DISEASE THREATS





11/14/07 -
An outbreak of bird flu in eastern England is the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease, the government said Tuesday.

RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - Del Rey Tortilleria is recalling its flour tortilla products. Included in the recall are flour tortillas of all sizes with the name "Del Rey" on the label. Illinois state officials believe there is a connection between the tortillas and recent illnesses in Racine, Wisconsin schools, in which students experienced vomiting, nausea and abdominal cramps. Del Rey is not certain that its products caused the reported symptoms, but is recalling the product nevertheless as a precaution while its investigation continues.
-RECALLED - NapaStyle of Napa, California is recalling their Romano Pitchers and Tumblers, because they may contain high levels of leachable lead.

AUSTRALIA - Experts say deaths from anaphylactic shock are likely to become more common because Australia was experiencing a "tsunami" of potentially-deadly food allergies. A young woman died at her work Christmas party in Brisbane this week, after suffering a severe allergic reaction to seafood. The 25-year-old woman went into shock after eating a dim sim at the Wellington Point Hotel. Scientists are unsure why people die of anaphylactic shock. Environmental triggers are involved, not just genetic factors. Anaphylaxis symptoms include breathing difficulties, mouth and throat swelling, itching and unconsciousness

11/13/07 -
BRITAIN - About 6,500 birds are being slaughtered after avian flu was confirmed in turkeys on a Suffolk farm. 10% of birds in one shed died over one night. The H5 strain was found in turkeys at Redgrave Park Farm near Diss. All birds on the farm, which include ducks and geese, are to be slaughtered. A 3km protection zone and a 10km surveillance zone have been set up. The government could not yet confirm if the birds had the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain. "Obviously this is another huge blow to the farming industry, which is still dealing with the effects of bluetongue and foot-and-mouth." The risk of bird flu spreading is increased during the autumn months because of wild bird migration.

The aggressive antibiotic-resistant staph infection responsible for thousands of recent illnesses in the United States undermines the body's defences by causing germ-fighting cells to explode. The methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, infection long has been associated with health-care facilities, where it attacks people with weakened immune systems. But many recent cases involve an aggressive strain, community-associated MRSA, or CA-MRSA. It can cause severe infections and even death in otherwise healthy people outside of health care settings.

11/4/07 -
GROUND BEF - Cargill Inc. is voluntarily recalling more than 840,000 pounds of ground beef patties distributed at Sam's Club stores nationwide after four Minnesota children who ate the food developed E. coli illness.

MEAT FROM CANADA - U.S. regulators have tightened restrictions on meat and poultry products from Canada because of concerns about testing practices at a Canadian firm that was believed to be the source of bacteria-contaminated meat that sickened 40 people in eight states.

11/2/07 -
Frozen pizza suspected in 10-state E coli outbreak - General Mills recalled about 414,000 cases of frozen pizza after health officials said it could be linked to an Escherichia coli outbreak that has sickened 21 people in 10 states. The recalled products are Totino's and Jeno's pizzas that contain pepperoni topping, which could be contaminated with E coli. Victims have been from Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Virginia. The earliest case reported to health officials occurred on July 20 and the latest case on October 10. The company has distributed more than 120 million pizzas since July 1.

10/26/07 -
Continuing destruction of the natural world is affecting the health, wealth and well-being of people around the globe, according to a major UN report. The Global Environment Outlook says most trends are going the wrong way. It lists degradation of farmland, loss of forest cover, pollution, dwindling fresh water supplies and overfishing among society's environmental ills. There is a "remarkable lack of urgency" to reverse these trends. "There continue to be persistent and intractable problems unresolved and unaddressed. This assault on the global environment risks undermining the many advances human society has made. Past issues remain and new ones are emerging, from the rapid rise of oxygen 'dead zones' in the oceans to the resurgence of new and old diseases linked in part with environmental degradation." The well-being of millions of people in the developing world is put at risk by failure to remedy problems which have been tackled in richer societies. "This assault on the global environment risks undermining the many advances human society has made in recent decades. It is undercutting our fight against poverty. It could even come to jeopardise international peace and security."

A new report warns that the H5N1 strain of bird flu has recently mutated to a form that is more easily able to infect humans, but researchers say the virus still does not have the ability to cause a global pandemic. "We have identified a specific change that could make bird flu grow in the upper respiratory tract of humans." Recent samples of the avian influenza virus taken from birds in Africa and Europe all contained the mutation. The H5N1 strain, which has killed or caused the slaughter of millions of birds, has infected 329 people in 12 countries since 2003, killing 201 of them. It has only rarely been passed from human to human, but the wrong combination of mutations could give it the ability to spread into a global epidemic.

10/18/07 -
BANANAS - AUSTRALIA - banana plantations in the Northern Territory are being destroyed by an exotic fungus threatening to wipe out the industry. The soil-based Panama disease - which dries out and kills Cavenish banana trees - is forcing the territory's largest producer to close its entire operation. The Borsato Company, which supplies two-thirds of the NT market, is warning that bananas will have to be imported from north Queensland next year because of a shortage of local fruit. "The disease just devastated the plantation and you can't get rid of it and you can't plant back into the soil.'' Panama was first detected at Berry Springs in the territory ten years ago, although strains of it have been identified in Australia over the past three decades. "This is a worldwide problem. We have been fighting this for ten years and we have watched all the other major growers in the territory close ... just about everyone has it." The Government is hoping the industry can still be saved by developing resistant strains of crops. Panama causes banana trees to effectively kill themselves. "The plant shuts itself down trying to keep the fungus at bay. It starves itself trying to keep Panama out and stop it from spreading."

10/17/07 -
Drug-resistant bugs growing - A new study warns that potentially lethal drug-resistant staph infections are becoming more common, and not just in hospitals where growth has already been documented. Nearly 19,000 people died in the United States in 2005 after being infected with virulent drug-resistant bacteria that have spread rampantly through hospitals and nursing homes.

10/10/07 -
POT PIES - Health officials said Tuesday that Banquet turkey and chicken pot pies might be linked to 139 cases of salmonella in 30 states, and ConAgra Foods Inc. voluntarily stopped production at the Missouri plant that makes the pot pies. The largest numbers of salmonella cases had been reported in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Missouri.

Spike in E coli–related beef recalls alarms officials - A Wisconsin meat producer recently recalled about 845,000 pounds of frozen ground beef because of possible contamination with Escherichia coli O157:H7, only a day after the Topps Meat Co., a leading producer of frozen hamburgers, announced it was going out of business because it couldn't bear the cost of a recent massive recall. The two events are the latest in a string of ground beef recalls this year related to E coli contamination. The rising number of incidents worries health and industry officials, because it could represent an erosion of safety gains the industry had achieved since 2002, when a massive E coli outbreak linked to ground beef from ConAgra sickened at least 46 people in 16 states. E coli contamination has prompted 11 ground beef recalls so far this year. Six were prompted by routine sampling by the company or the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service and were not linked to any illnesses. However, the other five recalls, including ones by Topps and Cargill, were touched off by illness reports.

9/30/07 -
HAMBURGER RECALL - The Topps Meat Company on Saturday vastly expanded its recall of frozen hamburger patties that may be contaminated with E. coli, after federal inspectors discovered inadequate safety measures at its plant.

9/27/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - "Queso Cincho de Guerrero" produced by "Quesos Sabrosos Mexicanos" because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. Queso Cincho de Guerrero was distributed in Indiana, Michigan, Georgia, Texas, and Illinois in retail stores. The dry hard Mexican cheese comes in wheels of 35# to 40#, and is labeled as "Quesos Sabrosos Mexicanos".
-RECALL WIDENED - Quong Hop & Co. of South San Francisco, California is expanding their recall of tofu because it has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

BLUETONGUE VIRUS - Over the weekend the mysterious bluetongue virus simultaneously appeared in parts of England and Southeastern Montana. On Sunday, the BBC reported the first case of bluetongue, also called catarrhal fever, which most likely traveled from Europe in a swarm of infected midges. The small gnat-like insects can travel up to 124 miles a day, and just one midge bite is enough to infect an animal. Meanwhile, bluetongue has been confirmed in eight flocks in six Montana counties this month. A quarantine is now in effect for sixteen eastern Montana counties, which will prevent ranchers from transporting animals at a time when lambs are usually shipped to feedlots. While news of recent e-coli contamination in lettuce (similar to last year’s spinach scare) dominates food news, the seasonal appearance of bluetongue in the United States and the new emergence of the disease in the United Kingdom, mark the increasing pressures and concerns that farmers and ranchers face around the world. Unlike e-coli, bluetongue will not infect humans who come in contact with the disease or consume it. Bluetongue occurs most often in sheep, but also affects cattle, goats, buffalo, deer and antelope. The disease causes ulcers in the mouth and nose, and breaks down capillary walls, causing an animal to internally bleed to death. Just this month bluetongue infected animals in Britain for the first time. For 25 years, the presence of bluetongue in the United States has blocked export of cattle, sheep and goats to markets in Australia, New Zealand, and the European Union. On September 13th, Montana’s Fish Wildlife & Parks Department released an alert that the virus had been seen in big game populations in southeastern Montana.

A Japanese dairy company has produced a super-premium milk for stressed-out adults - at the price of $US43 ($49) for less than a litre. The price of a bottle is nearly 30 times as expensive as ordinary milk. The milk is taken from cows once a week at the break of dawn as they discharge a lot of a stress-relieving hormone called melatonin during the night. It is said to contain three to four times as much melatonin as usual milk.

A cholera outbreak in Iraq is spreading, with new cases confirmed in Baghdad, Basra and, for the first time, three northern districts.

9/25/07 -
Bacteria 'more dangerous in space' - Salmonella food bacteria flown on a 12-day space shuttle flight became more virulent in their weightless surroundings. When Salmonella typhimurium food bugs were flown in special flasks on the shuttle, they were found to alter the way they expressed 167 genes. The bacteria were almost three times as likely to kill infected mice compared with standard samples held on Earth. "Wherever humans go, microbes go; you can't sterilise humans. Wherever we go, under the oceans or orbiting the Earth, the microbes go with us, and it's important that we understand... how they're going to change." Currently, no vaccine exists for Salmonella food-borne infections in humans.

9/20/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - Quong Hop & Co. of South San Francisco, California is recalling all SOY DELI brand tofu and certain varieties of SOY DELI and QUONG HOP brand tofu because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The products are distributed in the Midwest and West coast throughout supermarkets and natural food stores.
-RECALLED - Bravo! announced a recall of select tubes of three of its frozen, raw poultry products for cats and dogs. The pet food is being recalled because two of the products have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes, while the other product has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The recalled products are distributed nationwide to distributors, retail stores, internet sales and directly to consumers.

