The 23rd Annual Advances in the Management of Infectious Diseases
will assist internists, family physicians, pediatricians, primary care
practitioners, pharmacists and other health care personnel in updating
their clinical knowledge of the practical aspects of diagnosis, treatment,
and prevention of common community-acquired infections.
N. Cary Engleberg, MD Foodborne Infections: Recent Outbreaks and Trends.
10:00 Preventing the Spread of Resistant Nosocomial Pathogens.
John M. Boyce, MD Diagnostic Dilemmas in Nursing Home Patients.
8:00 Nosocomial Pneumonia: Empiric Therapy or Pathogen-Directed Therapy.
Fernando J. Martinez, MD New and Upcoming Antibacterial Agents.
es,I will be attending the Thursday evening reception.
NSfoodsafety
I feel close to farmers partly because of the time spend on
summer holidays visiting with my father's brother, a beef farmer in the
Ottawa Valley.
The Canadian Health Coalition is an Ottawa-based lobby group working to
improve Canada's public health system.
Food safety issues have featured more prominently in our work since the
federal government moved to a model of self-regulation and risk management
for the food industry in 1997 with the creation of the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency.
Page 2 of 10 Finally, I'll conclude with some comments about how and why
farmers should reject the high-tech approach of the chemical and biotech
industries and return to a more holistic model of agriculture that 'works
with' rather than 'against' nature and the earth.
sp01trends04
In response to outbreaks of livestock diseases in Europe, the
United States has increased its security when importing certain goods.
Foot-and-mouth disease British livestock were hit hard this year by a
fast-moving outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, or FMD.
By Feb. 25, most of Britain had been declared a contaminated area, and
other European countries were slaughtering thousands of animals imported
from Britain.
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, otherwise know as BSE or "mad cow
disease," is a progressive degenerative disease that affects the
central nervous system of cattle.
Unlike FMD, BSE is a public-health concern due to a possible link between
BSE and 10 cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
The Spring 2001 issue of State Trends is the last.
bse
http://www.in.gov/boah/pdfs/bse.pdf CJD strikes people worldwide at an average of one in 1 million,
regardless of the presence of BSE or Scrapie.
Animals may show inco-ordinated a ggression a nationwide BSE surveillance
pro g Beginning in early 1991, producers renderers were asked not to include
sheep sheep by-products with other materials rendering.
By testing every cow showin g BSE-like symptom Scientifically evaluating
all suspect animals i s essential to verifyin g America's free status
(a n catching the disease early, should a case ari s Brain samples, submitted
by a veterinarian f o BSE analysis, are tested free-of-char geatthe Animal
Disease Dia gnostic Laboratories (AD D based at Purdue University.
CWD
Research to date indicates that the main animals CWD affects
are deer and elk.
In response to these findings, importation of elk and several species
of deer has been suspended in Texas.
Chronic wasting disease is probably not a zoonotic disease.
Additionally, do not harvest animals that appear to be sick; do not eat
animals that had signs of CWD.
Otherwise, immediately contact the nearest Wildlife Division or Law Enforcement
Division office of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) or call
the TPWD headquarters in Austin toll-free at (800) 892-1112 (enter 5 for
wildlife and 1 for general wildlife information).
recall3dec01
http://www.aar.com.au/pubs/pdf/prod/recall3dec01.pdf In brief: As the BSE crisis spreads to Asia, AAR Senior Associate
Jon Downes and lawyer Yvette Holt report on the introduction of BSE Regulations
in Australia.
He also outlined the suggested link between BSE and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob
Disease (vCJD) and the catastrophic effect of the disease on the beef
industry in the UK.
There is little doubt that the potential impact of the spread of BSE through
defective beef products on importers, retailers and consumers could be
catastrophic.
The increase in rates of infection is thought to be linked to the continued
feeding of bone meal to livestock, despite this practice being banned
in many European countries.
33_2_not
http://www.pabulletin.com/secure/data/vol33/33-2/33_2_not.pdf Under the Federal Clean Water Act and The Clean Streams Law,
the following parties have applied for an NPDES permit or to renew their
current permit to discharge controlled wastewaters into the waters of
this Commonwealth or to conduct other activities required by the NPDES
permit.
For renewal applications listed in Section I, the Department of Environmental
Protection (Department) has made a tentative determination to reissue
these permits for 5 years subject to effluent limitations and monitoring
and reporting requirements in their current permits, with appropriate
and necessary updated requirements to reflect new and changed regulations
and other requirements.
This application is for issuance of an NPDES permit to discharge treated
sewage from a sewage treatment plant serving 62 residential homes in Plumstead
Township, Bucks County.
26_e
Bovine BSE (mad cow disease), scrapies in sheep and goats and
Creutzfeld Jacob disease in humans all belong to the TSE diseases.
