Health

Inspect your food, even at a restaurant!

Morrisons — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 03:40:55 GMT

With the current food-borne ilness issues in the news I wanted to send a note about checking the food that is prepared for you. This evening my family went the the local Chili's restaurant. We ordered and received our food and it appeared to all be in order. My husband did note that his chicken crispers seemed cold but didn't want to make a big deal of it and send them back so he began eating his meal.

A little ways into the meal he discovered that the bonless chicken wings he had on his plate were raw! Not just under cooked, but actually raw meat. He of course only discovered this after eating 1/2 of the pieces of meat. As it turns out all the chicken on his plate was cold and raw. His mother also ordered the same items and she too had raw meat.

The management was less than receptive and beyond comping our meal really did not want to commit to doing anything about it. He said he would "talk" to the cook but refused to write up a report about it. Now we wait. Hopefully neither my mother in law nor my husband becomes ill.

We are careful at home about cross contamination and checking that our meats are cooked properly. Until this evening I never would have thought I would also need to suspect what is being deliverd from a professional kitchen. Hopefully sharing our story will encourage others to make sure the food they are being served is cooked.

Medical Tourism - Consider It

badgerrr — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:31:53 GMT

As the years have past, few of us have escaped the effects of the Medical Insurance Crisis. Fewer employers offer health insurance, those that do have scaled back coverage and increased fees/co-pays. With each passing year, the situation has grown progressively worse. Rising medical costs have turned adequate health care into a rich mans game. There seems to be little evidence to suggest the situation will be getting any better.

Many have staked high hopes on an evolution to Socialized medicine in the current political climate. But when we consider how Government runs things; and look at how existing socialized medicine functions in other countries, we realize a DMV of medical services may actually be even worse than the mess we have now. Many, perhaps most, of the people who avail themselves of off shore medical treatment come from countries with Socialized medicine like the U.K. and Australia.

In this increasingly difficult Health Care environment, we find the option of Medical Tourism more and more appealing. Costs for significant medical procedures can be reduced radically while sacrificing little or nothing in the quality of care.

We (the wife and I) now have garnered first hand experience with Medical Tourism to India. I believe any number of people here could benefit from our experience. So with this in mind, I submit some of the highlights of our trip.

If, like us, you have no experience with getting medical work done overseas, I strongly suggest you get in touch with a go-between organization. After researching what would be our best country for our medical needs, we contacted the Taj Medical Group. All correspondence we did was thru email, and was invaluable. They were already in contact with the best hospitals off shore and could provide assistance obtaining Visas. Sometimes they can get good airfare rates locked in as well (though this was not to be for us) The help we got was always prompt and well informed. To locate a reputable outfit, I suggest a book called PATIENTS WITHOUT BORDERS by Josef Woodman. It lists a number of Health Travel Agents, so choosing from these should assure that you are contacting a real outfit - not an Internet false front.

Our flight left Portland, Oregon on 27 August. There was a layover at Newark for 4 hours, then we were in the air for 14 hours, before touching down at the Indera Gandhi Airport. With insurance, flying couch there and back, for the 2 of us, the cost was just under $3,000.

As we disembarked the plane, we were met by 2 guys holding up signs with our names. They got us to our hotel room (which they had arranged for us), thru the absolutely insane traffic that India is renown for, in the dead of night. (At this point, let me suggest you explore getting a Bed & Breakfast in India, if possible. Prices for most things in India are fabulous but not for lodging. By American standards, hotels are overpriced and shabby. A B&B is probably a much better choice if you can arrange it.)