9/19/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - Dole Fresh Vegetables is recalling (due to E. coli contamination) all salad bearing the label "Dole Hearts Delight" sold in the U.S. and Canada with a "best if used by" date of September 19, 2007. The salad was sold in plastic bags of 227 grams in Canada and one-half pound in the U.S. This product was sold in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime Provinces in Canada and in Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and neighboring states in the U.S.
-RECALLED - B. Braun Medical Inc., Bethlehem, PA, announced on July 30, 2007 a nationwide recall of Normal Saline Flush syringes due to an increase in customer complaints for particulate matter in the saline. The introduction of particulate matter into the blood stream may result in phlebitis and / or damage to vital organs such as the brain, kidneys, heart and lungs. To a less likely extent, there is a potential for the development of pulmonary embolism or silicone embolism syndrome, which could cause severe injury and / or death. Symptoms would generally be expected to develop quickly. However, the risk associated with use of this product is cumulative and increases with each additional exposure.

VACCINATIONS will be created for each of the "big three" killers - HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria - within the next decade, a world health crusader says.

9/18/07 -
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.
Avian flu has struck ducks near Hong Kong.

WEST NILE VIRUS - New numbers show Canada is experiencing its worst year for West Nile virus, and as strange as it sounds, one reason could be the lack of a certain type of mosquito.

PET TREATS - Several brands of made-in-China jerky treats are making pets ill, though investigators say melamine, the industrial chemical that spurred an extensive recall earlier this year, has been ruled out as a contaminant.

9/12/07 -
Deadly Ebola resurfaces in Congo - An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed at least five people. Blood samples from the southern province of Kasai were sent to laboratories specialising in haemorrhagic fever. More than 100 people have died and many more have fallen sick in a recent fever epidemic in central DR Congo. Scientists say some deaths could have been from a bacterium called Shigella. Three months ago, people started falling sick from a mystery virus in several villages around Kananga, the capital of West Kasai region. Ebola is untreatable and almost always fatal. DR Congo's last major Ebola outbreak killed more than 200 people in 1995 in Kikwit, about 400km (249 miles) west of the current outbreak. The last major incidence of the disease was in Uganda in 2001 when more than 400 cases were reported and more than half of the patients died.

Cholera - Iraqi authorties are dealing with an "epidemic" of nearly 7000 suspected cholera cases in three northeastern provinces.

Wireless micro-chips - Millions of animals and even a few thousand people have had wireless identification tags planted under their skin - but a number of studies suggest they may cause cancer.

9/11/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - Jensen's Old Fashioned Smokehouse Inc. of Seattle, WA is recalling tubs of Jensen's Seattle Style Wild Smoked Salmon Spread Lemon Dill and Onion and tubs of PCC brand Smoked Salmon Spread all-natural, because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
-RECALLED - The California Department of Food and Agriculture has issued an order to Organic Pastures Dairy Company to withdraw from retail distribution Grade A raw cream manufactured at their facility in Fresno, due to detection of Listeria monocytogenes bacteria.

The number of deaths and serious adverse side-effects related to prescription drugs more than doubled in the U.S. between 1997 and 2005.

9/10/07 -
PENNSYLVANIA - Hunters fear an illness that has killed hundreds of whitetail deer in Greene Township is decimating one of Beaver County's prime hunting areas. A "couple hundred" deer have died in the woods surrounding Hookstown and Georgetown in recent weeks. The deer kill is consistent with epizootic hemorrhagic disease, or EHD, a virus blamed in a similar run of deer deaths recently in Washington and Greene counties. Deer in Allegheny County have also died mysteriously in recent weeks. EHD is spread by insects known as "biting midges" and cannot be transmitted to humans or pets. The virus causes capillaries in the major organs of deer to burst, resulting in massive hemorrhaging and death within five to seven days. Officials have not confirmed that EHD is responsible for the Allegheny and Beaver county deer kills, but they say it is the likely culprit. Outbreaks of EHD are common in southern states but RARE in Pennsylvania. Biologists think that wind may be responsible for blowing infected insects to Pennsylvania. The current Pennsylvania outbreak, which now includes Beaver, Allegheny, Washington and Greene counties, should end with the onset of cold weather.

9/7/07 -
A debilitating tropical virus carried by mosquitoes has become established in Europe for the first time. The Ministry of Health in Italy has confirmed about 160 cases of chikungunya in the Ravenna region in northern Italy. Travellers have been advised to protect themselves against mosquito bites. The Italian outbreak is A 'WORLD FIRST' OUTSIDE THE TROPICS. The extension of the virus beyond its Indian Ocean origins is "worrying without being alarming". "The mosquito vectors (carriers) of this disease have been in Italy for several years. All we know is that increased temperatures and humidity make the climate more tropical and favour the proliferation of mosquitoes." Chikungunya gets its name from a Swahili word meaning "that which bends up" because of the arthritic-type symptoms that leave victims stooped. Symptoms usually appear between four to seven days after being bitten and can persist for several weeks. There is no vaccine against chikungunya.

9/5/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - The Ohio Department of Agriculture in conjunction with The Kroger Co. advises consumers not to consume Kroger brand Mustard or Southern-Style potato salad with a "Best If Used By" date of Sept. 5, 2007, because it may contain E. coli O157:H7.
-RECALLED - American Pie, LLC, Woodbury, NY, is recalling Marie Callender Turtle Pies because the product was inadvertently shipped prior to the company obtaining satisfactory microbial test results. The product was shipped to the following locations - Kroger Supermarkets: Columbus, OH; Houston, TX; Roanoke, VA; Dallas, TX; Atlanta, GA; Memphis, TN; Shelbyville, TN; Louisville, KY; Giant Eagle Supermarkets: Akron, Canton, Lake, Cleveland, Columbus, Erie, Toledo, Johnston (all in Ohio); also New Castle, MD; Pittsburgh, PA; and Youngstown, WV; Hy-Vee Supermarkets: Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Maryland, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
-RECALLED - Everlasting Distributors, Inc. of Bayonne, NJ, is recalling its Blue Ocean Smoked Indian Sardine Tamban 8oz. packaged frozen products because it has the potential to be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum. Blue Ocean Smoked Indian Sardine Tamban was distributed in New York and New Jersey areas.
-RECALLED - Stirrings LLC, of Fall River, Massachusetts is recalling its 3.5 oz packages of Rimmer Brand Mojito Cocktail Garnish which was distributed nationwide, because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.

-----------------------
8/31/07 -
About 140 million people, mainly in developing countries, are being poisoned by arsenic in their drinking water. This will lead to higher rates of cancer in the future. South and East Asia account for more than half of the known cases globally. Eating large amounts of rice grown in affected areas could also be a health risk. It's a global problem, present in 70 countries, probably more. Arsenic consumption leads to higher rates of some cancers, including tumours of the lung, bladder and skin, and other lung conditions. Some of these effects show up decades after the first exposure. "In the long term, one in every 10 people with high concentrations of arsenic in their water will die from it. This is the highest known increase in mortality from any environmental exposure." The metal is present naturally in soil, and leaches into groundwater, with bacteria thought to play a role.

8/30/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - Metz Fresh is voluntarily recalling bagged spinach as a result of a positive test for Salmonella found during routine company testing. It was distributed in the continental United States and Canada.

8/29/07 -
World 'dodged bullet' in bird flu spread - A mathematical analysis has confirmed that H5N1 avian influenza spread from person to person in Indonesia in April, US researchers reported today. They said they had developed a tool to run quick tests on disease outbreaks to see if dangerous epidemics or pandemics may be developing. Health officials around the world agree an influenza pandemic is overdue, and are most worried by the H5N1 strain of avian influenza that has been spreading through flocks from Asia to Africa. It rarely passes to humans, but since 2003 it has infected 322 people and killed 195 of them. Most have been infected directly by birds. But a few clusters of cases have been seen and officials worry most about the possibility that the virus has acquired the ability to pass easily and directly from one person to another. That would spark a pandemic. "We find statistical evidence of human-to-human transmission in Sumatra, but not in Turkey. This does not mean that no low-level human-to-human spread occurred in this outbreak, only that we lack statistical evidence of such spread." In Sumatra, one of Indonesia's islands, a 37-year-old woman appears to have infected her 10-year-old nephew, who infected his father. DNA tests confirmed that the strain the father died of was very similar to the virus found in the boy's body. "It went two generations and then just stopped, but it could have gotten out of control. The world really may have dodged a bullet with that one, and the next time, we might not be so lucky." The researchers estimated the secondary-attack rate, which is the risk that one person will infect another, was 20 per cent. This is similar to what is seen for regular, seasonal influenza A in the United States.

8/28/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALL EXPANDS - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to eat raw oysters harvested from an additional part (growing area 5) of the southern tip of Hood Canal in Washington state due to a foodborne illness outbreak caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus bacteria. This follows an earlier outbreak and August 10 warning about oysters harvested from growing area 6 of Hood Canal. Raw oysters harvested from growing area 5 in Hood Canal from July 31 through August 20, 2007 have caused at least six people to become ill in Washington state. To date, records indicate that raw oysters from the area were distributed to Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington state, British Columbia (Canada), Bali (Indonesia), Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand.

8/26/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - Mars Petcare US, based in Franklin, Tennessee, is voluntarily recalling five-pound bags of Krasdale Gravy dry dog food sold in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, and 50-pound bags of Red Flannel Large Breed Adult Formula dry food sold in Pennsylvania because of the potential contamination with Salmonella Schwarzengrund.

AUSTRALIA - racing in all mainland states has been shut down as a result of the equine influenza scare which has halted all horse movement in NSW. 16 horses have now been confirmed as initially testing positive for equine influenza at two Sydney locations and another six are showing signs of the virus. All harness racing tracks in NSW have been closed and the sport's trials, gymkhanas and race meetings cancelled until further notice in the wake of the equine influenza scare. 5000 thoroughbreds are currently in training around NSW and 40,000 more are also at risk of the disease. Also under threat are horses under the command of NSW Police Force. People who have come in contact with the horses are not at risk of infection but can easily spread the disease. "In a lot of cases these people have gone into multiple places. Its a massive problem for the horse industry." It is highly likely the current restrictions would last at least two weeks and the effect would be substantial as the racing industry approaches its high season.

Norovirus outbreaks in the United States appear to have increased sharply since the beginning of last year, probably fueled by two new strains of the gastrointestinal pathogen.

8/24/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - Los Angeles Salad Company, located in City of Industry, CA is recalling its "Genuine Sweet Baby Carrots" ("Trader Joe's Genuine Sweet Baby Carrots" and "Los Angeles Salad Genuine Sweet Baby Carrots") because the product may be contaminated with the bacteria Shigella. The same product sold in Canada was discovered to be contaminated with Shigella earlier this week.

WEST NILE - The number of West Nile virus cases in the Canadian Prairies has exploded, and some experts warn the worst is yet to come. The latest figures show at least 386 Canadians have been infected.

8/23/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
- RECALLED - Mars Petcare US, Inc. announced a recall of select five pound bags of Krasdale Gravy dry dog food sold in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The pet food is being recalled because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.
- RECALLED - Acme Smoked Fish Corporation is recalling Smoked Salmon. This product was distributed to retail stores in the South Florida Region. The potential for contamination with Listeria monocytogenes was noted after routine testing.

Tests on two brands of dog treats sold at Wal-Mart stores in the U.S. have shown the pet food contains traces of melamine, the same industrial chemical that caused an earlier recall of pet food products across North America in March.

