Category Archives: Health and Wellness

Игроки всегда ценят удобный и стабильный доступ к играм. Для этого идеально подходит зеркало Вавады, которое позволяет обходить любые ограничения, обеспечивая доступ ко всем бонусам и слотам.

The 5 Biggest Accomplishments in Increasing Public Health Awareness in the Past 10 Years

Posted on by

The CDC is using the upcoming 9/11 anniversary to highlight the past decade’s achievements in increasing public awareness about major health issues. Fortunately, we have not seen a truly devastating pandemic sweep the globe, but H5N1, H1N1, SARS, many deadly food-borne pathogene outbreaks and other serious health threats have illustrated the need for better preparedness and response to public health crises.

online pharmacy zantac with best prices today in the USA

Here’s the agency’s number one accomplishment.

online pharmacy aricept with best prices today in the USA

Following the 2001 attacks there was a cultural shift in how we think about national security. It had become apparent that public health played an important role in national security. The terrorist attacks changed the way state and city health departments worked and interacted with other agencies and sectors.

online pharmacy zetia with best prices today in the USA

Health departments are increasingly becoming accepted as equal partners by traditional first responders, including law enforcement, fire departments and emergency medical services. These interactions are supported by the incorporation of public health components into the National Response Framework and Nation Incident Management System (the “playbooks” federal, state, and local responders use to plan for and respond to emergencies).  Our ability to respond to disasters is strengthened with each area of government working together.

This, more than anything else, says the organization, will be the key when the next major public health scare occurs.

Soaring Temps Bring More Risks for Workers

Posted on by

As the heat wave made its way from the southern U.S. to the northeast earlier this week, residents throughout that broad area struggled to find cool comfort. It’s easy to sit inside an air conidtioned office and watch the temperature rise on outdoor thermometers, but what about those that make their living working outside, often as hostages of heat? Many times, they’ll succumb to heat exhaustion at some point in their career, or worse, heat stroke.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), thousands of outdoor workers experience some form of heat-related illness each year. Just this week, a 42-year-old Alabama man died of heat stroke two days after working outdoors and showing signs of heat exhaustion. And, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health, he was the third victim this year in the state. Triple-digit temperatures also recently claimed two lives in Texas and two in Oklahoma.

From Little Rock, Ark., to New York City, officials blamed more than three dozen deaths on sweltering temperatures. Heat advisories were in effect Wednesday in 11 states, including Georgia, with temperatures in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas stuck well above the 100-degree mark.

So what can workers do (and employers encourage) to avoid succumbing to the effects of high temperatures? The American Society of Safety Engineers suggests the following:

  • Use cooling pads that can be inserted into hardhats or around the neck to keep the head and neck cool. Vented hardhats or neckbands soaked in cold water can also be used to minimize prolonged heat exposure and prevent the body from overheating.
  • Wear protective eyewear that features sufficient ventilation or anti-fog lens coating to reduce lens fogging from the heat. Sweatbands can also be used to prevent perspiration from dripping into the eyes.
  • Use gloves with leather palms and cotton or denim backs, which allow for an increased airglow and still protect hands. Also, choose gloves with a liner to absorb sweat preventing perspiration buildup.

    Some gloves also feature strips of nylon mesh or are perforated at the back of the hand for more airflow.

  • Wear light-colored, loose-fitting, breathable clothing such as cotton, recommends OSHA.
    Take breaks in cooler, shaded areas.
  • For workers exposed to extreme heat, proper hand protection from burns depends on the temperature and type of work to which workers are exposed.
  • To prevent dehydration, another hazard associated with exposure to heat, NIOSH recommends that workers drink five to seven ounces of fluids every 15 to 20 minutes. Drink cool water and avoid diuretics such as coffee, tea, alcohol or soda that actually deplete body fluid. Sports drinks are also good for replacing fluid in the body but use should be monitored due to the high sodium content.

