September 19th, 2009 by admin in Better Health Network, Health Tips
No Comments »
With news reports about the H1N1 flu all over the place, you may not think about the old “stomach flu” right now. Did you know that there really is no such thing as the stomach flu? If you have diarrhea or vomiting, it is usually not from influenza virus, but rather from another bug that got you. Often these bugs get us from not properly handling our food or from unsanitary conditions in our kitchens. Don’t go blaming the restaurant so quickly because studies show our homes are a breeding ground for bacteria that make us sick, too!
Top places germs reside
- The kitchen sponge and/or dishcloth is the number one place for nasty bugs to hang out. Replace your sponge every few weeks, or put it through the dishwasher so the heat can kill off some of the bacteria.
- The bottom of the sink is also very high in bacterial count. Just think about the conditions that germs love: Warm, moist environments. Your sink, sponges, and dishtowels are often wet and bacteria love it!
- Keyboards, computer mouse, remote controls, doorknobs, etc. I am guilty of this too: You are working on your computer and then you reach for a snack. There is a ton of bacteria on surfaces all over your office and home. Wash your hands every time you go to eat something. The toilet actually has less bacteria than many commonly touched surfaces around your office and home.
Tips to prevent getting sick
- WASH HANDS. I can’t emphasize this enough. Wash your hands before you go to prepare food or eat food. Wash your hands after you go to the bathroom. A good rule of thumb is to wash for at least 20 seconds using hot water and lots of soap. Use a hand sanitizer if you cannot always wash in a sink.
- Wash all surfaces food will touch before and after you prepare food. Wipe the counter clean before you get the food out, and wash it off after as well.
- Wash all produce well. Even if you don’t eat the outside of it (think watermelon, cantaloupe, oranges, etc) you still want to wash it. Once you cut into it or peel it, the outside is getting on the inside with the trail of the knife or your hands.
- Always cook meats to an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Use a food thermometer to be sure.
- Do not keep perishable food out for more than 2 hours at room temperature. Get all food back into the fridge in 2 hours or less to minimize bacteria multiplying.
- Keep your fridge at 40 degrees or less.
Check out this research from the USDA:
Best Ways To Clean Your Kitchen Sponge
Your microwave or dishwasher can make sponges safer to reuse in today’s kitchens.
Heating your used kitchen sponges in your microwave for one minute, or washing them in your dishwasher and leaving them there through a drying cycle, are the most effective household ways to inactivate harmful bacteria, yeasts and molds.
ARS food safety experts who specialize in research on foodborne pathogens, like E. coli O157:H7, looked at several simple, convenient and often-recommended ways of cleaning reusable kitchen sponges. Techniques included soaking sponges for three minutes in a 10-percent chlorine bleach solution, soaking in lemon juice or sterile water for one minute, heating in a microwave at full power for one minute, or washing in a dishwasher—including through a drying cycle.
At the outset of the experiment, they soaked all the sponges for 48 hours at room temperature in a slurry of ground beef and laboratory compounds which allow bacteria, yeasts and molds naturally present in the beef to grow on the sponges.
Microwaving and dishwashing each killed nearly 100 percent of the bacteria, with dishwashing being only slightly (0.0001 percent) less effective.
And, microwaving and dishwashing each killed nearly all yeasts and molds; less than 1 percent (only 0.00001 percent) survived.
This post, H1N1 Flu: Where Germs Are Hiding, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Brian Westphal.
September 15th, 2009 by Bongi in Better Health Network, True Stories
No Comments »
M and M was never fun. Sometimes I would walk out feeling I’d just escaped by the skin of my teeth. Sometimes I would feel like my teeth had had too close a shave. But once…just once, it could have been worse.
It was a pretty standard call. It was very busy. In the early evening I was called to casualties for a patient with severe abdominal pain. When I examined him it was clear there was something seriously wrong inside. He had a classical acute abdomen with board like rigidity. He clearly had a perforated peptic ulcer and needed surgery. I set my house doctor to work to get him admitted and on the list. Meanwhile I went back to theater to work through the number of equally critical patients already on the list.
Things then settled down into a rhythm. I was in theater with a student operating the cases one after the other while the house doctor separated the corn from the chaff in casualties. Finally it was time to do the laparotomy for the guy with the acute abdomen. I needed to shoot through casualties before we started so I decided to swing past the ward and make sure the guy was still ok.
The ward was dark. Pretty much everyone was asleep. Without wanting to wake the other patients I turned on the small bedside light of my patient. Even in that dim light I could see a bit of oral thrush. I was surprised. I was thinking to myself how the hell did I miss that in casualties. I felt his abdomen. It was no longer quite so tender. I turned to the student.
