Friday, April 06, 2007

Health Headlines - April 6

Maker Reveals Source of Peanut Butter Contamination

A leaky roof and faulty sprinkler system at a Georgia plant owned by ConAgra Foods led to last year's outbreak of salmonella bacteria in peanut butter that caused more than 400 people across the United States to become sick, the company said Thursday.

ConAgra said it was now confident of the safety of its Peter Pan peanut butter, which is slated to return to stores in mid-July, the Associated Press reported.

The company said a nearly two-month investigation concluded that moisture from the leaky roof and faulty sprinkler system allowed bacteria-laden moisture to gather at the Sylvester, Ga., plant last summer.

A spokeswoman said although the plant had been cleaned after the roof and sprinkler system were repaired, salmonella remained and wound up contaminating the peanut butter, the AP reported.

In February, ConAgra recalled all supplies of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter made at the Georgia plant. The salmonella outbreak sickened at least 425 people in 44 states, the wire service said.

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Arsenic Found in Herbal Kelp Supplements

People who use herbal kelp supplements are at risk of arsenic poisoning, California researchers concluded from a new study.

Scientists at the University of California, Davis, said their research was prompted by the case of a 54-year-old woman who had a two-year history of hair loss, fatigue, and memory loss. School doctors had traced the woman from relatively minor symptoms that got progressively worse as she began to use a variety of herbal therapies, including a kelp supplement.

In a statement, the scientists noted that over a period of several months, the woman's memory problems became so bad that she could no longer remember her home address. Other symptoms included rash, nausea, and vomiting. The woman actually increased her use of the kelp supplements from two to four pills daily as doctors continued to search for a diagnosis.

Subsequent tests revealed arsenic in the woman's blood and urine. When the woman stopped the kelp supplements, her symptoms cleared within weeks, the researchers said.

The study is published in the April issue of the journal, Environmental Health Perspectives.

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Eating and Exercise Habits Vary by Race: Report

Getting enough exercise and eating enough fruits and vegetables -- habits that can shield people from chronic disease -- vary significantly depending on a person's racial/ethnic background, a new U.S. government report found.

Only one in seven American adults who participated in a 2005 survey said they practiced both habits consistently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Among men, those classified as multi-racial or of races that were not Caucasian, African American, Hispanic or Asian were significantly more likely (16.5 percent) to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day and get regular physical exercise than were white men (12.6 percent).

Among women, significantly more whites (17.4 percent) got more regular exercise and ate fruits and vegetables than did black women (12.6 percent) or Hispanic women (14.8 percent), the agency report said.

Respondents were asked questions including, "How often do you drink fruit juices such as orange, grapefruit, or tomato?" and "Not counting juice, how often do you eat fruit?" To measure physical activity, respondents were asked how often they engaged in moderate-intensity exercise such as brisk walking, bicycling, vacuuming, or gardening for at least 10 minutes at a time in a usual week.

Last month, HealthDay reported the results of two studies, which concluded that despite public campaigns urging Americans to eat a healthier diet, most still aren't eating the recommended daily amounts of fruits and vegetables.

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Japanese Confirm Abnormal Behavior in People Taking Tamiflu

Abnormal behavior occurred in 128 Japanese people who took the flu drug Tamiflu, says a report submitted Wednesday to a national health ministry panel investigating the matter.

The report's authors checked 1,079 potential cases reported since 2001 and confirmed that 128 people, mostly young children and teenagers, behaved abnormally after taking Tamiflu, Agence France Presse reported. Of those 128 people, five teens and three adults died after falling from buildings or exhibiting extreme behavior such as dashing in front of cars.

Japan, the largest importer of Tamiflu, buys 60 percent of the world's supply of the drug, which is made by Switzerland-based Roche. After a previous probe, Japanese officials said taking Tamiflu posed no danger. U.S. officials came to the same conclusion.

But the Japanese government decided to launch a new investigation after a recent wave of deaths among people taking Tamiflu that led officials to issue an emergency order suspending prescriptions of the drug to young people, AFP reported.

Roche denies that Tamiflu causes any dangerous side effects.

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Elizabeth Edwards Says She Let Family and Country Down by Not Getting Mammograms

Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, told an audience in Iowa that she feels she let down her family and the country by not getting mammogram screenings that could have detected her cancer at an early stage.

Mrs. Edwards, who urged women to get mammograms, said that by the time she noticed a lump in her breast in 2004 and had it removed, the lump was nine centimeters in size and the cancer had spread to other areas in her body, the Associated Press reported.

She announced two weeks ago that her breast cancer had returned and spread to her rib bones.

"I do not have to be in this situation. I am responsible for putting myself, this man, my family and, frankly, putting you all at risk, too, because I think you deserve the chance to vote for this man," Mrs. Edwards told about 500 people in Davenport, the AP reported.

"(The cancer) had the chance to migrate because I sat at home doing whatever I thought was important and didn't get mammograms," she said. "It wasn't that I didn't know. There are women in this audience who know perfectly well whether or not they're doing what they need to do and get mammograms. If you are one of the people who knew but aren't doing it, obviously you need a new strategy."

"Women often put themselves at the bottom (of the) list of things to do. When I put my health at the bottom of the list, I was putting (Mr. Edwards) at the bottom of the list, my children at the bottom of the list, the country at the bottom of the list," Mrs. Edwards said.

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Indonesia Confirms Another Human Case of Bird Flu

A second test has confirmed that a 15-year-old Indonesian girl was infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus, making her the 93rd case in the country, a health ministry official said Thursday. Of the 93 people who've been infected, 72 have died.

The girl, from central Jakarta, had a high fever and was admitted to a hospital in the city on March 30, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported. On April 2, the girl was transferred to a designated bird flu hospital in Jakarta.

The health ministry official said the girl had looked after chickens and other birds.

After a few months of calm, Indonesia has recently reported a number of new cases of bird flu infection in humans, Xinhua reported. Five people died of bird flu in Indonesia in March and one died early this month. More people have died of bird flu in Indonesia than in any other country.

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