October 2007 Archives

Just in time for Halloween, school officials around the country have been scrambling with the prospect of an invasion of bacterial infections. A federal report released last week indicated that the bacteria, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, are responsible for more deaths in the United States each year than AIDS.
MRSA is a strain of staph bacteria that does not respond to penicillin or related antibiotics, though it can be treated with other drugs. The infection can be spread by sharing items, like a towel or a piece of sports equipment that has been used by an infected person, or through skin-to-skin contact with an open wound.

The names are familiar to children and adults alike: Pirates of the Caribbean, Winnie the Pooh, Barbie, Elmo. The brands are familiar too: Mattel, Banquet, Fischer-Price, J.C. Penny, and Dunkin Doughnuts. In the past few months, companies have asked you to check your closets and toy boxes for brightly colored but toxic toys, and your refrigerator for foods that may be unsafe too.

The proper treatment for appendicitis is surgery, and the time to operation is the most significant predictor of a rupture. A perforated appendix can lead to longer stays in the hospital, increased health care costs and sometimes fatal infection. But the liklihood of receiving the surgery may depend upon your insurance card in your wallet.

Pop Weaver, the nation's second-largest popcorn producer, has pulled the synthetic flavoring, diacetyl, from its microwave popcorn products because of the link between exposure to the chemical and lung disease. ConAgra, the world's largest supplier of the 3 billion bags of microwave popcorn sold each year, said Tuesday that it will eliminate the use of a controversial chemical butter flavoring linked to severe lung disease in workers from its Act II and Orville Redenbacher products.