“See why it is important to make your decision before giving opioids?” I said with an air of authority. “Now he is actually not so tender but he definitely had an acute abdomen. We must go ahead with the operation.”
I quickly felt for lymph nodes. He had them everywhere. Once again I was quietly thinking that my clinical skills must be slipping because that I also didn’t pick up in casualties. I kept this new information to myself. Imagine the shock to the student if he realised I was not all knowing. i just didn’t want to be responsible for that level of devastation in his life. But I started considering other causes for his condition. It was clear he had AIDS and TB abdomen started looking like a possibility.
While we were still with the patient, the theater personnel arrived to take him to theater. I told them to get things going so long while I quickly shot down to casualties to evaluate a patient the house doctor was unsure about. And off I went at a brisk walk.
I walked into casualties. The house doctor led me to the patient in question, but as we approached his bed my blood went cold. In the exact bed where my acute abdomen had been lying about four hours previously was my acute abdomen still lying there!! I turned and ran back to theater. Fortunately I was in time.
Later I found out what had happened. Once we had admitted the acute abdomen, the porter had come in to take him to the ward. One of the patients lying in casualties was a guy that had just come in. His HIV had wreaked havoc in his life causing a number of unpleasant things, including AIDS dementia syndrome. The exchange went something like this;
“Timothy Mokoena? Is there a Timothy Mokoena here?” the porter called out.
“Here I am, but it’s not Mokoena. It’s Magagula.”
“Ok, Timothy Magagula, I’m going to take you to the ward.”
“Ok, but it’s not Timothy. It’s Michael.”
“Ok, Michael Magagula. Let’s go.”
And thus Michael Magagula, the AIDS dementia patient (not to be confused with Timothy Mokoena, the acute abdomen patient), thinking he had just jumped the queue to see a doctor was carted off to the ward and prepared for theater. He even signed for a laparotomy without even having seen a doctor.
In the end it all turned out well. Timothy got his operation and the hole in his stomach was patched. Michael was referred appropriately to the physicians. But I couldn’t help wondering how this could have looked in the next M and M meeting.
“Well, prof, the patient died on the table basically because I operated him unnecessarily.”
“And how is the other patient? The one you should have operated?”
“Well, he died too because I didn’t operate him.”
200% mortality for one operation. Not easy to achieve.
*This blog post was originally published at other things amanzi*
September 2nd, 2009 by BarbaraFicarraRN in Better Health Network, Health Tips
No Comments »
Have you ever been in a public bathroom and noticed the number of people that don’t wash their hands?
It doesn’t matter where you are.
You can be in a mall, an airport, a hospital, a restaurant, a school, a concert, work, a sporting event and the list can go on and on.
People are not washing their hands.
Hand Washing Isn’t Sexy
Okay so this topic isn’t so sexy. Not like FOX NEWS Health’s Featured Story: “Catwalk Confidence” that highlights a fitness class to teach women to “strut their stuff” in stilettos or FOX NEWS “FOXsexpert” who lets you know that size does matter.
It’s Not Sexy but It Does Matter
It matters because simple hand washing can stop the spread of germs, and can prevent infections including the Swine Flu.
In a recent story on CBS news, it’s reported that in a new survey it found that “87 percent of respondents wash their hands after using public bathrooms, but one percent of those only rinsed with water.”
It also reports that “people haven’t changed their hand washing habits in light of the swine flu outbreak.”
Whether the study is accurate or not who knows, the fact is that there are some people who are not washing their hands, and some people only rinse with water? What’s up with that?
Are You Doing It Right?
If people are washing their hands, are they doing it right? Are they lathering up long enough? Do they sing “Happy Birthday” twice? Turn off the faucet with a paper towel?
Take Notice Next Time You Use A Public Bathroom
You’ll be shocked by the number of people who do it wrong or worse, don’t do it at all.
Why Are People Not Doing It?
Why do people not wash their hands? Why aren’t they changing their hand washing habits in light of the swine flu? Hand washing is so simple. If it can keep nasty germs away and prevent the swine flu and other viruses, why aren’t people doing it? Why?
CDC Offers Great Info
It’s no secret that hand washing is the single most effective way to stop the spread of infection. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) offers helpful information.
Here’s a simple step-by-step guide:
- Wet your hands with warm running water
- Apply soap.
- Rub hands together vigorously to make a soapy lather.
- Rub all surfaces including your wrists, between your fingers, back of your hands and under your fingernails and cuticles, and around any rings.
- Rub your hands for 15-20 seconds.
- No timer is needed; just imagine singing “Happy Birthday” x 2.
- Rinse your hands well.
- Dry your hands using a paper towel or air dryer.
