Food and Drug Administration Warns Consumers Not to Eat Rocky Ford Cantaloupes From Jensen Farms

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has confirmed the contamination of Colorado Cantaloupe fruit under the trade names Rocky Ford and Jensen Farms. The FDA says that it found Listeria monocytogenes in samples of Jensen Farms’ Rocky Ford-brand cantaloupe taken from a Denver-area store and on samples taken from equipment and cantaloupe at the Jensen Farms’ packing facility. Tests confirmed that the Listeria monocytogenes found in the samples matches one of the three different strains of Listeria monocytogenes associated with the multi-state outbreak of listeriosis.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Calls For Change in Americans' Diet To Lower Risk

The agency says that this is the first study to examine, using a nationally representative sample, the association between mortality and people's usual intake of sodium and potassium. The study analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a survey designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults in the United States. Usual intake of sodium and potassium is based on dietary recall.

The CDC says Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vectorborne illness (or disease transmitted to humans by ticks, mosquitoes or fleas) in the United States, with nearly 30,000 confirmed cases reported in 2009. Between 1992 and 2009, the reported annual number of Lyme disease cases more than tripled, with children most at risk for the disease. Children are more at risk because they spend more time playing outdoors and in high grass or leaves, where the ticks that spread Lyme disease are found, says the agency.

One third of stethoscopes worn by arriving EMS professionals (of 50) tested positive for MRSA, according to UMDNJ. The finding was a surprise. "I thought maybe one percent of stethoscopes would be infected," said Dr. Mark Merlin, chair of the Mobile Intensive Care Unit Advisory Committee for the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, who led the study.

The search for the source of growth in reported MRSA infections at hospitals has focused on the medical centers but this data may point to ambulance crews, paramedics and EMTs as unintentional carriers. MRSA infections have been on the rise within the last decade and many blame hospitals, Merlin said. "But it may be acquired before hospitalization," he added.

Some data from the study was startling. "Of the 50 stethoscopes, 16 had MRSA colonization and the same number couldn’t remember the last time their stethoscopes were cleaned," said Merlin, who also is medical director of Emergency Medical Services at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.

The hospital's chief nursing officer says several factors are at work including an aging workforce, career changes, and the long hours.