LEAD IN TOYS - About 66,000 spinning tops and 4,700 tin pails featuring Thomas and Friends and Curious George characters are being recalled from the marketplace because they contain high levels of lead.

Blankets made in China are being withdrawn from the marketplace in Australia and New Zealand after tests showed they contained high levels of formaldehyde, a chemical preservative.

Infectious diseases are spreading faster than ever before, the World Health Organization annual report says. With about 2.1 billion airline passengers flying each year, there is a high risk of another major epidemic such as Aids, Sars or Ebola fever. The WHO urges increased efforts to combat disease outbreaks, and sharing of virus data to help develop vaccines. Without this, it says, there could be devastating impacts on the global economy and international security. In the report, the WHO says NEW DISEASES ARE EMERGING AT THE "HISTORICALLY UNPRECEDENTED" RATE OF ONE PER YEAR. Since the 1970s, 39 new diseases have developed, and in the last five years alone, the WHO has identified more than 1,100 epidemics including cholera, polio and bird flu. Not only are diseases emerging more quickly around the globe and spreading faster, they are also becoming increasingly difficult to treat. Global efforts to control infectious diseases have already been "seriously jeopardised" by widespread drug resistance, a consequence of poor medical treatment and misuse of antibiotics. Although the H5N1 bird flu virus has not mutated into a form that passes easily between humans as many scientists had feared, the next influenza pandemic is "likely to be of an avian variety" and could affect some 1.5 billion people. "The question of a pandemic of influenza from this virus or another avian influenza virus is still a matter of when, not if."

8/19/07 -
People in Canada are being warned not to eat a brand of baby carrots from Mexico because the product may be contaminated with shigella bacteria. The item, Los Angeles Salad Company Genuine Sweet Baby Carrots, was sold in 672-gram plastic bags in Costco stores in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland.

AUSTRALIA - the influenza outbreak sweeping Australia has now claimed nine victims, including a 33-year-old Queensland woman who died just two days after showing the first symptoms. Her symptoms were of the deadly strain of influenza A - fever, lethargy and coughing. The other flu victims include a 48-year-old South Australian woman who died early on Tuesday within hours of being admitted to hospital.

SAUDI ARABIA - Hundreds of camels have died in Saudi Arabia this week from a mystery ailment. 232 camels died in the space of four days in the Dawasir Valley, 400km south of Riyadh. Owners say the real number of deaths is far higher. Agriculture ministry officials have denied an infectious disease caused the deaths and blamed them on animal feed supplied by food storage authorities. Camels are big business in the desert kingdom and are traded by Bedouin tribes for thousands of dollars each. The animals are used for racing and their meat is also prized. Authorities have been on the lookout for signs of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu over the last year. The virus was found in birds in two instances, in March and last year.

8/17/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - Ocean King Enterprises Inc. of Philadelphia, PA is recalling Ready-to-Eat Seafood Dip, because it has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The brand name is Regal King Gourmet Seafood. The flavors are Premium Krab Dip, Cajun Krab Dip, Shrimp Dip, and Smoked Salmon Dip.

8/16/07 -
Vietnam and France have reported more H5N1 in their birds.
An analysis of historical records in 43 U.S. cities indicates that the early use of nonpharmaceutical measures, such as isolating the sick and banning public gatherings, saved lives in the influenza pandemic of 1918-19.
A recently published survey of Europeans and Asians showed that, when faced with an influenza pandemic, most would avoid mass transit and limit shopping to essentials, and many would avoid other public places, including restaurants, theaters, and the workplace.
The US Department of Health and Human Services said it has stockpiled enough H5N1 avian influenza vaccine to protect about 6 million people and that federal and state supplies contain enough antiviral medication to treat more than 48 million.

A Mayo Clinic study indicates that many hospitalized influenza patients shed flu virus for at least 7 days after they fall ill, suggesting that the current recommendation to use infection control precautions for 5 days may be inadequate.

TEXAS - Dengue fever is gaining a firmer foothold in southern Texas, putting residents at risk for the most dangerous form of the disease, dengue hemorrhagic fever.

The number of West Nile virus cases reported so far this season has dramatically outpaced the number reported at about this time last summer.

8/14/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - Gilchrist & Soames, a provider of toiletry products for the hotel industry, has initiated a worldwide voluntary recall of its Gilchrist & Soames 0.65oz/18ml toothpaste manufactured in China after independent tests showed some samples of the toothpaste contained diethylene glycol, or DEG. Hotel guests, who may have received the recalled toothpaste from hotels in any of these countries: United States, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Turks & Caicos, the U.K., Ireland, Spain, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland - should safely dispose of it.
-RECALLED - Krasniy Oktyabr Inc., located in New York is recalling packages of Herring of the Special Ambassador "7 Uzlov" because the product may be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum. It is a product of Russia.

BALI - Bird flu has killed its first human victim on the Indonesian island of Bali.

8/10/07 -
The water at American beaches was unsafe for swimming a RECORD NUMBER OF DAYS last year, according to the 17th annual beach water quality report released by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Experts estimate that as many as 7 million Americans get sick every year from drinking or swimming in water contaminated with bacteria, viruses or parasites. Aging and poorly-designed sewage and storm-water systems hold much of the blame for beach water pollution. The problem was compounded by record rainfall, which added to the strain on already overloaded infrastructure. Beaches in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Rhode Island, and Minnesota ranked the worst for failing to meet national health standards.

8/8/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - Donnamax Inc. of Brooklyn, NY, has initiated a recall of DentaPro brand Toothpaste and Bright Max Toothpaste. This recall has been initiated because the products may contain diethylene glycol (DEG), also known as "diglycol". The FDA is not aware of any U.S. reports of poisoning from toothpaste containing DEG. However, the agency is concerned about potential risks from chronic exposure to DEG in certain populations, such as children and individuals with kidney or liver disease. DEG in toothpaste has a low but meaningful risk of toxicity and injury to these populations.

8/7/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - Cost Plus World Market, a leading retailer of casual home living and entertaining products, announced a recall of red, blue, green, and yellow speckleware beverage containers and glass water tank retro w/spout. These items are being recalled because the metal spigot used in these containers can leach lead into lemonade and other acidic beverages stored in them. This does not occur if water is used in the beverage containers. No illnesses have been reported to date. There were approximately 12,592 units sold at Cost Plus/World Market stores nationwide from May 2005 through July 2007.

8/6/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS

WASHINGTON - Two oyster-growing areas at the tip of Hood Canal have been closed after six people in California contracted an intestinal disease from oysters harvested there. The Department of Health closed shellfish beaches in Mason County from Miller Creek (north of Hoodsport) south and east to Sunset Beach and across to Stimson Creek. State officials are asking the shellfish industry to recall oysters from these growing areas. Consumers who may have purchased oysters from these areas should check with the place of purchase to see if they were harvested from the affected growing areas. The disease, called vibriosis, is caused by a naturally occurring bacterium, Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Symptoms include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, headache, fever and chills, and usually appear about 12 hours after eating infected shellfish. The illness is usually mild to moderate and lasts for two to seven days, but can be life-threatening to people with immune dysfunction or chronic liver disease. Unseasonably warm temperatures and afternoon low tides are thought to be major contributors to this outbreak.

8/3/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
- RECALLED - Citing a continuing threat to public health, Castleberry's Food Company is urging retailers, food service operations, food banks, charitable organizations and consumers to be diligent in identifying and discarding canned products subject to Castleberry's national recall.
- RECALLED - Lakeside Foods of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, is initiating a voluntary recall of 15,000 cases of 14.5-ounce French Style Green Beans because some cans may have been under-processed and some cans may have leaked. While no illnesses have been reported these cans have the potential to be contaminated with harmful organisms including Clostridium botulinum. The product was distributed in the following 20 states: AL, AZ CO, FL, GA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MI, MO, MS, NC, NY, OH, OK, TN, TX, VA, WI and Canada. The product was sold with the following labels: ALBERTSON'S, HAPPY HARVEST, BEST CHOICE, FOOD CLUB, BOGOPA, VALU TIME, HILL COUNTRY FARE, HEB, LAURA LYNN, KROGER, NO NAME, NORTH PRIDE, SCHNUCKS, SHOP N SAVE, SHOPPERS VALU, CUB FOODS, DIERBERGS, FLAVORITE, IGA, BEST CHOICE AND THRIFTY MAID.

8/1/07 -
Gastro epidemic sweeping the globe - A gastroenteritis outbreak at a Newcastle, Australia, hospital is the latest case in an epidemic sweeping Australia and the world. So far this month, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania have experienced gastro outbreaks in hospitals, nursing homes and retirement villages. Yesterday, authorities banned family and friends from Newcastle's Calvary Mater Hospital, where 80 staff and patients have experienced complications associated with the airborne virus. The stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhoea, nausea, fever and headaches associated with the norovirus, a virulent strain of gastroenteritis, are affecting people world-wide. Norovirus is extremely infectious but the effects usually last only 24-48 hours. The Australian outbreaks are the tip of the iceberg of the virus' prevalence in the wider community. "An international outbreak has led to an area of active research. The virus continues to migrate and mutate, it moves very efficiently all around the world. It sounds bad, but like influenza in unvaccinated people, it's likely norovirus will get us all in the end. Transmission is harder to prevent in places like hospitals and people who are frail or ill are more prone to it. But it can also come from restaurants where someone has vomited or even a hotel where someone has been previously sick." Doctors recommend good hand hygiene, isolation and the use of masks in high risk areas like hospitals and nursing homes. For the second time this year, there has been a major outbreak of the gastric illness in a Victorian nursing home. Thirty patients and 17 staff at San Carlo Home for the Aged in South Morang, north of Melbourne, have been hit by the bug since July 21, with one elderly man dying. Geelong's St John of God Hospital also isolated 35 patients and staff last week as a result of a gastroenteritis outbreak, while at Corumbene Nursing Home at New Norfolk, in Tasmania, 30 residents and 18 staff also came down with the virus over the past week.

7/31/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
ALERT - The California Department of Public Health warned consumers not to eat fresh ginger imported from China after they detected the presence of aldicarb sulfoxide in some batches of imported ginger. Aldicarb sulfoxide is a pesticide that is not approved for use on ginger.

The office printer could pose as much danger to our lungs as a drag on a cigarette, according to air quality tests by Australian scientists. An investigation of dozens of laser printers revealed that almost 30% emit potentially dangerous levels of particles into the air. These ultra-fine particles are capable of infiltrating the lungs and causing lasting damage on the scale of inhaled cigarette smoke. Printers emitted more particles when the toner cartridge was new, and when printing graphics and images as they required greater quantities of toner. Emission levels varied a lot between different machine makes, models, printer age, cartridge model and cartridge age.

7/30/07 -
AUSTRALIA - An elderly woman in the South Australian Riverland has died after contracting a rare fever originating from animals. She was one of five people from the Riverland town of Waikerie to contract Q fever over the past few months, the outbreak linked to a local goat abattoir. With the incubation period for the disease now passed, no further cases were expected from the current outbreak. The bacterial infection causes flu-like symptoms including fever, chills and sweats, and can be treated with antibiotics. People become infected by breathing in droppings of infected animals, or contaminated dust.

