutch doctors has come up with a cheap, simple, and effective way to reduce nosocomial infection after cardiac surgery using a commonly available disinfectant, chlorhexidine gluconate.

The procedure should be applicable to all forms of major surgery, the lead investigator, Dr Patrique Segers (Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands), told heartwire. Segers and colleagues report their findings in the November 22, 2006 issue" of JAMA. Story from Medscape.com

"Prevention of Nosocomial Infection in Cardiac Surgery by Decontamination of the Nasopharynx and Oropharynx With Chlorhexidine Gluconate: A Randomized Controlled Trial," Patrique Segers; Ron G. H. Speekenbrink; Dirk T. Ubbink; Marc L. van Ogtrop; Bas A. de Mol, JAMA. 2006;296:2460-2466.

*Within hours after admission, a patient's flora begins to acquire characteristics of the surrounding bacterial pool. Most infections that become clinically evident after 48 hours of hospitalization are considered hospital-acquired. Infections that occur after the patient's discharge from the hospital can be considered to have a nosocomial origin if the organisms were acquired during the hospital stay. definition from eMedicine.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/health
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