The next day we called the hospital with the cell phone we were provided, by our Airport contacts. A ride was arranged and we had preoperation testing done those first 2 days. When it was time for the actual operation, we moved from the hotel to the hospital where we would stay for the next 5 days. (The halls were not air conditioned but thankfully our room was. We had arrived just prior to "The High Season" for tourists so it was uncomfortably hot for us when out of our rooms. So you might want to keep such considerations in mind when scheduling your trip.) But our Doctor was the head of his specialty, speaking great English and very skilled and personable. The equipment was sometimes a little outdated, but the staff was nothing short of great. Labor is dirt cheap in India and they are always fully staffed. IF we could get HALF this staff in the U.S., with HALF the concern it would be a radical improvement.

Operation was performed and all went well. We were quoted $11,000 in the U.S., and the price was reduced to $9,050 when all was said and done. This procedure in America is about 40k. After a few days, we were able to be discharged to a Bed and Breakfast we had arranged. Delhi seems to be the location in India with the best B&B opportunities.

The B&B was the high point of the trip. Up to this point, it had pretty much been work. But now, as the wife recovered in a great, well air conditioned room, I was able to arrange a trip to Agra and see the Taj Mahal. He got a fine English speaking driver and a personal tour guide for me, when there. He also had a number of other adventures available to boot. One of them was a guided shopping tour where his wife would haggle my prices for me. This is no small advantage, let me tell you. A custom Astrology reading could be arranged or Indian cooking class. Most valuable was our discussions over the dinner table where the proprietor could explain to me all the puzzling things I was seeing in this exotic country. (Culture Shock is not to be underestimated for India. There's SOOooooo much stuff going on you're just not going to see here!)

Then the time to leave came. We contacted the same guy who we first saw at the Airport and he arranged a driver. We then were able to pay for both rides and the cell phone use. This came to 2000 Rupees, which is about $50.

Here's a tip. Remember to cash in all or most of your Rupees BEFORE you get through security. There's no place to cash out on the other side. The Rupee is a closed currency and when you try to change it in America; you will be outta luck. So a few of my friends are getting Rupees in their Christmas cards.

In closing, I can recommend Medical Tourism from my experience. It offers an opportunity for many to get life saving treatment without destroying their families financial integrity. If you are curious and want to know more, type "Medical Tourism" into a search engine. There's a real wealth of info out there. India is certainly one of the better destinations, but there are plenty of others; - Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, UAE, South Africa, Hungary, Brazil,Costa Rica, Mexico, Barbados, Antigua... So do your research, allow 6 months or so, if you can, to get everything together comfortably. Good Luck and Good Health.

Invasion USA & Leprosy

Cassandra — Fri, 04 May 2007 00:33:33 GMT

Are illegals making
U.S. a leper colony?
'This is a real phenomenon. It's a public health threat. New York is endemic now, and nobody's noticed'

Posted: May 22, 2005
5:11 p.m. Eastern

http://www.worldnetdaily.com

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Leprosy is curable with proper treatment (photo: Columbia News Service)

Leprosy, the contagious skin disease evoking thoughts of biblical and medieval times, is now making its mark in the United States, and many believe the influx of illegal aliens is a main factor.

"Americans should be told that diseases long eradicated in this country – tuberculosis, leprosy, polio, for example – and other extremely contagious diseases have been linked directly to illegals," Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., told the Business Journal of Phoenix. "For example, in 40 years, only 900 persons were afflicted by leprosy in the U.S.; in the past three years, more than 7,000 cases have been presented."

"This emerging crisis exposes the upside-down thinking of federal immigration policy," he continued. "While legal immigrants must undergo health screening prior to entering the U.S., illegal immigrants far more likely to be carrying contagious diseases are crawling under that safeguard and going undetected until they infect extraordinary numbers of American residents."

The number of cases of leprosy, now known as Hansen's disease, among immigrants to the U.S. has more than doubled since 2000, according to a news report from Columbia University.

While the overall figure is small compared to other countries, some researchers fear the trend could lead to the disease spreading to the U.S.-born population.

"It's creeping into the U.S.," Dr. William Levis, head of the New York Hansen's Disease Clinic, told Columbia News Service. "This is a real phenomenon. It's a public health threat. New York is endemic now, and nobody's noticed."