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS - Investigators have reported the biggest breakthrough in decades into the genetic drivers for multiple sclerosis (MS), identifying two genes that each boost the risk of developing this tragic disease by up to 30 per cent. In MS, the immune system attacks myelin, the fatty sheath that protects the cells of the central nervous system, rather like plastic insulation that protects electrical cables. As a result, "short circuits" occur in the body's messaging system, because nerve signals get slowed or blocked. "Our finding is very important, because the genetic factors that are already known to be associated with multiple sclerosis only explain less than half of the total genetic basis for the disease."

WEST NILE VIRUS - According to US health officials, the USA is facing the WORST WEST NILE VIRUS SEASON FOR YEARS. The number of cases reported so far this year are four times higher than the equivalent period in 2006. The good news is that the forecast for August and September is for colder than normal temperatures - this may significantly lower the number of cases.

7/29/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - True Leaf Farms, LLC is asking retailers to remove certain batches of spring mix and arugula from store shelves and preparation counters as a precautionary step. During a series of regular internal tests, one of the many samples taken indicated the possible presence of salmonella, a human pathogen that may pose a potential health risk.
-RECALLED - Sara Lee Food & Beverage is issuing a recall of selected whole wheat bread products produced at the company's Meridian, Miss. bakery and sold at grocery retailers in the following areas of the country: the entire states of Mississippi and Alabama, most of Arkansas, far southeastern Missouri, western Georgia, southwestern Tennessee, southeastern Louisiana and the panhandle of Florida. The affected products may contain small pieces of metal.

INDONESIA is investigating the deaths of 10 people from liver failure in the past week in a village on densely populated Java island. Twenty-one other people have been hospitalized with liver problems. Samples from the patients, as well as the 10 fatalities, have been sent to laboratories in Jakarta, but the cause of the liver failure remains a mystery. The illness is characterized by nausea, stomach pain and muscle spasms. Health officials have so far ruled out exposure to pesticides, heavy metals and poison, but are still looking into the possibility of a viral infection. Most of the dead are over 40. They came from a village on the outskirts of Magelang city in central Java province.

7/24/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALL EXPANDED - Castleberry's Food Company announced that it is taking extra steps to ensure public safety by voluntarily expanding its recall originally announced on July 18 due to the risk of botulinum toxin, a bacterium which can cause botulism. (big list of food products under many different names, also includes Natural Balance brand pet food)

7/22/07 -
-RECALLED - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expanding its July 18 warning to consumers. This expansion is for consumers regarding canned food products and for pet owners regarding dog food, produced by Castleberry Food Company of Augusta, Georgia, due to the risk of botulinum toxin.

7/20/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to eat 10 ounce cans of Castleberry's Hot Dog Chili Sauce, Austex Hot Dog Chili Sauce, Kroger Hot Dog Chili Sauce, Morton House Corned Beef Hash, Cattle Drive Chili with Beans, Southern Home Corned Beef Hash, Meijer Corned Beef Hash, Castleberry's Chili with Beans, Castleberry's Barbecue Pork, and Bunker Hill Chili No Beans due to possible botulism contamination. Botulism can be fatal.

AUSTRALIA - West Australian health authorities are desperately trying to find the cause of an illness that has killed four young children in Perth. A fourth child had died from a similar cause of illness as three who died two weeks ago. The three children who died earlier this month all had a combination of influenza A and a bacterial infection. The latest child did not have the flu but had contracted pneumococcal bacteria. "There isn't a single bacterial infection that links the four cases. At this point we are unable to say what the cause of death has been in these four children." It is "VERY UNCOMMON" for children to die with an infectious disease so quickly, but doctors stressed Perth did not have a epidemic on its hands. "We are desperately trying to get to the bottom of what's causing these illnesses." It appeared the four children had a bacterial infection in the respiratory tract. "It appears more that in these infections the bacteria either got very quickly into the blood without causing a real pneumonia, that would have given the parents more warning, or that they produced a toxin that got into the system and affected them. And that does mean that the course of the illness was quicker than we normally see with these bacterial infections."

7/17/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
- RECALLED - Dent Fresh U.S.A., Inc, Miami, Florida, is initiating a nationwide recall of the DentFresh Fluoride Mint Toothpaste made in China. This recall has been initiated because the products may contain the poisonous chemical diethylene glycol (DEG). DEG is used in antifreeze and as a solvent, and is a Central Nervous System depressant and potent kidney and liver toxin.
-RECALLED - Gerber Products Company, a division of Novartis Consumer Health, is voluntarily recalling all packages of Gerber ORGANIC Rice and ORGANIC Oatmeal Cereals due to a potential choking risk. A limited quantity of product may contain lumps of cereal, which do not dissolve in water or milk and pose a potential choking hazard.

7/11/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS

VIRGINIA - A flock of 54,000 turkeys exposed to a non-lethal strain of bird flu virus will be destroyed.
State officials hope to clip the wings of a possible avian flu outbreak in the Valley by canceling public events and sales involving live poultry, and prohibiting the application of poultry litter in 17 counties in Western Virginia until the end of the month. The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is calling for the measures in response to Friday’s discovery of avian flu antibodies in a flock of turkeys on an unidentified Shenandoah County farm. The antibodies were found in the birds, located on a farm west of Mount Jackson, during a "preslaughter" test. The scare has widespread implications in Rockingham County, which remains one of the top poultry producers in the nation. Neighboring West Virginia also has responded by suspending all poultry shows and sales for the next 30 days. Poultry farms are on "code red" security alerts.

SINGAPORE - Dengue levels at RECORD HIGH, with 432 cases reported last week. Recent spells of rain and warm weather have provided ideal breeding conditions for the Aedes mosquito.

7/9/07 -
WESTERN U.S. - Sweeping epidemics of a mystery illness have wiped out thousands of western bighorns over the last several decades, and biologists say the herds are not growing as fast as they should be. If mycoplasma bacteria are to blame, treating infected sheep may not be possible. Attempts to develop vaccines for the bacteria for domestic sheep have failed, and even if a working vaccine existed, administering it to wild bighorns would be difficult. Furthermore, biologists have not found that infected herds can build a resistance to the bacteria over successive generations. "All indications are that the domestic [sheep] are passing diseases and killing off the bighorns." Domestic sheep infected with mycoplasma bacteria typically survive.

7/6/07 -
GERMANY - authorities on Thursday raised the alert for bird flu from "moderate" to "high" after 38 more wild birds were tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain in eastern Germany.

FRANCE - Several farms were sealed off in eastern France and tighter rules were applied to poultry breeders yesterday after three dead swans tested positive for the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu. The first instance of bird flu in France since early 2006 followed the discovery of a case in eastern Germany on Tuesday. Wild birds in Bavaria and Saxony also died from the disease last month. Within the European Union bird flu has also been found this year in Hungary, Britain and the Czech Republic.

6/29/07 -
A popular snack food sold nationwide is being recalled because of concerns about contamination. All lots and sizes of Veggie Booty Snack Food are being recalled, the company said, following a report of 51 cases of salmonella poisoning.

The US has added farm-raised fish and shrimp to a growing list of Chinese products deemed unsafe for US consumers. The US Food and Drug Administration said it would block the import of farmed Chinese seafood until importers could prove the shipments were free of unsafe contaminants. Broad import control was imposed after regulators repeatedly found seafood shipments contaminated with antimicrobial agents that are not approved for use in the US. It affected all farm-raised catfish, basa, shrimp, dace (related to carp), and eel from China. China is the third largest exporter of seafood to the US, which imports about 80 percent of its seafood. The move comes just days after politicians urged a recall of up to 450,000 Chinese tires because of safety defects and weeks after thousands of cats and dogs died because of tainted Chinese pet food. Dangerous toys, fake drugs, toxin-coated cosmetics, illicit pesticide-laden mushrooms, errant fireworks, tainted toothpaste and other Chinese products have led to recalls and bans and potentially more stringent import and food safety laws. "I think we have reached a point unfortunately where 'made in China' is now a warning label in the United States."

6/26/07 -
DENMARK - An outbreak of distemper has killed at least 41 seal pups, whose carcasses have washed up on a Danish island. There are fears that thousands of seals could die if the virus spreads. A distemper outbreak in 2002 killed about 30% of seals off Denmark, but the virus killed nearly 60% of seals in the area in 1988. The virus causes laboured breathing, fever and neurological problems. It does not affect humans.

6/25/07 -
BIRD FLU -
TONGO confirmed its first H5N1 outbreak.

INDONESIA reported its 100th human H5N1 case.

CZECH REPUBLIC has reported its first poultry H5N1 outbreak.

GERMANY - The highly pathogenic bird flu virus H5N1 has been found in two dead swans in Germany.

EGYPT - A four-year-old Egyptian boy has tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus, becoming the 37th human case in the country.

6/17/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - MainStar America is initiating a nationwide recall of toothpaste made in China involving: Dr. Cool, Superdent, and Everfresh Smile2 Toothpaste. This recall has been initiated because the products may contain the poisonous chemical diethylene glycol (DEG). DEG is used in antifreeze and as a solvent, and is a Central Nervous System depressant and potent kidney and liver toxin.

VIETNAM confirmed its first human death from bird flu since 2005, as the latest flare-up of the virus ravaged poultry stocks. The death brought the country's toll to 43. Four other people were recently infected. Two have fully recovered. Bird flu outbreaks in poultry have been reported in 18 provinces since early May. The outbreak has killed or forced the slaughter of nearly 200,000 birds, nearly all ducks.

6/15/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - The Colgate-Palmolive Company today warned that counterfeit toothpaste falsely packaged as "Colgate" has been found in several dollar-type discount stores in four states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. There are indications that this product does not contain fluoride and may contain Diethylene Glycol. The product comes in a 5 ounce (100ml) package, made in South Africa is printed on the box. Colgate does not import toothpaste into the United States from South Africa. In addition, the counterfeit packages examined so far have several misspellings including: "isclinically" "SOUTH AFRLCA" "South African Dental Assoxiation".
-Urgent Nationwide RECALL of Toothpaste - Gold City Enterprise LLC is initiating a nationwide recall of SHIR FRESH MINT FLUORIDE toothpaste made in China. This recall has been initiated because the products may contain the poisonous chemical diethylene glycol (DEG). DEG is used in antifreeze and as a solvent, and is a Central Nervous System depressant and potent kidney and liver toxin.

One hundred leaders from the business, healthcare, faith, and civic communities met with US Department of Health and Human Services officials to discuss how to motivate individuals and families to prepare for an influenza pandemic. Personal preparedness "is a message that needs to surround everyone. They need to hear it from their pastors, from their employers, from their physicians, and from everyone in a position of responsibility. And they need to keep hearing it. In fact, they need to hear it even more after the news media loses interest." "Everything we do before a pandemic will seem alarmist. Everything we do after a pandemic will seem inadequate." It is critical for everyone to prepare for possible pandemic flu. People are encouraged to (1) store extra food and other daily supplies to make it easier to stay home for a prolonged period of time, (2) learn and practice proper hand-washing, (3) use safe cough and sneeze techniques to limit the spread of illnesses, and (4) stay home and avoid others during illness.