Following these, and other tips, is just good risk management and illness prevention. For further information about protecting workers from the effects of heat, visit OSHA’s fact sheet on the topic.

E. coli Outbreak Is One of the Worst in History

Posted on by

Germany is reeling from what could turn out to be the worst E.

coli outbreak in history after more than 1,500 people have fallen ill and 16 killed from a severe strain of the foodborne illness. As a reference, this outbreak is three to five times worse than the 2006 U.S. outbreak of E. coli spread by bagged spinach, which killed three and sickened 276.

Germany initially pointed the finger at Spain and their alleged bacteria-infested cucumbers. But German officials are backtracking — quickly — after it became clear that the sources is still unknown and Spain began threatening legal action over the allegations.

“We do not rule out taking action against authorities which have cast doubt on the quality of our produce, so action may be taken against the authorities, in this case, of Hamburg,” Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told radio station Cadena Ser.Spanish farmers say lost sales resulting from the crisis are costing them 200 million euros (5 million) a week, and could put 70,000 people out of work in a country which already has the highest unemployment rate in the EU.

Health Commissioner Dalli said he was looking at what the European Commission could do about the impact on producers.

What has come to the surface during the rapid spread of this deadly illness is the weaknesses of the European Union’s food safety monitoring, “where there is a free market across countries but individual nations are tasked with monitoring safety.” To just about anyone, that seems like a lousy risk management technique that has, in part, led to a fast-spreading, deadly outbreak.

And that outbreak has now spread to eight other European countries, killing one woman in Sweden, which became the first non-German fatality.

Let’s take a look at some of the more recent, and thankfully less deadly, instances of foodborne illness outbreaks:

  • 2010: The largest food recall in history was prompted when dangerous levels of Salmonella were detected in the eggs of two Iowa produces, Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farm. In all, more than 400 million eggs were recalled and approximately 2,000 illnesses were reported.
  • 2009: Peanut butter was blamed for killing nine and sickening 22,500 in one of the worst foodborne illness outbreaks in history. Georgia-based Peanut Corporation of America was found to be the culprit.
  • 2003: Green onions served at a Chi-Chi’s restaurant in Pennsylvania spawned the largest Hepatitis A outbreak in U.S. history. Four people died and more than 660 were infected.

Superbugs in Your Supermarket Chicken

Posted on by

The use of antibiotics in animal feed has been widely publicized in recent years, with studies presenting alarming evidence of the amounts and types of drugs used and their effect on consumers. A new study, however, sheds an even more alarming light on the situation.

online pharmacy ivermectin with best prices today in the USA

Canada’s CBC TV recently launched an investigation, which found that a whopping two-thirds of samples of chicken found at major grocery stores in some of Canada’s biggest cities has bacteria resistant to at least one antibiotic.

online pharmacy antabuse with best prices today in the USA

As the study asserts, this is not unusual. What frightened researchers was the fact that some of the bacteria found were resistant to six, seven or eight different types of antibiotics.

“This is the most worrisome study I’ve seen of its kind,” said Rick Smith, the head of Environmental Defence, a consumer advocacy group.

online pharmacy xenical with best prices today in the USA

But, as Wired science blogger Maryn McKenna points, out, this is not a problem with only Canadian meat, it is a worldwide problem. She points to an annual report published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which “monitors the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance among foodborne bacteria, specifically, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Enterococcus and Escherichia coli.” Their findings are not far off from those of Canada’s CBC TV.

The following is just one chart from the report showing the prevalence of resistant bacteria in store-bought meats:


The problem for us humans lies in the fact that routine use of antibiotics on farms contributes to the surge in antibiotic-resistant infections among people. And, as Grist writer, Tom Philpott points out, “MRSA — an antibiotic-resistant staph infection — now kills more Americans than AIDS.”

This topic seems to be of little concern to the FDA, and seems even less worrisome to the CDC. So if the two organizations that are supposed to fight for food safety and disease control and prevention are putting forth little, if any, effort, who will protect us?