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Antibiotic Overuse in Farms and MRSA Superbug Infections

Public health win: FDA ordered to act to stem antibiotic overuse in farm animals

It’s a hellish and frightening prospect — the chance of acquiring Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), a staph bacterial infection that’s resistant to methicillin and common antibiotics like oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin.

Most commonly manifesting as ghastly, pus-filled pustules or boils that are red, swollen and painful, MRSA can quickly develop into a severe and life-threatening infection of the bloodstream, lung or heart.

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Ryan O’Neal Prostate Cancer Diagnosis: Updates

Ryan O’Neal Prostate Cancer Diagnosis. The famous Love Story actor announces that he’s been diagnosed with the dreaded ‘male’ cancer, even as doubts linger over both prostate cancer vaccine Provenge and PSA blood tests used to diagnose it.

It’s been barely three years since “Charlie’s Angels” star Farrah Fawcett lost died at 62 after losing a three-year battle with anal cancer — and now her long-time boyfriend, actor Ryan O’Neal, has just been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

In an exclusive statement send to People on April 15, O’Neal says, “Recently I was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer. Although I was shocked and stunned by the news, I feel fortunate that it was detected early and according to my extraordinary team of doctors the prognosis is positive for a full recovery.”

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Lung Cancer Still Rising in British Women

Women now pay the price for smoking in the Mad Men era as number of lung cancer cases rises, a United Kingdom charity says.

“You’ve come a long way, baby.” That’s the slogan cigarette maker Altria Group, formerly Phillip Morris Companies, used to sell its Virginia Slims when it first introduced the brand in 1968. Some media watch groups interviewed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decades later blame this campaign for the rapid increase in smoking among teenage girls in that era.

A report by the United States Surgeon General — famous for being the first in the U.S. to say bravely, in 1964, that smoking caused cancer — interpreted this marketing slogan, as well as later ones, as an attempt to lure women into taking up smoking by linking it “to women’s freedom, emancipation, and empowerment.”

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Hidden Ingredients of Chinese Medicine: Are They Safe?

Genetic audit uncovers hidden ingredients of Chinese medicine. DNA sequencing tests on 15 popular traditional Chinese medicines seized by Australian border officials reveals a variety of potential toxins, allergens — and even traces of endangered animals.

For desperate people suffering from diseases that are debilitating or still incurable, traditional Chinese medicines are often the “courts of last resort.” Hundreds of thousands of people afflicted with cancers, spinal cord injuries, Lou Gehrig’s disease, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and other diseases turn to these medicines to ease pain or improve the quality of life.

And it’s no wonder, as traditional Chinese medicine (TCMs) have been used for 3,000 years and are an integral part of Chinese culture. In recent decades, the practice has spread across the world and gained popularity, spawning a multimillion-dollar global industry.

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Spicy Tuna Salmonella Infections: Nakaochi Recalls Tuna Scrape

California tuna products manufacturer, Moon Marine USA Corp., voluntarily recalls “Nakaochi Scrape” — the frozen raw yellowfin tuna product linked to the ongoing multistate outbreak of Salmonella Bareilly infections.

A yellowfin tuna product used to make the Japanese dishes sushi and sashimi sold at restaurants and grocery stores across the United States has been linked to an ongoing outbreak of salmonella that has so far caused more than 100 people in 20 states and the District of Columbia to fall ill, the federal government warns.

On April 13, the Food and Drug Administration said that 116 illnesses have been reported so far from 19 states, including 12 people who have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. Many of the Americans who became ill reported eating raw tuna in sushi as “spicy tuna.”

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Minnie Riperton, Black Women, and Breast Cancer

Did Minnie Riperton die needlessly of breast cancer? Many black women do It’s been more than 30 years since she died of breast cancer, but African-American singer Minnie Riperton is one artist whose 1975 hit single “Lovin’ You,” will continue to regale us through the years.

That, and her extraordinary five-and-a-half octave vocal range.

Diagnosed with breast cancer in January 1976, Riperton was one of the first celebrities to go public with her diagnosis. She later went on to become a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society, and in 1978, she received the American Cancer Society’s Courage Award, presented to her at the White House by President Jimmy Carter. She died at age 31 on July 12, 1979.

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