Levis thinks America could be on the verge of an epidemic.

"We just don't know when these epidemics are going to occur," he said. "But we're on the cusp of it here, because we're starting to see endemic cases that we didn't see 25 years ago."

According to Steve Pfeifer, head of statistics and epidemiology at the National Hansen's Disease Program, only about two dozen new cases are found each year in U.S.-born patients, with that number remaining stable for decades.

But Pfeifer suggests many aliens are coming to the U.S. specifically to get treated for their skin condition, due to the short time between many immigrants' entry to the U.S. and their diagnosis with leprosy.

"They're coming to be treated because they get treatment free and probably get better treatment here," he told Columbia. "Somebody down there diagnoses them and says, 'Hey, you've got leprosy, and your best course of action is probably high-tailing to the U.S.'"

The fear is that since the disease remains contagious until treatment is commenced, a surge of diagnosed-but-untreated patients could mean a spread of leprosy into the population of those born in America.

Pfeifer said he had not issued an official report on the dangerous trend, fearing that anti-immigration groups would become vocal against centers providing free health care for illegals.

"A lot of our cases are imported," said Dr. Terry Williams, who treats leprosy victims in Houston. "We see patients from everywhere – Africa, the Philippines, China, South America."

Williams confirms that some of his patients came to the U.S. specifically for treatment, telling Columbia, "Certainly we do see some of that. We've had even a couple of patients from Cuba who were put on a boat by Castro just to get them out of the country – they made their way here through Mexico and Central America basically just to get treated. ... We treat them; our job isn't to be immigration police."

But not all experts have such a gloomy outlook.

Dr. Denis Daumerie, head of the World Health Organization's leprosy-elimination program, thinks claims of immigrants causing a spike in U.S. leprosy are overstated.

"There is no risk of an epidemic of leprosy," he told Columbia. "There's absolutely no risk that the few immigrants who are affected by the disease, if they are diagnosed and treated, will spread the disease in the U.S."

Cure for Hiccups?

Buzz Blogger — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 18:41:29 GMT

There was a young lady on the Today show today, who has had the hiccups for three straight weeks now. We want to know what your cure for the hiccups is. Post below and let us know.

My family's cure is to drink pineapple juice. It was worked every time I've tried it, so I swear by it. You just get one of those little cans of pineapple juice, but I suppose the fresh fruit would work just as well.

The Dentist

rutheast — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 23:59:19 GMT

Just a thought, with all the news about medical costs rising, insurance, uninsured people etc. Does anyone monitor the Dentist? The price varies $$$$ from one dentist to another, it is insane. I do realize that dental work is not normally a life threatening issue but it is a very important part of our health that should be maintained. My son en law had a terrible absess to the point it affected his sinuses. This can be dangerous. Opps no insurance so we will give you a quick look and antibiotics with a dental plan for only $185.00 today. As anyone with dental issues can tell you this is a serious situation but I don't ever read or hear of anyone doing anything about it. It is like the "Dentist" just slips through the cracks. Another thing, heaven forbid if your child needs braces or you would need anything to improve your appearance. Sorry this is cosmetic and not covered by most insurance! Ok so sending your child through adolesence with a horrible mouth of teeth will not be damaging to him / her? This is only a cosmetic thing? Who are these people who tell us these things?

POISON IN HUMAN FOOD SUPPLY

Cassandra — Fri, 04 May 2007 17:03:48 GMT

OK, now I'm MAD... Now the FDA is telling us that it is OK to eat POISON FED ANIMALS!!!

Chickens: Whole fryers come with the liver, gizzard, heart and neck stuffed into the body cavity... WHAT was it that killed thousands of cats and dogs? Kidney and Liver failure... IF this POISON destroyed these organs, how do we know that it isn't in the meat also, via the blood stream!