6/10/07 -
Western U.S. - For the third time in a week, a meat supplier has expanded a ground beef recall to include about 5.7 million pounds of fresh and frozen meat because they may be contaminated with E.coli. The recall was expanded to include products with sell-by dates from April 6-April 20. The beef was distributed by California-based United Food Group LLC. None of the latest batch of suspect beef is in stores now because the product would be well past its expiration date, but consumers may still have some of the meat at home. The meat has been blamed for an E. coli outbreak in the Western states that resulted in 14 illnesses, spanning April 25 through May 18. All the patients have recovered. The recalled products were shipped to stores in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. They were sold under the brand names Moran's All Natural, Miller Meat Company, Stater Bros., Trader Joes Butcher Shop, Inter-American Products, Inc., and Basha's.

6/8/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - Action Labs, Inc. of Anaheim, CA, is recalling its Sentinel brand Shark Cartilage Capsules manufactured in 2005 because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. The Shark Cartilage Capsules were distributed to retail establishments in Southern California and internationally to Hong Kong.
-RECALLED - Doane Pet is recalling a specific single lot of 55 pound bonus bags of Ol' Roy Complete Nutrition dry dog food. This product was produced at one facility in Manassas, VA and was distributed exclusively by some Wal-Mart Stores. This recall is not related to the Menu Foods recall (and other recent recalls) of pet food due to tainted Chinese vegetable proteins. This product has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.

6/7/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - Toby's Family Foods is recalling Toby's Lite Sour Crème and Toby's Toasted Sesame Dressing because the products may be contaminated with Salmonella. The products were distributed primarily in Oregon, as well as Washington and California, through natural food and specialty retailers.

BIRD FLU - Officials from Indonesia's avian flu commission said Wednesday that the H5N1 avian influenza virus may have mutated in a way that makes it more transmissible from birds to humans, but a World Health Organization official said the WHO had seen no evidence of such a change. Indonesia's National Committee for Avian Influenza Control and Pandemic Influenza Preparedness told reporters that in the past, human infections required high-intensity and high-density exposure to the H5N1 virus. "There are now suspicions that this [infection] has become easier," although a mutation has not been confirmed yet. The suspicions are based on preliminary results of genetic tests at laboratories in Indonesia. The amino acid structure of poultry H5N1 samples is becoming increasingly similar to that seen in human H5N1 samples. WHO has received just three Indonesian H5N1 samples, gathered from two patients, this year. Indonesia withheld H5N1 samples from the WHO for about 5 months, starting last December, as a protest against the country's lack of access to pandemic vaccines and other pandemic medications. In mid-May, during the WHO's annual meeting in Geneva, the country's health minister announced that Indonesia had resumed sending samples to the agency. The suspected changes in the virus show how important it is for Indonesia to share its samples with the global community. "These must be confirmed and the world must be forewarned if there has been such an important change. If there is such a change, it would not only mean that the virus can jump more easily from bird to man, but from human to human, too."

6/6/07 -
Pine needles may have lead to a rare infection - The Wisconsin health department says a large pile of pine needles at a yard waste site is the likely source of a rare fungal infection that led to the death of a 16-year-old girl and sickened 20 others last year. It was likely the largest urban outbreak in the country. The teenaged girl died February 14th of last year from the fungal infection. She lived next door to the waste site. Thirteen of the people who got sick lived within a half-mile of the yard waste site and three others had almost daily exposure to it. 9 months of drought in early 2005 followed by rain in the fall might have created an environment for the fungus to grow in the pile of pine needles and release spores.

5/27/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
- RECALLED - all Maranatha Sesame Tahini because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.
-RECALLED - Whole Foods Market is recalling '365 Organic Everyday Value Sesame Tahini' 16-oz, with a Best By Date of 10/02/07 or earlier because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.
-RECALLED - Manischewitz Sparkling Concord Grape Juice & Manischewitz Sparkling Niagara Grape Juice. Several bottles have been found to be fermenting which will cause additional pressure in the bottle. This may lead to the popping of the cap or rupturing of the bottle.
-RECALLED - Complete MoisturePlus Multi Purpose Solution for contact lenses, manufactured by Advanced Medical Optics of Santa Ana, Ca. The company is taking this action as a precaution because of reports of a rare, but serious, eye infection, Acanthamoeba keratitis, caused by a parasite.

A Hong Kong butcher has become the third victim of the pig-borne disease Streptococcus suis in the territory in less than a month. All three cases in the territory were diagnosed within the past eight days and are believed to have been contracted locally. There have been no reported cases on the Chinese mainland since a deadly outbreak in 2005. The bacterial infection is rarely fatal in humans, but an unusually virulent strain killed more than 30 people in Sichuan province in 2005. Eight cases were reported last year in Hong Kong, with 13 - two of them fatal - in 2005. Pork prices have soared in mainland China after an outbreak of blue ear disease, or Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome which surfaced a year ago. Experts and industry sources have said it wiped out as many as a million pigs.

5/25/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
- ALERT - The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to buy or eat imported fish labeled as monkfish, which actually may be puffer fish, containing a potentially deadly toxin called tetrodotoxin. Eating puffer fish that contain this potent toxin can result in serious illness or death. Two people in the Chicago area became ill after consuming homemade soup containing the fish. The product was imported and distributed by Hong Chang Corp., Santa Fe Springs, Calif.
-RECALLED - Diamond Pet Foods has recalled a limited quantity of Nutra Nuggets 40 Lb. Lamb Meal and Rice Formula because of confirmatory testing that indicates the product may include traces of melamine resulting from cross contamination during manufacturing.
- RECALLED - McCall Farms of Effingham, South Carolina, is voluntarily recalling more than 2,500 cases of canned Margaret Holmes Seasoned Turnip Greens after tests confirmed trace amounts of diesel fuel in product samples. The recalled product was distributed to retail stores in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

5/23/07 -
COLORADO - PLAGUE - Officials at Denver Zoo are taking precautions to avoid an outbreak of plague after a monkey at the zoo died of the disease. The zoo's 17 remaining capuchin monkeys have been put into an isolated cage and are being treated with antibiotics. Zoo officials suspect the monkey caught the disease from the carcass of an infected squirrel it may have eaten. Several squirrels and a rabbit have been found dead of the disease in recent weeks near the zoo. Veterinarians say there is little risk of the plague spreading to humans but visitors are being warned to avoid squirrels and rabbits. The disease is normally found in some wild animals in Colorado during the spring, but usually in rural areas. "We see it every year in wild rodents. But it's uncommon circulating in tree squirrels in urban neighbourhoods, including metro Denver."

5/20/07 -
COLORADO - SQUIRRELS - Residents of Denver, Colorado are being warned that a spate of squirrel deaths is being caused by "Black Death" the common name for Bubonic Plague, which killed millions of people in the 14th Century. So far, no humans have been infected. However, the plague is inside one of the city's most popular parks. Plague bacteria are carried by fleas that get on squirrels, rodents, pets and people and spread the disease by biting. This bout has killed 13 squirrels found in or near City Park, and two squirrels and a rabbit found in Denver suburbs. Usually the plague is confined to the foothills or remote areas of Colorado and it kills a few dozen rodents and pets every year. Residents are being instructed to take some common sense measures to avoid squirrels and don't feed them, keep pets away from squirrels and treat pets for fleas. Some 58 people in Colorado have contracted plague since 1957, with nine of them dying. One human case of Bubonic Plague has been reported this year, it was in New Mexico and the victim is recovering.

YELLOW FEVER - The UN is launching a multi-billion dollar initiative to combat the spread of yellow fever in Africa, as it warns of more uncontrollable outbreaks. Several countries, including Togo, have recently reported cases of the haemorrhagic illness, in spite of mass immunisation campaigns for children. The disease is spreading as population movements intensify. Yellow fever has no cure and causes some 30,000 deaths a year, but there is a good, affordable vaccine. In an outbreak of yellow fever in an under-immunised densely populated city, the disease could spread fast and claim many lives.

5/18/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - NBTY, Inc. of Bohemia, NY, is recalling 3 lots of Shark Cartilage Capsules manufactured in 2004 because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. The Shark Cartilage Capsules were distributed to consumers through mail orders, internet orders, and retail stores throughout the United States.
-RECALLED - IKEA wants customers who have purchased an IKEA FOOD labeled jar of marinated herring with a Best Before Date 13-02-2008 or earlier to return it to their local IKEA store for a full refund. IKEA has received two reports where customers have found a large piece of glass in their jars.

2007 -
BIRD FLU -
5/14/07 -
The city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, recently announced that it was stockpiling an herbal supplement (ginseng) in the hope of boosting the immunity of police, firefighters, and other essential workers during an influenza pandemic. The supplement, COLD-fX, is a proprietary extract of North American ginseng that contains what the company calls unique polysaccharide components. It is Canada's top-selling over-the-counter cold and flu remedy. The product has a 5-year shelf life. It is unclear from studies whether the remedy would be of value. "It appears safe and inexpensive, but it shows how little else people feel they have to turn to."

RESPIRATORS - The US Food and Drug Administration cleared the way for two N-95 respirator models to be marketed as devices that can reduce a user's risk of becoming ill during an influenza pandemic or other public health emergency. The respirators approved to carry the new labeling are made by 3M Co., based in St Paul. The models, numbered 8612F and 8670F, will be available to the public without a prescription. In the event of a flu pandemic, people who care for flu patients at home should consider wearing an N-95 respirator. The specialized masks are designed to fit tightly to the face and stop at least 95% of tiny airborne particles. N-95 respirators are among the personal protective equipment that the US Department of Health and Human Services is stockpiling for use by healthcare workers during a pandemic. Almost 100 million N-95 respirators have been stockpiled. The devices are for one-time use by one person and should be discarded afterward.

WILD BIRD TESTING - US government agencies said they will test fewer wild birds for the H5N1 avian influenza virus in the 2007 season than they did last season, while focusing on the highest-risk species and locations. They plan to collect about 77,000 bird samples for the 2007 season, about 32,000 fewer than in 2006. Based on information collected last season, the USDA's strategy for this year will focus on sick and dead birds from duck species believed to be the most likely carriers of H5N1: mallards, American wigeons, and northern pintails. Agencies will focus on the Pacific, Atlantic, Central, and Mississippi flyways, as well as Hawaii in the South Pacific. The largest number of samples will be taken from birds in Alaska.

VIETNAM - Bird flu has infected three duck farms in central Vietnam, the second infection detected in the region in less than a month. Tests found the H5 component of the H5N1 virus among the samples taken after a total of 1,298 ducks died in the farms in Nghe An province on May 9. The fowl had not been vaccinated against bird flu. Animal health workers have slaughtered the remaining 2,500 ducks in the farms, disinfected the area and banned poultry transport from the infected area. The H5N1 virus has killed 42 people in the Southeast Asian country since it re-surfaced in Asia in late 2003. Vietnam has had no human cases since November 2005. The virus emerged again among ducks and chickens in the south late last year and earlier this year. Nearly half of Vietnam's 64 provinces have completed the first of a two-phase vaccination campaign which targets up to 90 percent of the country's poultry stock this year.

