respublica

Health Care reality

 Health insurance is not healthcare.

Gosnell: no aberration

A new USAToday column by Kirsten Powers who almost single handedly, with help from Mollie Ziegler, made other news outlets look at the Gosnell abortion clinic.  At least they looked quickly out of the corner of their eyes. We need this conversation, we need people to look closely at what is actually happening. Who benefits in places like this, places that health departments have not inspected. Places nightmares are made of.

Maybe we haven't had this conversation because the reality is easier to live with if we don't look too closely.

Kirsten Powers is one of the honorable people in our media.

 

Measles?

A story in Slate about a measles outbreak in Wales due mainly to families not giving children the vaccine over fears that the vaccine might be a cause of autism. What struck me in the story was the list of dire things that can happen if a child has the measles.

"On average about 1 in 1,000 people who contract it will die. Even those who don’t die have a terrible time of it. One in 20 children with measles gets pneumonia. One in 10 gets an ear infection. One in 1,000 gets encephalitis, which can lead to brain damage."

Wow. Admittedly, I'm older than most online bloggers and reporters, but in my day everyone got measles as a child. We all got chicken pox and mumps as well. They were pretty much standard childhood illnesses. Actually there were at least two types of measles we all came down with, the two week kind and the three day kind. I seem to remember one being named German Measles. In any event the most common fear was of blindness (if memory serves) so we were kept in a dark or dim room for the duration. Measles were itchy and rashy but otherwise we felt fine.I clearly remember my bout with the 3 day measles, spending my time on the back porch watching the other kids in the neighborhood play in our plastic swimming pool. I also listened to Red Skelton on the radio. What a memory.

Never heard of anyone who died of it or ended up with major complications.

The advent of our own children brought the vaccine and neither they or any of their classmates ever had any of those illnesses so I'm not cavalier about the importance of prevention.

7 health problems eased by exercise

1. Anxiety

2. Daytime sleepiness

3. Back pain

4. Low sex drive

5. Food Cravings

6. Weak immune system

7. Hot flashes

Just like a bit of chocolate or a glass of wine, exercise is good for you.

Salad more dangerous than a hamburger

Now right off the top, I have to interject, using the word dangerous with the word hamburger seems unfair. Is it because of the calorie content or the possibility of food poisoning? It doesn't say.

Demand for salad has boomed because of healthily eating campaigns. But salad is considered one of the products most likely to cause food-related illness – largely because greens are grown directly in the soil, and some pathogens can only be killed by heat or strong detergents, not just water.

Certain types of bacteria found in the pre-cut salad bags can be almost impossible to kill, Professor Hugh Pennington said, unless the leaves are irradiated – a process the public would oppose.

When specific retailers were included in the analysis, the strongest association with infection was found to be with consumption of ready to eat pre-cut mixed salad leaves from a major supermarket chain.

First off, it may be best to stay away from those bagged salads, they're too expensive anyway and the greens aren't as fresh as buying a whole head of whatever type of lettuce you prefer. Sure you'll have to wash and tear them into pieces but it's a small price to pay. Buy a simple salad spinner and you're halfway done.

Bee venom and HIV

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered that nanoparticles carrying a toxin found in bee venom can destroy human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while leaving surrounding cells unharmed.

More to come on this I'm sure but it looks like it could be very good news.

Poor Jake

He's suffering from RSV-Respiratory Syncytial Virus infection-which has had him pretty darn sick since last Saturday. This virus, which we never heard of when our kids were young, was first named in 1956 and resembles a bad chest cold but gets into the lungs much deeper. This is a very contagious virus and with older kids it usually takes the form of a bad cold, but with babies it can be much more serious.

With Jake the RSV took the form of initial congestion then added a spiking fever, and yesterday the doctor discovered he has also developed an ear infection. He now has antibiotics for the ear infection which I believe may help everything else. Although antibiotics are not prescribed for viruses, the secondary ear infection qualifies and could well help the fever. He also got a lung nebulizer to help the lung congestion and last night was his first go at it.

It's so hard to see a baby suffer and be scared of that contraption, but I feel better after talking to a friend of ours whose son had RSV as a baby. She said that the crying actually helps move the medication in the nebulizer deep into the lungs where it needs to go. 

Hopefully today will be better and tomorrow more so.

Ferdie's annual checkup

We went to Nothgate Animal Hospital this morning to get Ferdie's physical and shots for the year. He enjoys his trips to the vet and visiting with Dr. Edgar.

While we waited for our turn, he eyed a cat in a carrier.

Then he did a little 'window shopping' at the display shelf. He was quite interested in the book on dogs, thought it might be nice to have for reading during the coming ice storm.

But the best of all is knowing Dr. Edgar is coming through that door. She's so nice and complimentary to him. He needed the bordetella and parvo vaccines and that's about it since he's on the 3 year plan for rabies and distemper. 

Beer! It's what's healthy!

A study out of Granada University in Spain found that beer is a better liquid to replenish fluids after a workout than water. Beer retains fluid better than water and that the bubbles helped quench thirst and the carbohydrates made up for lost calories. Of course if you are working out to burn calories then, well, better stick to water.

The results don't actually surprise me because over the years beer always was a better hydrator after cutting grass on hot summer days than a glass of water. Felt better, bounced back from the heat better.

Beware of your reusable grocery bags

It's become a mantra in many cities and among average shoppers in recent years: Ban or stop using those nasty plastic grocery bags because they harm the environment. Use the fabric bags with various logos on them to tote your food home. We'll all feel better if we do this.

Well, maybe we won't be feeling better because:

"There is evidence (however) that reusable grocery bags, a common substitute for plastic bags, contain potentially harmful bacteria. We examine emergency room admissions related to these bacteria in the wake of the San Francisco ban. We find ER visits spiked when the ban went into effect. Relative to other counties, ER admissions increase by at least one fourth, and deaths exhibit a similar increase."

No area municipality bans the plastic grocery bags in the St. Louis area that I know of but before any city officials do consider banning them, they may want to do some investigating. When you think about it, which we really haven't, it seems obvious food bacteria would be in those permanent bags as so many fresh foods often leak from their packaging and co mingle with other foods. Then you take that bag out a few days later and set new food in the germy bag.

And I just bought a new bag to take along to the store. :(