I am so sick of the BIG MONEY in this country, and our darling Government, covering for their China cash cow... ALL trade with China in food stuffs of all kinds should be suspended, pending verifiable PROOF that their production, testing, and health standards meet that of this country... That includes Mexico...

Also, any company that uses imported food stuffs should be made legally resposible to test, or retest every shipment that comes from ANY country outside the USA.... Oh boy, THEY don't care WHO or WHAT they murder, as long as their profit margin remains high... Read the following please..

Bracketed heading word is mine....

FDA: Contaminated [POISONED] feed could affect farms nationwide

POSTED: 12:10 a.m. EDT, May 2, 2007

var clickExpire = "-1";

Story Highlights

• Contaminated feed found in 38 Indiana chicken farms; more farms likely affected
• Feed contains recalled pet food with tainted wheat gluten
• No human illnesses have been reported related to tainted poultry feed
• Reports of 4,150 dog and cat deaths related to pet food recall

By Katy Byron
CNN

Adjust font size:

NEW YORK (CNN) -- More farms across the United States will likely be affected by animal feed tainted with recalled pet food, federal health officials said Tuesday, after an investigation of Indiana chicken farms found the contaminated feed in more than three dozen facilities that raise poultry for human consumption.

The Food and Drug Administration said it expects farms in other states will report they received the tainted pet food and predicted that the number of plants that received contaminated feed could reach into the hundreds.

Recalled pet food containing tainted Chinese wheat gluten was found in chicken feed in 38 Indiana farms, the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday, but no chicken recall has been issued because the likelihood of getting sick from eating chicken fed the contaminated product is very low, FDA officials said.

No human illnesses related to the minimally tainted poultry feed have been reported, according to the agencies.

Last week, FDA officials said 6,000 hogs that may have ingested tainted pet food entered the human food supply. Pork producers in California, Kansas, North Carolina, New York, South Carolina and Utah are being investigated for buying adulterated feed. (Full story)

In an effort to further contain the tainted products, the FDA last week detained all vegetable protein imports from China that are used in both human and animal food as part of its investigation into the nationwide pet food recall.

The protein products from China that are affected include: wheat gluten, rice gluten, rice protein, rice protein concentrate, corn gluten, corn gluten meal, corn byproducts, soy protein, soy gluten proteins, and mung bean protein, the FDA import alert dated April 27 said.

NCC: It's like cooking cupcakes

Occasionally, pet food manufacturers sell material left over from the molding process to animal feed manufacturers and that's how the contaminated pet food got into poultry feed, according to Richard Lobb, spokesman for the National Chicken Council, the trade group that represents U.S. poultry producers, marketers and processors.

"It's like cooking cupcakes -- you get some of the dough on the pan, you scrape it off and throw it away. What they're saying is that somebody bought that material and it got mixed in corn and soybean that gets manufactured in poultry feed," he said.

"The dilution factor is enormous. You have a relatively small amount of pet food byproducts used," in poultry feed manufacturing, Lobb said.

In fact, "it's a safe and wholesome product to use," he added.

In response to the FDA/USDA announcement, the National Chicken Council released a statement saying "We are confident that any poultry producers involved will work expeditiously with the government to resolve this matter to the satisfaction of the government agencies."

Lobb said it is industry practice for companies to own birds and contract growers to raise them, and that companies supply the feed to the growers as well.

"Nobody buys feed from China," Lobb told CNN.

"Feed is made from corn, soybean meal, minerals... about 70 percent of ration is corn and that's all locally grown in the United States. Soybeans are all grown in the United States," Lobb said.

"Melamine is not supposed to be in any animal feed, pet food... it's an industrial chemical and that problem goes back to China where they were deliberately spiking the product with melamine and before that with urea in order to boost its protein content," Lobb said.

Perdue and Tyson Foods -- two of the largest U.S. chicken producers -- do not import any protein ingredients from China used in their chicken feeds, company representatives told their supermarket chain clients Tuesday.