BANGLADESH - authorities are struggling to combat the deadly bird flu as it spreads across farms in the impoverished country, with a leading expert warning the situation is "very grave." First detected at a farm in late March near the capital Dhaka, it has so far infected more than 40 farms in 11 districts, prompting authorities to cull 151,000 birds. The technical adviser to the Bangladesh Poultry Association said the situation was worse than the government described. "The situation is very grave and a disaster could happen any time. There have been a lot of unreported bird flu deaths in farms and cover-ups. The flu is no longer confined to farms. Recently it infected domestic birds and fowls and there's a real danger it could infect humans" in densely populated Bangladesh. The farmers are not reporting bird flu deaths to government authorities for fear of losses in their farms and pressure by adjoining farms. There is hardly any monitoring." A farm in the northern Nilphamari district was the latest to be infected with the deadly virus on Friday. More than 3,000 chickens and ducks were culled. "The whole situation lacks transparency and even though we have had the flu for about two months, the government still lacks doctors, technical people and the protection kits to combat the disease." Bangladesh is home to hundreds of thousands of poultry farms employing more than a million people.

INDIA - Farmworkers abandoned a poultry farm in eastern India after thousands of chickens there died, and a federal laboratory will test some of the dead birds for bird flu, a news report said May 8. More than 2,500 chickens died at a farm in the Darjeeling region in recent days. Health officials discovered the dead birds after neighbors complained of a stench coming from the farm. The farm workers had fled. India confirmed an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in the west last year, but declared itself bird flu free after culling hundreds of thousands of chickens. No human cases were reported.
UPDATE - The animal husbandry department has ruled out bird flu as the cause of death of 2,350 chicken at a poultry farm in Matigara near Siliguri on Tuesday. Post-mortem examination of the dead birds found that the birds died of Ranikhet and Newcastle diseases. The farm, where the deaths sparked a bird flu scare on Tuesday, has already been quarantined. Not taking any chances, especially because Matigara village is just 25 km from Bangladesh, which is reeling under an H5N1 bird flu outbreak having resulted in the culling of 132,000 chickens in 52 farms of 10 districts, two samples of the dead chicken have been sent to the high security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal for confirmation against avian influenza.

GHANA - Large quantities of poultry products continue to be destroyed in the country following the report of the third case of the deadly Avian influenza in Tema and an international confirmation of the disease in Ghana. Moments after earlier samples sent for testing in Italy had confirmed the H5N1 virus in the country, the third case in a week hit Adjei Kojo, near Ashaiman in the Tema municipality last Tuesday and occasioned the destruction of about 12,000 birds, 323 crates of eggs and 375 kilogrammes of feed. On May 2, the first case of the bird flu in the country was discovered at a farm near Tema. That led to the destruction of all birds on the farm, numbering 1,678, as well as those in adjoining houses. Also all carcasses were incinerated and the remains buried. The ministry thereby declared the Tema municipality an Avian influenza infested area, adding that there should be no movement of live birds within and out of the municipality until further notice. It said all live bird markets were immediately closed, while investigations continued for the detection of any further virus in other areas. The second outbreak of the bird flu occurred at a farm near where the third case was found at Adjei Kojo. [I don't advise going to this link as it sets off an unending profusion of pop-ups, but just it case you want it anyway, it is: http://www.graphicghana.info/article.asp?artid=16738]

EGYPT has emerged as one of two countries hardest-hit by bird flu, along with Indonesia. While the panic in Europe and the U.S. has abated, Egypt records as many as five new cases every week. In April, a 15-year-old girl died after contracting the disease from the birds that shared her home. 14 people have died out of 34 reported infections. Moreover, the North African nation lies directly on a major bird-migration route between Europe and Africa. The country of 76 million people is effectively an incubator for the virus, increasing the chances it will spread to other countries. "We are dealing with a society where chickens are part of the family." What complicates matters is the general reluctance among Egyptians to believe government warnings on the dangers of bird flu and sharing living space with poultry. Bird flu broke out at about the same time 1,033 people perished in the sea when a ferry owned by a member of parliament sank in the Red Sea. "The problem is people think we fabricated the whole bird flu thing to cover up the ferry disaster." As many as 5 million Egyptian households raise poultry in their backyards, both as a source of nutrition and income. "The government wants men to be impotent to control over-population. It invented the bird flu to force us to eat the hormone-pumped chickens that make us sterile." Another man said he would divorce his wife if she cooked farmed or frozen chicken. "In this country, you never know the truth, never. They would poison us if they can. Trust me."

CALIFORNIA - More than 8.2 million Californians – nearly a quarter the state population – fall ill; within weeks, 96,000 of them are dead. Hospital beds and life-saving medicines run out; businesses and transportation shut down, depriving the populace of money, food and their livelihoods. Such is the apocalyptic crisis California could face during a severe outbreak of avian influenza. Even the strongest response to a bird flu epidemic would only limit the impact rather than head it off. “We have the potential to lose 25 to 30 percent of the population. Biologists say the next pandemic will come, sooner or later.” The virus is capable of spreading undetected, via air travel by infected visitors, anywhere in the world within 24 hours. Even the ablest and quickest response to a rampaging virus is only a holding action, something to buy time in hopes that researchers can quickly detect the virus and concoct a vaccine. “Always wash your hands. And pray for an effective vaccine.”

5/15/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
- RECALLED - Royal Canin USA is recalling eight Sensible Choice dry dog food products and seven Kasco dry dog and cat food products. This announcement is based on the company's ongoing extensive review of its manufacturing and quality assurance testing procedures, which identified trace amounts of a melamine derivative from tainted Chinese rice protein concentrate provided to the company by domestic ingredient supplier Cereal Byproducts, headquartered in Illinois.
-RECALLED - Consumers who have purchased raw milk from Misty Meadow Farm in Bernville, Berks County, any time after April 16, 2007, should discard it immediately due to the risk of Listeria monocytogenes contamination.

CHINA - authorities are denying reports that at least 26 children have died from a mysterious illness in the east of the country while local media accuses the Government of covering up an epidemic. Newspaper and internet reports from Shandong province say that "many" children are dead and hundreds of others have fallen ill from a mysterious illness that has swept through Linyi city since late April. Medical authorities in Linyi said the deaths were caused by an outbreak of "hand-foot-mouth disease" which had infected up to 292 children in the city at that time. Hand-foot-mouth disease is a viral infection that usually begins in the throat. It is a relatively common infection caused by the Coxsackie virus. The Shanghai Morning Post blamed health officials for failing to inform the public of the disease leading to panic in the city. Parents were refusing to allow their children out of doors and avoiding the consumption of beef or lamb, believing the illness was linked to foot-and-mouth disease that affects livestock.

5/11/07 -
Apple iPods can cause cardiac implantable pacemakers to malfunction by interfering with the electromagnetic equipment monitoring the heart. A study tested the effect of the portable music devices on 100 patients, mean age 77, fitted with pacemakers. Electrical interference was detected half of the time when the iPod was held just five cm from the patient's chest for five to 10 seconds. In some cases, the iPods caused interference when held 45 cm from the chest. Interfering with the telemetry equipment caused the device to misread the heart's pacing and in one case caused the pacemaker to stop functioning altogether. "Most pacemaker patients are not iPod users." For that reason, it is unclear how often iPods cause misdiagnosis.

5/9/07 -
THE STATE OF FOOD IN THE U.S. - An excellent, useful blog article with a summary of all the food safety problems that have been appearing lately.

CYANURIC ACID - A second industrial chemical that regulators have found in contaminated pet food in the United States may have also been intentionally added to animal feed by producers seeking larger profits. Three Chinese chemical makers said that producers of animal feed often purchase or seek to purchase a chemical called cyanuric acid from their factories to blend into animal feed. Chemical producers said that it was common knowledge that for years cyanuric acid was used in animal and fish feed in China. In the United States, cyanuric acid is often used as a disinfectant in swimming pools. Two of the chemical makers said feed producers here used it because it was high in nitrogen, enabling feed producers to artificially increase the protein reading of the feed. The revelation is interesting not just because it is another indication that Chinese animal feed producers were intentionally doctoring the ingredients they sold but because the practice of using cyanuric acid may provide clues as to why the pet food in the United States became so poisonous. American regulators already suspect that Chinese companies mixed an industrial chemical called melamine into animal feed because it is high in nitrogen and can be used to artificially bolster protein levels. But scientists have had difficulty finding the precise cause of the deaths. Neither melamine nor cyanuric acid, which is a melamine-like compound, is thought to be particularly toxic. Now, however, scientists studying the pet food deaths say the combination of the two chemicals, mixed together with perhaps some other related compounds, may have created a toxic punch that formed crystals in the kidneys of pets and led to kidney failure. Contaminated batches of wheat gluten, corn protein and rice protein sold to pet food makers often contained a mixture of melamine and cyanuric acid. Melamine scrap or cyanuric acid scrap often costs one quarter of the price of pure melamine or cyanuric acid and is much cheaper per protein count than wheat or corn meal.

FOOD ADDITIVES - Parents in Britain are being advised by experts not to give their children food containing certain additives until the results of a new study are published. A team tested the additives tartrazine (E102), ponceau 4R (E124), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), quinoline yellow (E104) and allura red AC (E129) on both three-year olds and eight-to-nine year olds. Their results supported findings first made seven years ago, that linked the additives to behavioural problems such as temper tantrums, poor concentration, hyperactivity and allergic reactions. The removal of such colourings from childrens' diet would produce "significant changes" in behaviour and not just in those children already showing hyperactive behaviour. All the additives tested in the study are approved for use in the EU but some of the colours are banned in Scandinavian countries and the US. "We are very keen to promote fresh healthy home cooked food and if you get that sort of food you don't have to worry about additives."

PREPARATIONS - A recent survey sponsored by the American Public Health Association indicates that about a third of Americans have made no preparations for a public health emergency and nearly 90% have prepared less than they think they should. Thirty-two percent of the public have taken no special steps to prepare for a public health emergency that could leave them short of food, water, or medication. Forty percent of respondents said they had taken steps to prepare in the past, such as after the Sep 11 terrorist attacks, but had since let their plans lapse. More than a quarter (27%) said they were prepared for an emergency, but only about half (14%) had the 3-day supply of food, water, and medication currently recommended by the American Red Cross for general disaster planning. "No one can predict where the next natural disaster, major storm, or disease outbreak will strike, but when it does, it is likely to disrupt basic services, leaving people without electricity, water, food or needed medications." Though 63% of employees realized they might not be paid during a public health crisis, only 15% had saved enough money to provide for their families if such an event occurs. Only 18% of employers said they could continue paying their employees if business operations were interrupted. The survey results suggest that preparedness messages are getting through to the public, but that people are not following through with action.

