E.Coli — What to Look For

Just about the time one thinks there are no threats of E. coli sicknesses, the news explodes with new cases and sources. In September, 2014 news has come out regarding E. coli cases on the Pacific Northwest in Oregon and Washington (Pacific Northwest Children) and the south in Kentucky (Five Kentucky Children) Two of the children in the Pacific Northwest, and five children in Kentucky all are suffering from kidney disease that is usually caused by E. coli, hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). This disease can cause kidney failure and the need for dialysis and can occur after two days to two weeks of E. coli infection.

E. coli is bacteria found in water or food, with the ability to transfer via drinking unpasteurized milk or eating undercooked meat. Raw sprouts and produce have also been culprits. It can be passed along through person to person (i.e. hand) contact when hands are not washed after using the bathroom or changing a diaper. It caused an infection that can be fatal, especially in children or the older population. It often takes much time to track down the source of a new outbreak of E. coli concentrated to specific areas of the country. For instance, in Oregon it was first thought that three of the stricken children had all eaten at the same restaurant, something that strikes fear in any restaurant owner, but that restaurant was ruled out and it was released that the children all attended the same birthday party at a park, played in the same pond, were around a goat and other animals, and all ate watermelon and cupcakes purchased at the same store. Even when the goat droppings in common tested positively for E. coli, investigators were still unable to pinpoint whether it was the same strain the children suffered.

With the variety of possible sources of E. coli the average person might be wondering what to look for in regards to the infection’s symptoms in order to err on the side of safety. First, know that children, especially those younger than 5, are the most likely to be infected and display symptoms. Elderly people, when stricken by such an infection, can also suffer severe repercussions from E. coli. The biggest symptom is diarrhea, which can go from watery to bloody. Fever is another symptom, although less prevalent. The signs that an individual has developed the kidney disease of HUS include fatigue, less urination, slow or dulled responsiveness, limb swelling, or unusual bruising. When in full effect, HUS can cause symptoms of seizures, altered mental status, confusion, severe fatigue, dehydration, and neurological issues (Signs and Symptoms). It is imperative that when an individual suspects E. coli infection, an E. coli test is specifically requested when presenting to a medical provider, as many providers will not order one even when a patient is experiencing extremely serious diarrhea symptoms. Such tests require a stool sample from the patient that is sent to a laboratory to test for a poison produced by harmful E. coli strains, shiga toxin, and it is also recommended that labs do the additional culture test to check for E. coli bacteria.

There could be some help on the horizon for those suffering from E. coli infections. Harvard University is working on a device that would work just like the human spleen to fight deadly pathogens, including E. coli, but also including Ebola and others. This device is called the biospleen and can filter infected blood by utilizing magnetic nanobeads coated with human protein that has been specifically genetically engineered to fight pathogens. The patient gets cleansed blood from the device and could be an important turn of events in the fight against pathogens, such as E. coli, that fight the person’s natural immune system. A timeline has not been given for its possible use, but experimental studies with rats have seen success, with 89% of rats treated with the device surviving.
If you suspect an E. coli infection, do not hesitate to present to your medical provider and be very assertive in requesting E. coli tests. You may also need to consult with a well-respected law firm to find out what compensation may be due as a result of an E. coli infection and its effects.

 

IF YOU HAVE A DEFECTIVE VAGINAL MESH IMPLANT, YOU NEED TO ACT NOW!

If you have not seen a commercial on television for transvaginal mesh claims, it could be argued you have been living in a cave somewhere, as the medical complications from the use of transvaginal mesh are extremely serious and on the rise. Transvaginal mesh has been used for over a decade to treat females who have conditions related to sagging internal organs pressing upon the uterus. This condition occurs, mostly in middle-aged or older women who had pregnancies and causes Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) and also Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI). Transvaginal mesh was never intended to be used as a permanent treatment, but it’s been used frequently due to it only requiring a laparoscopic insertion versus a more invasive surgery.