FDA: No evidence tainted gluten in U.S. stores

FDA officials said they have found no evidence that tainted wheat gluten was added directly to any human food products that Americans may find on store shelves.

The FDA has investigators in China working with the Chinese government's General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine to investigate the sources of the contaminated products.

It is unclear how long the United States has been importing tainted food additives from China.

"Clearly that is a concern if that has been going on for a long period of time," said Dr. David Acheson, who was appointed to the new position of FDA Assistant Commissioner for Food Protection earlier in the day.

Melamine, cyanuric acid might be the deadly combination

Monday's report is the latest development in the FDA's investigation into the recall of more than 60 million cans of pet food after at least 17 cats and dogs died of kidney failure. The urine of cats that ate the tainted pet food tested positive for melamine, an industrial chemical used in the manufacturing of plastic utensils and fertilizer.

In addition, the FDA announced last week that rice protein additive imported from China was found to contain cyanuric acid, but the federal agency has yet to positively identify the causative agent in the pet deaths. Cyanuric acid is used as a stabilizer in outdoor swimming pools and hot tubs.

Investigators outside the FDA are uncovering evidence that suggests the combination of melamine and cyanuric acid is responsible for the pet deaths related to the recall. (Full story)

The agency also reported last week that it has received more than 17,000 consumer complaints related to the recall, including reports of 4,150 dog and cat deaths.

More than 150 brands and 5,300 pet food products have been recalled. Companies that produced affected items include Menu Foods, Hill's Pet Nutrition, P&G Pet Care, Nestle Purina PetCare, Del Monte Pet Products, and Sunshine Mills. The affected products have been recalled in cooperation with the FDA. The first recall was initiated March 16 by Menu Foods.

CNN's Joe Johns, Miriam Falco and Tom Watkins contributed to this report

Doctors Vs Guns

Cassandra — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 13:06:47 GMT

DOCTORS VERSES GUNS.

Doctors:
(A) The number of doctors in the U.S. Is 700,000
(B) Accidental deaths caused by physicians per year are 120,000
(C) Accidental deaths per physician is 17.14%
Statistics courtesy of the U.S. Dept. Of Health & Human Services

Guns:
(A) The number of gun owners in the U.S. Is 80,000,000
(yes that's 80 million)
(B) The number of accidental gun deaths per year,
All age groups, is 1,500
(C) The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is
0.001875% Statistics courtesy of the FBI

So statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous
than gun owners. Remember, guns don't kill people, doctors do.

FACT: NOT EVERYONE HAS A GUN, BUT ALMOST EVERYONE HAS AT
LEAST ONE DOCTOR

Please alert your friends to this alarming threat.
We must ban doctors before this gets completely out of hand!!!
Out of concern for the public at large, I have withheld
Statistics on lawyers for fear the shock would cause people
To panic and seek medical attention

S-Bill 1082 SENATE STABS AMERICANS IN THE BACK

Cassandra — Tue, 08 May 2007 17:20:35 GMT

S1082 UPDATE - SENATE STABS AMERICANS IN THE BACK

By Byron J. Richards, CCN

May 8, 2007

NewsWithViews.com

For approximately four days Americans lived in a delusional state that they may soon pay drug prices the same as every other country in the civilized world. Euphoria over breaking the Big Pharma monopoly turned to disgust as the chameleon, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), changed sides and lead a contingency of Democrats against fellow Democrats lead by Byron Dorgan (D-ND). By passing the Cochran amendment the Dorgan amendment is poisoned and will no longer be effective. Maybe Democrats are now learning what Republicans have known for some time – you can’t trust Kennedy.