5/8/07 -
PIG DEATHS - CHINA - A mysterious epidemic is killing pigs in southeastern China, but international and Hong Kong authorities say that the Chinese government is providing little information about it, or about the contaminated wheat gluten that has caused deaths and illnesses in other animals. Hong Kong television broadcasts and newspapers were full of lurid accounts Monday of pigs staggering around with blood pouring from their bodies in Gaoyao and neighboring Yunfu, both in Guangdong Province. The newspaper said that as many as 80% of the pigs in the area had died, that panicky farmers were selling ailing animals at deep discounts and that pig carcasses were floating in a river. The reports in Hong Kong said the disease began killing pigs after the Chinese New Year celebrations in February, and is now spreading. Because pigs can catch many of the same diseases as people, including bird flu, two U.N. agencies maintain global networks to track and investigate unexplained patterns of pig deaths. Medical experts said that the extent of the bleeding from the pigs, including reports of bloody skin lesions, did not sound like the usual symptoms of bird flu.

5/6/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - Archer Farms Four Cheese Risotto, sold at Target stores, 6 oz., with "Best If Used By 16JUL2008AA", because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.
-RECALLED - SmartPak Canine - all lots of LiveSmart Adult Lamb and Brown Rice food. This product tested positive for presence of melamine. The LiveSmart Lamb formula is only sold in portion-paks shipped straight to the consumer's home each month, so there are no bags of potentially affected product on store shelves anywhere in the country.
-RECALLED - half-gallon packages of Galliker's Healthy Chekd Calcium Enriched Fat Free Milk because they are over-fortified with Vitamin A. Sold in Pennsylvania.
-RECALLED - half-gallon packages of Galliker's Acidophilus Plus Reduced Milk because they possibly contain under-processed milk.

SCOTLAND - Warm weather causing the HIHGEST SALMONELLA LEVELS IN 5 YEARS in Scotland. Warmer weather could be the reason why Scotland is experiencing a 70% increase in Salmonella cases – the highest figures since 2001. The UNUSUAL warm weather experienced over the last few weeks has meant that more people are having barbecues, which increased the risk of food not being properly cooked. "It's quite significant. It's usually the barbecue season when we see an increase, but it's a bit early in the year." When meat is cooked on a barbeque, the bacteria is mixed into the centre of the meat, and if it's undercooked it can cause disease.

BIRD FLU -
5/3/07 -
Financial markets not ready for a pandemic - A new report from Congress' Government Accountability Office says key organizations that are the backbone of the US financial industry need to do more to prepare for an influenza pandemic and urges federal regulators to set deadlines for them to complete pandemic plans. Pandemic planning is one component of the GAO report, which evaluates the overall preparedness of the financial markets for a range of events, from natural disasters to terrorist attacks. The report notes that the pandemic threat is different from other disasters because it could affect large numbers of people simultaneously and strike in waves that last for weeks at a time over several months. "If organizations fail to produce fully robust plans before an outbreak, which could begin at any time, they may have insufficient time and resources to adequately prepare their staffs and customers for changes in how the organizations will operate during a pandemic."

GHANA has reported its first H5N1 outbreak on a chicken farm, apparently making it the ninth African country to be hit by the virus. About 100 chickens had died each day for 3 or 4 days. About 1,700 birds have been destroyed to stop the outbreak. The eight other African countries that are facing or have faced H5N1 outbreaks in birds: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Niger, Nigeria, and Sudan. Human cases have occurred in Egypt (34), Djibouti (1), and Nigeria (1). The World Organization for Animal Health currently lists 57 countries that have had H5N1 outbreaks in birds in recent years. The OIE has not yet added Ghana to its list of affected countries. In other developments, the H5N1 virus was reported on four more chicken farms in Bangladesh. Indonesia stopped sending H5N1 samples to the WHO about 4 months ago out of concern that drug companies would use them to make vaccines that would be priced out of Indonesians' reach. At a meeting in late March, Indonesia agreed to resume sharing samples in return for a WHO promise not to turn samples over to drug companies without Indonesia's permission. But the country has not yet resumed sending samples. "Diplomatically, the guarantees have been made, but we want it in black over white, in writing."

5/2/07 -
Something is happening to the brain structure of the 1991 Gulf War veterans - especially among those soldiers who complain of multiple symptoms arising from duty performed in routing Iraqi troops that had occupied Kuwait. Researchers have discovered learning disabilities and smaller brain volumes in soldiers suffering from several health-related symptoms upon their return from the first Gulf War. According to preliminary results from a study probing the possible effects of chemical exposure during the Persian Gulf War, soldiers displaying multiple health-related symptoms upon their return from combat have decreased volume in two brain regions intimately linked to learning and memory. The average soldier reported five symptoms out of a possible 20, which included forgetfulness, headaches, fatigue, nausea, skin rash and joint pain. The soldiers were exposed to chemicals ranging from pesticides to nerve agents, like sarin.

‘Mockolate’ bars could be on the way - Would chocolate containing trans fats and sugar substitutes taste as sweet as the real thing? Hershey Co. and other candy makers say yes. The Chocolate Manufacturers Association, whose members include Hershey, Nestle SA and Archer Daniels Midland Co., has a petition before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to redefine what constitutes chocolate. They want to make it without the required ingredients of cocoa butter and cocoa solids, instead using artificial sweeteners, milk substitutes and vegetable fats such as hydrogenated and trans fats. A pound of chocolate contains roughly 25 percent cocoa butter at a cost of $2.30, while vegetable oils are as little as 70 cents a pound. “They are trying to pull one over on us...The process of this thing going through, it wasn’t transparent, and it needs to be brought out into the light.” “If the margarine manufacturers could call their product butter instead of being required to call it margarine, wouldn’t it strike the consumer as being odd?”

First it was pet food, then hogs and now the contamination has spread to poultry farms and consumers are becoming more skeptical about what FDA knows and how much the agency could be withholding from the public. The largest pet food recall in history began in mid-March when Menu Foods of Canada recalled nearly 100 brands of wet cat and dog food in cans and pouches, totaling 60 million containers. But the company has admitted waiting nearly three weeks before telling the public that pet food manufactured by them was causing the death and illness of thousands of cats and dogs. Since the first pet food recall six weeks ago, there have been dozens of recalls, with nine of them in a 24-hour period over the past weekend. Although for weeks FDA had maintained that the death toll of pets was at 16, late Monday the FDA finally acknowledged that they had received more than “17,000 consumer complaints relating to this outbreak and those complaints included deaths of approximately 1,950 deaths of cats and 2,200 death of dogs”. In a joint announcement Tuesday, FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture said they had learned that byproducts from pet food manufactured with contaminated wheat gluten imported from China have been used in chicken feed on some farms in the state of Indiana. Almost 3 million chickens may have eaten feed containing small amounts of pet food contaminated with melamine. This information came to light as part of the continuing investigation into imported rice protein concentrate and wheat gluten that have been found to contain melamine and melamine-related compounds. FDA and USDA anticipate that as the investigation continues additional farms will likely be identified that received contaminated feed. The FDA and USDA have also traced contaminated feed to swine farms in several states.

5/1/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - Sierra Pet Products is initiating a nationwide recall of all canned dog foods, all canned cat food and all dog treats sold under its "Harmony Farms" brand. The Company is taking this voluntary action after learning that the FDA has confirmed the presence of melamine, a substance not approved for use in food, in rice protein concentrate used by the contract manufacturer in the production of some of these products. It should be noted the "Harmony Farms" canned dog and cat food products were not formulated or labeled to contain rice protein concentrate, and that the manufacturer, American Nutrition, Inc. added the rice protein concentrate to these products without Sierra Pet Products' knowledge or consent. For this reason, Sierra Pet Products is concerned that it can not have any faith in the integrity, or the accuracy of the ingredient labels of any of its products manufactured by American Nutrition. Therefore Sierra Pet Products is withdrawing all products manufactured by American Nutrition.
-RECALLED - Blue Buffalo Company is initiating a nationwide recall of all canned dog foods sold under its "Blue" dog food brand, all canned cat food sold under its "Blue Spa Select" cat food brand, and all dog treats sold under its "Blue" dog food brand. The Company is taking this voluntary action after learning that the FDA has confirmed the presence of melamine, a substance not approved for use in food, in rice protein concentrate used by the contract manufacturer in the production of some of these products. It should be noted the "Blue" canned dog and cat food products were not formulated or labeled to contain rice protein concentrate, and that the manufacturer, American Nutrition, Inc. added the rice protein concentrate to these products without Blue Buffalo Company's knowledge or consent.
-RECALLED - Ole Mexican Cheese - the Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner is urging consumers to check their refrigerators for Ole Mexican Foods' Verole Queso Fresco Authentic Mexican Crumbling Cheese and Ole Fresco Authentic Mexican Crumbling Cheese. The two products may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria.

4/29/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - A bunch of pet foods and treats from American Nutrition, Inc. - certain samples of rice protein shipped to its production facility have been contaminated with melamine, the industrial chemical used to make plastics and fertilizers.
-RECALLED - Diamond Pet Foods has announced it is withdrawing a limited number ofcanned products manufactured by American Nutrition. This action islimited to three specific canned products.
-RECALLED - Blue Buffalo Company pet foods. "We have just learned that American Nutrition Inc., the manufacturer of all our cans and biscuits, has been adding rice protein concentrate to our can formulas without our knowledge and without our approval. This is product tampering, and it apparently has been going on for some time. The can formulas that we developed, and trusted them to produce, never contained any rice protein concentrate. It appears that only an FDA investigation of ANI's rice protein concentrate supplies forced them to reveal this product tampering to us...while no BLUE or Spa Select canned product has tested positive for the presence of melamine, and there has been no reported illness due to any of our canned products, we simply cannot be sure of what ANI has been including in our formulas."
-RECALLED - Because of the pet food recall initiated by American Nutrition Inc., Natural Balance Pet Foods has announced it is issuing a nationwide recall of a number of canned products manufactured by American Nutrition. It should be noted that the products being recalled were not formulated or labeled to contain rice protein concentrate. While the FDA is investigating this, current information indicates this error is a result of a manufacturing deviation by American Nutrition.

Canada's food inspectors have issued border lookouts for vegetable proteins coming from China to prevent melamine from contaminating the human food chain. Inspectors will seize wheat gluten, soy proteins, corn glutens and rice proteins from China — ingredients already found to contain melamine and other contaminants in hundreds of pet-food products. "We will subject the shipments to testing and the shipment will be held until the results of the test clear it in terms of the absence of the contaminant." Vegetable proteins are impossible to avoid. They're found in everything from baby formula to pizza dough and wieners. The government doesn't know if ingredients contaminated with melamine have made it into human food before. Last July, the same Chinese company that supplied melamine-contaminated wheat gluten for pet food also shipped wheat gluten to a British Columbia feed mill, which turned it into food for fish farms, whose fish have since been consumed by people. It's unknown why melamine was ever in vegetable proteins, though American officials have speculated it was added deliberately. The presence of melamine makes it appear that the ingredient contains more protein than it actually does.