The concern is to improve the health protection for animals and humans
and to retake the market share for Swiss cattle and beef.
The focal point in 2000 was the introduction of a general meat and bone
meal ban for agricultural domestic animals.
Infectious meat and bone meals are considered to be the most important
infection sources of BSE.
The measures were further strengthened in 1996: animal carcasses and the
specified risk organs brain, spinal cord, tonsils and eyes of cows were
no longer permitted to be processed to meat and bone meal and had to be
incinerated.
pdf32
I've attached correspondence with Biotechnology Australia which
outlines the case specifically in relation to biotechnology.
We, and researchers in the UK (Brian Wynne et al), have found that biotechnology's
technological innovation is deeply embedded in, and contiguous with, the
cultural context in which it happens.
Over the last decade or so, research into the history of science has systematically
exposed how the tacit rhetorical constructions of the social order help
constitute scientific knowledge and how this knowledge helps shape the
social order, in processes of mutual construction of science and societyii
Hence, it is not so much a case of the social impact of the technology,
but the social construction of its innovation into the economy and life
of the nation.
IFTWhyNeedBiotech
Science has been the key to tripling the food production from
the land we were already cropping.
The additional food security produced by higher crop yields and modern
food preservation has even helped slow population growth.
The activists say the world could ease the food challenge by becoming
vegetarian, but the world has never had a voluntarily vegetarian society.
When pressed about biotech dangers, French experts offer only the threat
of new allergens.
If a new biotech product did cause allergies, it would, of course, not
reach commercial markets or would be properly labeled.
Meanwhile, biotech researchers are working to take the natural allergens
out of wheat, milk, and even peanuts.
situation_04_02
http://www.aae.wisc.edu/future/outlook/situation_04_02.pdf In early 2001, milk production was down sharply and still weakening,
a sharp contrast to this year's burgeoning recovery.
Powder buyers have been expecting a significant reduction in the support
purchase price (accompanied by a corresponding boost in the support purchase
price for butter) and minimized their purchases.
On the other hand, commercial use of butter jumped about 9 percent in
January-February.
Nonfat dry milk: Government removals and stocks, 1990-2001 (cont.)
3/ Net removals equal price support purchases plus DEIP removals minus
unrestricted sales.
1/ Net removals equal price support purchases plus DEIP removals minus
unrestricted sales.
Includes DEIP exports of dry whole milk.
Creutzfeldt -Jakob
http://www.pssru.man.ac.uk/Creutzfeldt
-Jakob.pdf Causes of dementia other than Alzheimer's disease There are
many causes of dementia, other than Alzheimer's disease, involving degenerative
disease (shrinkage) of the brain.
Most common among these is frontotemporal dementia, and other important
causes are Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Lewy body dementia, and Huntington's
disease.
The disorder follows a rapid course, patients quickly passing into akinetic
mutism (catatonic state) and dying within 6 to 18 months of onset.
Deposition between the nerve cells of an abnormal form of a protein known
as prion protein, either as small deposits widely scattered through the
brain tissue or as large accumulations called "plaques", especially
in new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
ASF
A generation ago, it was suggested that the time had come to
"close the book" on infectious diseases.
With the availability of a growing arsenal of antibiotics and vaccines,
some policymakers argued that biomedical research resources should be
diverted from infectious diseases to other concerns.
Today, the folly of this position is clear: infectious diseases are the
second leading cause of death and the leading cause of disability-adjusted
life years worldwide (one disability-adjusted life year is one lost year
of healthy life).
"To an unprecedented extent, issues related to infectious diseases
in the context of global health are on the agendas of world leaders, health
policymakers, and philanthropies."
The threat of emerging and re-emerging diseases.
Radakovich
The international market for U.S. beef has grown dramatically
in the past decade to the benefit of beef producers.
In 1990 U.S. beef and beef variety meat exports amounted to 508,109 metric
tons worth $1.88 billion.
There is a perception that the export market is primarily an outlet for
U.S. middle meats, which could be easily consumed domestically.
Japan is our largest market, receiving 44% of total exports on a volume
basis and over 50% on a value basis in 2000.
Because of these food safety scares, consumers around the globe are more
conscious of food safety concerns related to beef than they were.
pandpbooklet
http://www.neym.org/pandpbooklet.pdf And the final set, beginning on p. 9, also by Skip Schiel,
are from the Interfaith Pilgrimage of the Middle Passage, a journey examining
the history and legacy of the African slave trade.
Our concerns may be many, the dialogue complex, but at a very simple level
it comes down to this: We should share the world's concern for globalization
simply because the global economy, as it is being constructed by powerful
transnational corporations, puts profits above choice.
The so-called "blue-green alliance" between blue-collar workers
and environmentalists, which began with the struggle against NAFTA and
captured some imaginations in Seattle, continues to broaden.