Last Thursday, on a cloture vote of 63-28 (all 28 votes were Republicans), Senators voted to limit debate on the Dorgan amendment and thus prevent a filibuster. Many took this to mean that Dorgan had the strength, based on strong support in the Democratic Party and enough Republicans who wanted lower drug prices for Americans, to actually allow reimportation of drugs from other countries. This makes complete sense to all Americans, unless they work for Big Pharma. It now appears Kennedy’s pretended support for the cloture vote was simply to limit debate time spent on his entire bill – since the longer it is debated the greater the number of Big Pharma loopholes come to light.

Jumping ship with Kennedy were 14 other Democrats, 4 Republicans, and 1 Independent: Baucus (D-MT), Bayh (D-IN), Cantwell (D-WA), Carper (D-DE), Kerry (D-MA), Landrieu (D-LA), Lautenberg (D-NJ), Lincoln (D-AR), Menendez (D-NJ), Mikulski (D-MD), Murray (D-WA), Nelson (D-NE), Rockefeller (D-WV), Salazar (D-CO), Coleman (R-MN), Coburn (R-OK), Corker (R-TN), Martinez (R-FL), Specter (R-PA), and Lieberman (ID-CT).

Pressures applied by Kennedy, along with Big Pharma’s wallet, was all it took to cause Americans to be raped of 50 billion dollars over the next ten years.

Noteworthy in this group of Senator’s failing the American public is Norm Coleman (R-MN). He could be seen grinning from ear to ear following his vote, while getting patted on the back by fellow Republicans. Coleman has been in favor of drug reimportation for some time, helping Minnesota set up one of the most progressive programs in the country to import drugs from Canada. Who bought his vote? He certainly wasn’t representing the citizens of his state.

The battle on S1082 rages on. Kennedy is doing everything he can to force a final vote on S1082 before too many Big Pharma loopholes are closed. Big Pharma obviously owns the Senate. And the Senate is hammering the citizens of this country in the pocketbook. Demand your senators vote no on S1082 – it is a fake safety bill that will lock in the Big Pharma monopoly on health care for the next 50 years.

Related articles:

1, S1082 - The Voice of the People is Being Heard
2, Senators Bribed by Big Pharma vs. Senators not Bought Off 5-2-07
3, Dietary Supplements Threatened, Freedom in Danger 4-30-07
4, U.S. Health Freedom on Verge of Collapse 4-25-07

Byron J. Richards, Founder/Director of Wellness Resources, is a Board-Certified Clinical Nutritionist and nationally-renowned health expert, radio personality, and educator. He is the author of Mastering Leptin, The Leptin Diet, and Fight for Your Health: Exposing the FDA's Betrayal of America.

Richards encourages individuals to take charge of their health, stand up for their health rights, and not blindly succumb to propaganda from the vested-interests who profit from keeping Americans sick. As founder of Wellness Resources, Inc. of Minneapolis, MN, an independently-owned fine-quality dietary supplement company since 1985, he has personally developed 75 unique nutraceutical-grade nutritional formulas. www.wellnessresources.com

E-mail: byron@truthinwellness.com

Invasion USA & Tuberculosis

Cassandra — Fri, 04 May 2007 00:45:09 GMT

INVASION USA
U.S. immigrants Story 1
pose TB threat
From coast to coast, more cases found
raising fears of new drug-resistant strain

Posted: October 22, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

WASHINGTON – The worst forms of a drug-resistant killer tuberculosis bug, rapidly spreading throughout the world, have been gaining ground in the United States along with record legal and illegal immigration levels, alarming public-health officials over a disease once thought vanquished.

Although the number of confirmed drug-resistant TB cases in the U.S. is relatively small – still measured in the dozens – health officials say visitors from other countries are bringing in the deadliest mutations.

The only visitors to the U.S. who are screened for tuberculosis and other medical conditions are immigrants who enter the country legally. There is no easy way to screen millions of tourists and illegal migrant workers.

Worldwide, TB kills 2 million people a year, mostly in Africa and southeast Asia, but recently the European Union issued a warning that the threat there is considerable.

