Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Taylor Farms Recalls Products Containing Jalapeños Over Salmonella Fears
Taylor Farms is pulling more than a dozen prepared food items containing jalapeños, including salsas and guacamole, from retailers due to concerns over salmonella, just weeks after federal health officials tied the produce company to a separate outbreak of cyclospora. (Rivera and Peterson, 8/9)
Health Secretary Robert. F. Kennedy Jr.’s call for Americans to “eat real food” to combat chronic illness is being tested by a parasite that’s driving consumers away from fresh produce. The spread of cyclospora, a parasite that can cause explosive diarrhea, is prompting people to reconsider their fresh food choices just as Kennedy launches a cooking show that he says is “intended to show families how to cook delicious, nutritious meals with real ingredients at affordable prices.” (Brown and Gardner, 8/8)
ϳԹ News: ϳԹ News’ ‘On Air’: Journalists Cover Cyclospora And Measles Outbreaks, And Changing Health Policies
Céline Gounder, ϳԹ News’ editor-at-large for public health, discussed the cyclosporiasis outbreak on CBS News’ CBS Mornings on Aug. 5. Gounder discussed New Mexico’s measles outbreak on CBS News 24/7’s The Daily Report on Aug. 4. She also discussed peptides on Ideastream Public Media/WKSU’s Sound of Ideas on Aug. 3. (8/8)
On Vibrio, Legionnaire's, tuberculosis, measles, and Ebola —
Louisiana health officials are urging residents to take precautions against a flesh-eating bacterial infection following the deaths of five people this year. The Louisiana Department of Health issued a warning about the infection, known as Vibrio vulnificus, in a press release on Thursday. (Lavietes, 8/7)
No details are known other than the patient was over 60 and the infection was reported in late May or late June. There have been 14 cases of the flesh-eating bacteria in Florida this year. (Mayer, 8/9)
The High Line Hotel in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood has tested positive for the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease, according to the hotel workers’ union. The report comes about a week after the department said there was no longer an elevated risk of Legionnaires’ disease from an unrelated Upper East Side outbreak that killed seven people and sickened scores of others. (Ambaye, 8/7)
It’s been six weeks since local and state health officials trying to investigate a case of tuberculosis at the immigration detention facility in Aurora last heard from the GEO Group, the private contractor operating the center for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That’s despite repeated, ongoing efforts from local investigators to learn more about how many people were exposed to the potentially fatal infectious disease in the crowded facility and where those people are now. (Ingold, 8/7)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today confirmed 94 new measles infections—most of them in Pennsylvania—bringing the US total for the year to 2,465, the agency said in its weekly update. The numbers likely provide additional data to move the United States toward losing its measles elimination status this year. (Wappes, 8/7)
The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo may appear to worsen in the coming weeks as health officials dramatically expand their search for infections that have gone undetected. Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and its partners are shifting from conventional contact tracing toward door-to-door case finding in the hardest-hit areas, where widespread community transmission means almost anyone could have been exposed. (Gale, 8/10)