The same food safety net that couldn't catch poisoned pet food ingredients from China has a much bigger hole. Billions of dollars' worth of foreign ingredients that Americans eat in everything from salad dressing to ice cream get a pass from overwhelmed inspectors, despite a rising tide of imports from countries with spotty records. When U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors at ports and border checkpoints look, they find shipments that are filthy or otherwise contaminated. They rarely bother, however, in part because ingredients aren't a priority. Over the past five years, U.S. food makers prospecting for bargains more than doubled their business with low-cost countries such as Mexico, China and India. Those nations also have the most shipments that fail the limited number of checks the FDA makes. By its own latest accounting, the FDA had only enough inspectors to check about 1 percent of the 8.9 million imported food shipments in fiscal year 2006. Topping the list were products with past problems, such as seafood and produce. Unlike rotting fish or moldy vegetables, ingredient testing often requires a laboratory. Analyzing samples takes days and can irk importers.

4/26/07 -
BIRD FLU - In a paper in the May issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, an international team of researchers report the first ever large-scale sequencing of western genomes of the deadly avian influenza virus, H5N1. Their study of 36 genomes of the virus collected from wild birds in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Vietnam confirms not only that the virus has very recently spread west from Asia, but that two of the new western strains have already independently combined, or “reassorted,” to create a new strain. Several samples also contained the mutation associated with the form of the “bird flu” that caused several human deaths in 2006. "Our study shows that the virus is spreading west, and that there have been three separate introductions of H5N1 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.”

4/25/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - ResMed announced a worldwide recall of approximately 300,000 of its early production S8 flow generators used for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. In S8 devices manufactured between July 2004 and May 15, 2006, there is a remote potential for a short circuit in the power supply connector.
-RECALLED - LiveSmart Weight Management Chicken and Brown Rice Dog Food, due to rice protein concentrate likely contaminated with Melamine.

Some of the melamine contaminated pet food was sent as feed to hog farms in California, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and possibly Ohio. Urine of some of the hogs tested positive for melamine, according to the FDA. Officials said they do not know whether any hogs had entered the human food supply but were still investigating. "Food-borne illnesses and pet food contamination demonstrate serious flaws in our food safety net. With more and more of our food, fruits and vegetables being imported, there appears to be less and less government inspection or oversight."

Bird flu has largely flown off the radar of the Western world, but people are still dying from it nearly every week in Indonesia. Since the first case was reported two years ago, government officials have reported 74 deaths from the H5N1 strain in Indonesia - more than a third of the world's total. Indonesia has refused to share its samples of bird flu virus with the World Health Organization since January. Jakarta fears a vaccine produced from its specimens would be out of reach for its own citizens - too expensive and controlled by wealthy nations. Some global health officials have accused Indonesia of holding the virus hostage and keeping experts from monitoring whether the bug is mutating into a dangerous form that could potentially spark the next pandemic that kills millions.

As barbecue season gets underway, a new study suggests a class of toxic chemicals released by grilling, broiling and frying meat may increase the risk for life-threatening diseases.

4/22/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
- RECALLED - Vi-Jon, Inc. issued a nationwide consumer product recall of a single lot of 28 fluid ounce bottles of Alpine Xtreme Evergreen Forest Body Wash after determining the presence of a bacteria, Enterobacter gergoviae, in some of the product samples tested.
-RECALLED - The Blue Buffalo Company announced a voluntary recall of one production run of its Spa Select Kitten dry food due to melamine.
-RECALLED - Royal Canin Veterinary Diet (available only in veterinary clinics). Royal Canin USA has determined there is a melamine derivative in the rice protein concentrate in some of its dry pet food products.
Melamine, the industrial chemical imported from China has now been detected in a THIRD ingredient used to make pet foods, leading officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to speculate that the contamination may be intentional. Melamine was initially found in wheat gluten and in rice protein concentrate. Now, melamine has been detected in imported corn gluten in South Africa that has killed 30 dogs. Melamine can skew test results to make a product appear more protein-rich than it really is. That raises the possibility the contamination was deliberate. FDA investigators are waiting for visas that would allow them to visit the Chinese plants where the vegetable protein ingredients were produced.

4/19/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - FDA investigators and U.S. Marshals seized all implantable medical devices from Shelhigh, Inc., Union, N.J., after finding significant deficiencies in the company's manufacturing processes. The deficiencies may compromise the safety and effectiveness of the products, particularly their sterility. The products include pediatric heart valves and conduits (tube-like devices for blood flow), surgical patches, dural patches (to aid in tissue recovery after neurosurgery), annuloplasty rings (to help repair heart valves) and arterial grafts.
-RECALLED - Consumers who have purchased raw milk from Fisher's Dairy, Butler County, any time after April 9, 2007, should discard it immediately due to the risk of Listeria monocytogenes contamination.
-RECALLED - T.W. Enterprises of Ferndale, WA is recalling certain dog chews it markets because they may be contaminated with Salmonella. People handling these treats can become infected with Salmonella.
-PET FOOD RECALL - Menu Foods - One additional item has been added to the recall list. Two additional production dates of eight varieties of pet food have been added to the recall list. These eight varieties of pet food had previously been withdrawn from the market and should already be off the retailer shelves.
The industrial chemical that led to the nationwide recall of more than 100 brands of cat and dog food has turned up in a second pet food ingredient imported from China. The chemical, melamine, is believed to have contaminated rice protein concentrate used to make a variety of Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance Pet Foods products for dogs and cats. Previously, the chemical was found to contaminate wheat gluten used by at least six other pet food manufacturers. Both ingredients were imported from China, though by different companies and from different manufacturers. The discovery expands the recalls that started a month ago to include more brands and varieties of pet foods.

4/18/07 -
DIE-OFFS -

BEES - A wet fall, a long winter and an influx of invasive species are the usual suspects investigators have rounded up in search for clues to a malady crippling honeybee populations in southern Ontario and other parts of Canada. But so far Canadian apiarists aren't sure whether the hive losses in this country are connected with those in the United States and Europe, where a mystery illness is causing honeybee colonies to leave their hives and never return. Beekeepers from 24 U.S. states have reported losses of up to 90 per cent of their hives from the mystery ailment — called Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD — that investigators say is UNLIKE ANYTHING THEY HAVE ENCOUNTERED BEFORE. Leaving the hive to die is not uncommon for honeybees. But with CCD, pollen and honey are abundant in the hives and yet other bees are staying far away, suggesting something else is at work. It's a different situation in the Niagara region of southern Ontario, where there has been little pollen found in the abandoned hives. A wet fall may have led to a decrease in pollen and nectar production, which in turn led hives to produce a smaller brood. The smaller hives likely put greater stress on older, adult bees more susceptible to disease, and an unusually long winter added to the stress when the bees clustered over the winter. Another possibility is that there are some chemicals that may be causing bees to forget their way home. A German study this week offered another, less conventional, culprit: radiation from cellphones and cellphone towers. Honeybees play a role in pollinating a number of Canadian fruits, vegetables and crops, particularly cucumbers, melons, blueberries and cranberries and canola.

AMPHIBIANS & REPTILES - A decline in the amount of leaves on the ground could be behind the rapid demise of frog species, a study of a rainforest in Costa Rica has suggested. Until now, the prime suspect for the amphibians' population crash was a deadly fungal infection. Between 1970 and 2005, the number of amphibians declined by about 75%, which supported the idea that frogs were being wiped out by the chytrid fungus. However, the data also showed a similar fall in the area's reptiles, which were not susceptible to the fungus. Over the same period, the data showed that there had been a 75% reduction in the density of leaves falling to the ground from the rainforest's canopy. Leaf litter provides a vital habitat, offering food and shelter, for the amphibians and lizards. Shifts in the area's climate may have led to a decline in the habitat needed to sustain the creatures. "The increasingly warm and wet conditions of the past two decades could negatively influence standing litter mass by affecting rates of litterfall or litter decomposition."

4/18/07 -
Natural Balance Pet Foods is pulling two of its products from the marketplace after receiving complaints that pets were vomiting and suffering from kidney problems after eating it.

BANGLADESH - BIRD FLU - there has been a turn for the worse in the spread of bird flu in the country. Ever since the first detection of bird flu in some poultry farms at Savar, near Dhaka, two months ago, it was hoped that tough measures like culling of the poultry birds in these farms and quarantining the farms, would lead to a solution and the disease would not spread. But bird flu was subsequently detected in several places since then in Bangladesh in several different locations far away from Savar. Now, the news of the infection spreading to local species of poultry birds adds another dangerous dimension. The infection of local poultries is far more difficult to contain by culling because these have been traditionally reared around homesteads. The local poultry birds roam around freely and are not restricted in their movements like in poultry farms. It is very likely that bird flu came to Bangladesh from India. India is considered to be a heavily bird flu afflicted country. But infected poultry products from that country are still finding access to Bangladesh. Bangladesh, presently, appears to be inadequately prepared to cope with even a mild spread of human cases of the disease. Worldwide, the mainstream practice is to cull the poultry population on detection of the disease. The practice has led to ruination of poultry sectors in China, Thailand and some other countries where large scale culling was carried out. Therefore, Bangladesh will have to try the best preventive methods in the first place to stop its poultry farms from being affected by the H5N1 virus so that culling is not required. Italy experimented with vaccination of poultry birds against bird flu and it proved to be a big success.

4/13/07 -
RECALLS & ALERTS:
- LISTERINE has announced a nationwide consumer recall of all lots of the GLACIER MINT and BUBBLE BLAST flavors of LISTERINE AGENT COOL BLUE Plaque-Detecting Rinse after the Company determined that the preservative system is not adequate against certain microorganisms.
-PET FOOD - the FDA is advising pet owners that recalled pet food may still be on the shelves in some retail establishments. To verify the effectiveness of the recall, FDA has conducted approximately 400 checks of retail stores across the country. Based on the checks, FDA believes most companies have removed the recalled product; however, some have not.
In related news, Menu Foods, Inc. expanded its recall on Tuesday, April 10, to cat food not previously subject to the recall. A complete list of MenuFoods' recalled products, including the new items, can be reviewed at www.menufoods.com .

The list of Chinese food exports rejected at U.S. ports reads like a chef's nightmare: pesticide-laden pea pods, drug-laced catfish, filthy plums and crawfish contaminated with salmonella. Yet it took a much more obscure item, contaminated wheat gluten, to focus U.S. public attention on a very real and frightening fact: China's chronic food safety woes are now an international concern: Pesticides and chemical fertilizers are used in excess to boost yields while harmful antibiotics are widely administered to control disease in seafood and livestock. Rampant industrial pollution risks introducing heavy metals into the food chain. Farmers have used cancer-causing industrial dye Sudan Red to boost the value of their eggs and fed an asthma medication to pigs to produce leaner meat. In a case that galvanized the public's and government's attention, shoddy infant formula with little or no nutritional value has been blamed for causing severe malnutrition in hundreds of babies and killing at least 12.

4/11/07 -
Couples who smoke when they conceive their child are almost twice as likely to get a baby girl, according to research which suggests tobacco "kills" boy foetuses.

4/6/07 -
The recall of contaminated pet food and treats is being widened to include dog biscuits and more Menu Foods produc