The drug-resistant TB recently killed more than 50 people in South Africa. It has been found in limited numbers in the U.S. – 74 reported cases since 1993. The strain is nearly impossible to cure because it is immune to the best first- and second-line TB drugs. It is as easily transmitted through the air as the old TB.

There is another form of TB concerning U.S. health officials. It is called "multi-drug resistant." It responds to more treatments but can cost up to $250,000 and take two years to cure. This is the strain increasingly common throughout the world – rising more than 50 percent from about 273,000 in 2000 to 425,000 in 2004, according to a study published in August in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

In the U.S., 128 people were found to have it in 2004, a 13 percent increase from the previous year.

(Story continues below)

The states with the highest numbers of multi-drug resistant cases in the last decade were New York, California, Texas and Florida, according to the CDC – states with the highest populations of new immigrants.

Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that primarily affects the lungs. TB is more common in urban areas. It is highly contagious and caused by bacteria. Many people infected with TB have no symptoms because it is dormant. Once it becomes active it may cause permanent damage to the lungs and other organs. TB is spread through the air by inhalation.

Over the last 30 days, TB has been discovered in dozens of states:

Last month, six employees who work inside Detroit's AT&T building tested positive. Investigations into the outbreak are ongoing.

In Oklahoma City, hundreds of patients and hospital workers may have been exposed to tuberculosis by a health-care worker, and at least 10 people caught it. A letter sent to 1,650 patients and 350 workers at Integris Southwest Medical Center in Oklahoma City warned of their potential exposure and urged them to get skin tests to determine whether they were infected.

In Alabama, 22 LeFlore Preparatory Academy students and faculty members tested positive for tuberculosis infection and are undergoing further examination to determine if they have an active case of the disease, Mobile County Health Department officials said last Monday. The people who tested positive were among 909 who elected to be screened after a student was diagnosed with the disease.

In Florida, public health and school officials said they had confirmed a case of tuberculosis at a Manatee County middle school. Seven months ago, it was announced that a school district employee whose job required visits to several campuses had active TB.

In Cincinnati, a student and teacher visiting a high school became infected.

In Connecticut, health officials are trying to figure out whether a University of Hartford student has tuberculosis.

In South Texas, a second group of students and staff at McAllen's Zavala Elementary School were forced to undergo skin tests today after a student was discovered carrying the contagious airborne disease.

In Pennsylvania, hundreds of Upper Moreland High School students had to be tested after the Montgomery County Health Department notified parents in the district that a male student had become infected over the summer.

In Mississippi, more than 10 percent of the 102 Meridian firefighters have tested positive for the tuberculosis antibody, but state health officials say there is little cause for concern.

In South Georgia, Mitchell County health officials are investigating a case of tuberculosis at a major chicken processing plant.

In California, more than 6,000 inmates at California State Prison-Solano are being tested for tuberculosis after two inmates were discovered with the disease.

In Wisconsin, nearly 100 students and staff may have come into contact with a West Allis day care employee infected with tuberculosis, health officials report. The employee, who had active TB, is being treated and is no longer at the center.

Canada has also been hit with the disease – especially the Indian populations, but also increasingly among new immigrants from nations where the disease is endemic.

"With the shrinking of the global community with the transient nature of the world's population, TB has the potential to come to Canada time and time and time again," says Bob Dickson, a Calgary medical doctor and partner with RESULTS Canada, an NGO dedicated to fighting poverty and disease in the third world.

The World Health Organization reports that one-third of the globe's population is infected with the airborne bacteria that causes the disease.

The general symptoms of the disease include feelings of sickness or weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats. The symptoms of TB disease of the lungs also include coughing, chest pain and coughing up blood. Symptoms of TB disease in other parts of the body depend on the area affected.

It is generally spread when someone with the infection coughs, sneezes or talks to another person, but prolonged contact is usually needed. People most at risk of developing tuberculosis include children and older people, smokers, those living in overcrowded conditions, those who have a poor diet, the homeless and those who have a weakened immune system.