- Use your paper towel to turn off the faucet if possible.
- Always use soap and water if your hands are visibly dirty.
Love the Alcohol Based Hand Sanitizers
If soap and water are not available use alcohol based hand sanitizers. They work great, and they are easy to carry with you.
With the start of school fast approaching, moms and dads encourage your kids to wash their hands after using the bathroom and before eating.
What’s Your Experience?
Do you wash your hands? Do you notice people washing their hands in public bathrooms or not? We would like to hear from you. Any suggestions to help spread the word?
*This blog post was originally published at Health in 30*
September 1st, 2009 by Happy Hospitalist in Uncategorized
No Comments »
There appears to be some controversy brewing. The New York Times is reporting that the CDC may recommend just that in an effort to protect the boys against HIV as they become sexually active:
The topic is a delicate one that has already generated controversy, even though a formal draft of the proposed recommendations, due out from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by the end of the year, has yet to be released.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is currently neutral. As a result, many state Medicaid programs do not pay for the procedure. But it sounds like that may be changing, with a policy indicating circumcision has health benefits beyond HIV prevention.
Hundreds of commenters wrote into the New York Times today to complain about “child abuse” and “genital mutilation” and one “religious sect’s agenda of control” (i.e. Jews).
I don’t see what the big deal is. Everyone seems to be piercing and tattooing their bodies these days. What’s wrong with a little circumcision?
Perhaps you could mandate the same kind of prevention that schools do with their vaccination requirements. What do you think? Should all boys be circumcised?
*This blog post was originally published at A Happy Hospitalist*
August 30th, 2009 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Opinion
No Comments »
My newest podcast is up on iTunes (go here for the web-based version). It’s the first of a two (maybe more) part series on influenza – covering flu in general. We have been seeing a significant number of cases of the flu over the past week, which is extremely unusual for this time of year. Epidemic flu goes around between November and Late April, with sporadic cases appearing at other times. What we have seen so far is not sporadic, so it probably represents pandemic flu (H1N1).
I did a poll on Facebook, asking what people thought of the H1N1 situation. The overwhelming majority responded that they felt the press and the government were hyping it way too much. This really surprised me – not that people would think that, but that a majority of people felt this was the case. It may have related to how the question was phrased or what the other choices were, but still this number betrays a lack of worry about the H1N1 virus.
This worries me.
I don’t think the fear of the H1N1 is misplaced. The normal flu kills over 30,000 people per year, and the H1N1 is expected to infect 3 times more people than the usual flu (for reasons I will go into in the next podcast). The implication of this is that even if this flu is “nothing special” it will kill over 90,000. Put in perspective, prostate cancer killed 27,000 men and breast cancer killed 41,000 women in 2008. A “normal” potency H1N1 virus could then kill more than both of these combined.
Thankfully, the cases we’ve seen so far have not been severe, but still there have been 522 deaths already from the H1N1 in the US. But in 1918, the virus mutated around this time of year and became significantly more deadly. I think those who get it now are actually probably fortunate.
The warnings about pandemic influenza are not hype. But the cynicism about the government and the press are widespread. Some of the more “unconventional” thought (read into that word generously) espouse conspiracies by the government. Here’s one example of this:
It’s man-made. It can be used as a biological weapon. It was developed as an AIDS vaccine-related organism. It was extracted from AIDS patients. It is responsible for virtually all of the symptoms which AIDS patients suffer from. The AIDS virus is at best a co-factor, and not even such a strong co-factor as to bring on all of the symptoms of AIDS. This particular organism, the micoplasma, is associated with this upper respiratory flu-like illness. And it’s also associated in its pathogenic process with a whole variety of other symptoms that mimic AIDS.
This guy is totally nuts extreme, but the theories on the Internet of this flavor abound.
Unfortunately, the religious right Obama-haters have seized on this as anything from a means to push universal health to a weapon to sterilize the US populace. I can assure you that this has nothing to do with Biblical thought and everything to do with the vulnerability of some people to fear-mongering. I even had one patient ask me what I thought about the sterilization theory. I reassured her that I had just gotten mine – although sterilization is no longer an issue for me as it has already been done with my consent. She laughed and went ahead with the vaccine.
But less extreme people still feel this is far too much hype for the severity of the disease. This scrutiny puts the CDC in a bad situation. The only thing that would vindicate their dire warnings is the exact thing they are trying to prevent: a deadly pandemic. Conversely, the more they succeed in preventing this problem, the more people will cast aspersions on them.
Take it seriously, folks. It’s like a massive storm forming in the tropics – it could be deadly and it could be a dud. Either way, we need to do whatever it takes to minimize the damage.
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
