A deadly, drug-resistant yeast infection is spreading around the world
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By LNN
CDC reports nearly 300,000 more deaths in 2020 than were expected
Overall, an estimated 299,028 excess deaths occurred from late January through October 3, 2020, with 198,081 (66%) excess deaths attributed to COVID-19. The largest percentage increases were seen among adults aged 25–44 years and among Hispanic or Latino persons. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6942e2.htm
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By admin
The New York Times reported Saturday morning that an elderly man was admitted to Mount Sinai Hospital’s branch in Brooklyn for abdominal surgery. After getting his blood tested, it was revealed that he was infected with Candida auris, a fungus that was recently discovered but has been identified in patients around the world. The fungus is most deadly to those with already weak immune systems.
The elderly man, who was not named by the Times, was isolated in the intensive care unit, but died 90 days later. What makes his case so frightening is that after his death, doctors tested his room and discovered the fungus was everywhere.
“Everything was positive — the walls, the bed, the doors, the curtains, the phones, the sink, the whiteboard, the poles, the pump,” Dr. Scott Lorin, president of the Brooklyn branch, told the Times. “The mattress, the bed rails, the canister holes, the window shades, the ceiling, everything in the room was positive.”
The hospital had to use “special cleaning equipment” and even had to remove part of the ceiling and floors to get rid of the fungus.
Reports of C. auris have come from Venezuela, Spain, Great Britain, India, Pakistan, and South Africa, according to the Times. In the U.S., patients in Illinois and New Jersey have also been reported, as well as others in New York.
The Centers for Disease Control said it “identified 51 clinical case-patients and 61 screening case-patients” in New York alone. The CDC reported 45% of the clinical case-patients died within 90 days.
Further, in the same study linked above, 98% of the clinical-case patients were resistant to fluconazole, which is used to treat serious fungal infections such as meningitis. The strength and resistance of the infection led the CDC to deem C. auris an “serious threat,” and said it infected 3,400 and caused 220 deaths per year.
The CDC also reported that the median age for the clinical case-patients was 72, but that the ages of those infected ranged from 21 to 96 years. Fifty-one percent of those infected were male, and all patients had “serious concurrent medical conditions,” such as needing “mechanical ventilation or central venous catheters or gastrostomy tubes.”
Infections like C. auris have been able to thrive due to the overuse of antibiotics, the Times reported. Such over-prescribing has reduced the effectiveness of the drugs, allowing once curable bacterial infections to thrive once again. Now, fungal infections are becoming resistant.
Naturally, those most at risk of these “superbugs” are newborns and the elderly, who generally have weaker immune systems.
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By Guest Nicole
Photo: Tara Moore/Getty Images
Sure, your weekday may be on the quieter side — especially if you spend the better part of the day typing away in a cubicle, using Slack instead of your voice to communicate with other people — but how often do you experience true, honest-to-goodness silence?
Not nearly often enough, as it turns out. According to a CDC report released earlier today and highlighted by the Washington Post, our lives are way, way too noisy — noisy enough, in fact, that a disconcertingly high number of Americans are losing their hearing way before old age.
The report analyzed data from the 2011–2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which collected information from a sample of Americans between the ages of 20 and 69. The findings were twofold: First, a significant chunk of people across age groups are suffering from some degree of hearing loss, and second, we’re pretty bad at knowing when it happens to us. As the Post explained:
A quarter of people ages 20 to 69 were suffering some hearing deficits, the CDC reported in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, even though the vast majority of the people in the study claimed to have good or excellent hearing.
The researchers found that 24 percent of adults had “audiometric notches” — a deterioration in the softest sound a person can hear — in one or both ears … The review’s more surprising finding — which the CDC had not previously studied — was that 53 percent of those people said they had no regular exposure to loud noise at work. That means the hearing loss was caused by other environmental factors, including listening to music through headphones with the volume turned up too high.
That last part helps explain another surprising finding: Hearing loss starts a lot earlier than we think it does, affecting roughly one in five people in their 20s. Even short-term exposure to loud noises can do some damage, the Post noted: Spending “14 minutes at a 100-decibel sporting event or two minutes at a 110-decibel rock concert” can have a lasting effect. Just another reminder than everything fun is bad for you. And also that it wouldn’t kill you to lower the volume a little bit.
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By Bible Speaks
Fancy a Fungus?
IN ANCIENT Egypt the Pharaohs prized mushrooms as delicacies. They became the preserve of the royal family.
The Romans called mushrooms food of the gods and served them only on special occasions.
The ancient Greeks held mushroom feasts and believed that mushrooms empowered their warriors for battle.
Today, however, mushrooms are not just for the elite. People all over the world enjoy eating them!
What about you? If you fancy mushrooms, do you know what you are eating? Are mushrooms animals, vegetables, or something else? How are they grown? Are they nutritious? And if you see mushrooms in the wild, what should you do?
Noel, a burly Australian, is a microbiologist and mushroom expert. He studied mushroom cultivation in several countries before returning to Australia to grow them commercially.
“Mushrooms are fungi, a family of organisms that includes mildews and molds,” he explains.
“Biologists formerly thought that fungi were plants, but we now know that they are very different from plants.
“For example, fungi do not make their food through photosynthesis as do nearly all plants. They can grow in the dark.
Their bodies secrete powerful enzymes that convert organic material into basic nutrients, which they absorb as food.
This unique digestive process also distinguishes fungi from animals. Since fungi are neither plants nor animals, biologists now classify them in a realm of their own—the fungi kingdom.”
“In the wild, mature mushrooms release millions of tiny spores that mix with other mushroom spores and germinate,” Noel continues. “If the . . . spores land in a cold, damp place with plenty of food, they can grow into new mushrooms.
Commercial mushroom growers aim to replicate this process using controlled conditions to improve crop yields and quality.”
It can be very dangerous to gather mushrooms in the wild, however.
The death cap mushroom (Amanita phalloides), among others, closely resembles edible varieties yet is deadly. So follow the rule: Never eat mushrooms from the wild unless a mushroom expert identifies them as safe to eat!
Of course, commercially grown varieties are safe to consume. They are, in fact, delicious treats that were once reserved for royalty!
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By Jack Ryan
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Puerto Rico could see "hundreds of thousands of cases of Zika virus." Officials also said the rest of the country needs to be prepared for possible outbreaks. (April 11)
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