Antibiotics are used to treat the infection, but they must be taken for at least six months to be effective.

The occurrence of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis is also on the increase in Eastern Europe.

Health officials in Finland are particularly concerned because the multi-drug resistant form of tuberculosis has already found its way to Estonia and St. Petersburg.

About 450,000 people get infected with tuberculosis each year in the Europe region, including Eastern Europe and Central Asia, according to Pierpaolo de Colombani, a tuberculosis control medical officer for the World Health Organization.

Nearly 70,000 of these contract strains of the easily-spread respiratory ailment that resist the two main tuberculosis drugs, raising the likelihood that the disease could lead to epidemics in Western Europe on the scale of that seen in the 1940s.

"The drug resistance that we are seeing now is without doubt the most alarming tuberculosis situation on the continent since World War Two," said Markku Niskala, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

"Our message to EU leaders is: wake up, do not delay, do not let this problem get further out of hand," Niskala said.

****************************************************************************************************

INVASION USA
Immigrants spur return of TB Story 2
Once eradicated in U.S., doctors find it difficult to diagnose

Posted: August 7, 2006
7:42 p.m. Eastern

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/

Accompanied by the rise in illegal immigration, tuberculosis is making a comeback in the U.S., often eluding diagnosis by doctors who are unfamiliar with the disease.

Though still relatively rare in the U.S., it's a significant problem in states such as California with large numbers of immigrants from countries where the disease is endemic, the Los Angeles Times reports.

TB, one of the most dreaded diseases in the U.S. in the 19th and early 20th centuries, killed more than 1.7 million worldwide in 2004, according to the World Health Organization.

More than three-quarters of the 2,903 cases reported in California last year were among foreign natives, the Times said, noting a total of 14,093 cases in the country.

Tuberculosis is generally treatable if caught early, but the bacteria can remain dormant for years. If diagnosis is delayed, the disease can be deadly and spread to others.

"Delayed diagnosis is a concern that obsesses people in TB control," said Dr. Kenneth Castro, director of the division of tuberculosis elimination at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the Times.

"There are many outstanding physicians who don't see it anymore and therefore lose proficiency to promptly diagnose and treat it."

A recent study in Maryland illustrates the concerns. A look at 158 patients, published last year in the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, showed 45 percent to be undiagnosed 30 days after they first contacted a doctor, with 16 percent remaining so 90 days after, the Los Angeles paper reported.

In response, agencies such as the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute have helped fund a TB curriculum in medical and professional schools. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has funded national centers providing diagnostic help for doctors.

But diagnosis of TB can be complicated. The commonly used skin test, for example, can only detect a latent TB infection, not active, infectious disease. Follow-up tests are needed, and often a doctor will try TB drug therapy to see of the patient responds.

Dr. Lee Reichman, executive director of the Global Tuberculosis Institute at the New Jersey Medical School, told the Times that when in doubt, doctors should call for assistance.

But "how do you get an arrogant doctor who says, 'I'm a specialist in infectious disease,' who may not be that familiar with tuberculosis, to put down his arrogance and call for help?" he askd.

As WorldNetDaily reported, a border-area mystery infection called Morgellons disease is spreading throughout South Texas at a time when the issues of illegal immigration, border security and possible amnesty for over 12 million illegal aliens are being debated in the U.S.

Tricks for taming tresses

Nicole W — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 23:12:14 GMT

Has anybody else been plagued with static ridden hair lately? I don't know if it's due to the recent weather change, or the fact that I've been pulling out all the sweaters from the back of the closet, but it is -- to say the least -- annoying! So here's my little trick that has worked wonders...spray your hair brush with Static Guard (avaliable in the laundry isle at any drug/grocery store for about $3) or go ahead and spray your hands and rub it right in. It works! Now, if I could just find a way to keep my precious flat-iron in buisness...one step out in the rain and all my hard work is for naught.