Dole Salads Recalled For Listeria; One dead in listeria outbreak

The listeria outbreak has claimed the life of one person and it has downed 11 others after they ate a packaged salads linked to a listeria outbreak.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the packaged salads were sold under a variety of names and came from a processing facility in Springfield, Ohio, run by Dole.

The 11 person who were hospitalized are from Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Indiana. The fatality was in Michigan. Reports about these infections started coming in July.

An investigation began in September, the CDC said, but the source of the infections was unknown until this month when lab tests confirmed listeria in salads collected from the Springfield facility.

The CDC warns the public to stop eating salads packaged under the name Dole, Fresh Selections, Simple Truth, Marketside, The Little Salad Bar and President’s Choice. The salads are sold to restaurants as well. If you have one of these packaged salads in your fridge look for the letter “A” at the beginning of the manufacturing code. Those are the ones you want to throw away.

Listeria, known by its scientific name of Listeria monocytogenes, is the bacterium that causes listeriosis, an infection that affects the gastrointestinal tract. This is a serious infection with Symptoms include flu-like fever and muscle aches, upset stomach or diarrhea, stiff neck, headache, loss of balance, confusion, and convulsions. Awareness of the problem is your best defense.

Unfortunately, these symptoms are similar to many other illnesses, including the flu and illnesses caused by other bacteria and viruses. It’s best to contact your doctor and ask him or her about your symptoms if you do feel ill. Tell him you ate the recalled salads.

Ticks in Toronto tested for Lyme disease

Ticks are nasty and it can be nastier if it carries lyme disease. Blacklegged ticks ussually hang around in tall grass and wooded areas and they often latch on to campers and hikers. Health officials in Toronto said that they are testing ticks that are found in Morningside Park and on Algonquin Island for Lyme disease. They have also tested ticks in the Rouge Valley which tested positive to Lyme disease.

Health officials said that people with Lyme Disease has shoot up from 128 cases in 2009 in Canada to 682 by 2013.

Officials said people who are in outdoor a lot should check for ticks after outdoor activities like walking the dog, hiking, or mowing the lawn. They also suggest wearing long sleeves and pants and clothes that are ligth colored.

Symptoms of Lyme disease include a red bull’s-eye rash, headaches, fever, fatigue, and muscle pain.

Chagas Disease: “The New HIV/AIDS of the Americas”

Chagas is a tropical parasitic disease caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. T. cruzi is commonly transmitted to humans and other mammals by an insect vector, the blood-sucking "kissing bugs" of the subfamily Triatominae (family Reduviidae) most commonly species belonging to the Triatoma, Rhodnius, and Panstrongylus genera. Endemic Chagas disease has emerged as an important health disparity in the Americas. As a result, we face a situation in both Latin America and the US that bears a resemblance to the early years of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Most affected are people living in poverty. Chagas and HIV/AIDS requires prolonged and expensive treatment. More than 8 million people have been infected by Chagas, most of them in Latin and Central America. But more than 300,000 live in the United States.