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Washing Hands – Is It All That It’s Cracked Up To Be?
By Gideon Eden, PhD For years we have been told by the scientific community that hand washing is a key factor in preventing disease. Since childhood, we have been educated by our parents to wash our hands whenever we may be exposed to microorganisms. We regularly wash our hands before meals, after touching dirty surfaces, after petting animals, and of course after touching sick individuals. Nowadays microbiologists and physicians are regularly appearing in the media to educate the public about the importance of hand washing for the prevention of foodborne and airborne diseases. While the arguments for hands washing do...
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South Africa Has the World’s Largest Listeria Outbreak According to WHO
The Cause Unknown after a Year South Africa is encountering the worst case of listeriosis ever reported, according to WHO (World Health Organization). Currently, there are 727 laboratory-confirmed cases with 67 death reported. The number of cases and the death toll increased significantly since last December when South Africa had 577 cases and 36 deaths. South Africa Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said “When we view statistics of affected people, we note that of all the vulnerable groups, neonates [newborn babies within first 28 days of life] are the worst affected if we analyze it by age group from birth to 93...
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T. Marzetti Buttermilk biscuits sold across the US recalled due to Listeria concerns
The FDA announced that T. Marzetti Company voluntarily recalled a variety of frozen biscuits due to the potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, as a precautionary measure. Twenty-three frozen 12 or 20 count biscuits packs of T. Marzetti biscuit products are being recalled, including: Southern Home Old Fashioned Buttermilk Style Biscuits, Marshall’s and Shur Fine Old Fashioned Southern Style Biscuits, Shur Fine Old Fashioned, Buttermilk Biscuits, Valu Time, Food Club, SE Grocers, Lowes Foods, Laura Lynn, and Southern Home Southern Style Biscuits; Valu Time Buttermilk Style Biscuits, Food Lion Homestyle Buttermilk Biscuits, Food Club, SE Grocers, Piggly Wiggly, Lowes Foods, Premium Pick 5, Morning Fresh Farms,...
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A New Technology Can be Used Instead of Antibiotics to Kill Superbugs
Dr. Timothy Lu, an associate professor in biological engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found a new potential way to kill superbugs with a DNA editor called CRISPR-Cas9. The Wall Street Journalreported that Dr. Lu said: “is is basically a molecular scissor” that can snip bacterial genes that make bacteria drug-resistant, killing the bug in the process. The technology combines bacteriophages and CRISPR-Cas9 to target drug-resistant genes. What is CRISPR? CRISPR is used to edit or delete genes from living cells. “CRISPR” means Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. They are the characteristic of a bacterial defense system that forms the basis for CRISPR-Cas9...