Transvaginal mesh has caused serious medical complications, including entanglement in the bowels and other organs after it moves, as well as protrusion through the wall of the uterus. It has not only caused serious internal injury to the female who had the insertion, but also to the sexual partner who can often feel the mesh protrusion during intercourse. The material causes extreme pain and can sometimes be corrected with a revision surgery and sometimes cannot be corrected. When a patient is unable to have a revision surgery, lifelong chronic pain can ensue. Even when the mesh has been removed, many patients are experiencing continued pain symptoms surgeons attribute to nerve damage done by the material while it is still inserted.

The FDA has yet to order a recall, but is requiring that the producers of transvaginal mesh products do rigorous testing, normally seen prior to the introduction of a product on the market not as an afterthought.

One only has to speak to the victims of transvaginal mesh side effects, and their partners, to understand this material is medically dangerous, causes severe pain, and is hurtful to a patient’s intimate relationships given the inability to engage in intimacy without pain to both partners (Loss of Consortium). If a medical provider suggests this material be used in your own procedure, get educated and do not be afraid to ask questions. If you are a person already affected by transvaginal mesh complications, do not hesitate to contact a well-respected personal injury law firm experienced and involved in taking the fight to the Courts to compensate the injured and help get these products off the market for permanent use.

Get Up Off Your Chair

A surprising story has come out from the Mayo Clinic declaring that sitting all day is as dangerous as smoking. Even more surprising is the fact that being a regular exerciser does not erase the effects of sitting too much. Lots of exercise does not negate the effects of smoking, and neither does it cancel out the effects of sitting. The researcher, Dr. James Levin, found that nine hours of sitting on the job, whether you are obese or thin, fit or unfit, can be a lethal disease trigger. In a world where technology is lending to long commutes and office jobs being king, sitting can lead to early death as much as smoking does.
Studies indicate that health conditions such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity are a bigger risk to extended sitters due to miniscule calorie burning and the fall of enzymes that help rid your arteries of lipids and triglycerides while upping good cholesterol levels. The human body was created to move during waking hours, and extended sitting brings tight and overstretched muscles. People either have active jobs and become couch potatoes once they are off work or they have inactive jobs and get in a daily sweat session of at least sixty minutes. Neither individual is less at risk than the other. One cannot ride a bike 40 miles or run a 10K and hope that it will not hurt them to sit in the nearest lounge chair or office chair for the remainder of the day. In fact, such a person will be more prone to injury in addition to the disease already discussed.
In the interest of individual and work safety, get up and move often. Since most offices are not going to purchase treadmill work stations, it is in the interest of healthy employees to allow them to get up and move for as little as a couple of minutes at a time. If an individual, on the job and off the job, takes short walk breaks throughout the day, risks go down for disease and injury. This is good for productivity, health, and reducing health costs in our modern world.

 

Advances in the Diagnosis of Head Injuries

Traumatic brain injuries have come to the forefront in our nation as of late and often attributed to blows to the head during sports, such as football, from Peewee football on up to the National Football League. Traumatic brain injuries are also caused by motor vehicle accident injuries, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stating these crashes rank third in the causes of traumatic brain injuries, representing 14% of those not ending in death, considering all age groups across the board. Since it can take days or even weeks for symptoms of a traumatic brain injury to become noticeable, and an injury best diagnosed immediately after occurrence, many accident victims are not conclusively diagnosed and treated properly.

When medical providers have enough suspicion of traumatic brain injury to warrant a diagnostic work-up, the first things often ordered are a brain computed tomography scan (CT) or perhaps a brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Read more

It’s Not Only Drivers that Cause Vehicular Accidents

Recently a relatively surprising accident came out in the Massachusetts news when, on Route 95, an axe flew off a landscaping truck and landed halfway through the passenger side of a car’s windshield traveling behind the truck. An alarming photo shows the axe point stopped at the dashboard, not much more than a foot from the legs of the passenger. Thankfully for this particular passenger, the car was driving at the posted speed limit, as a faster speed could have sent the axe through the windshield to cause serious possible bodily harm. While safety conscious motorists often consider the possibilities of accidents caused by another guy’s vehicle, they often do not consider flying objects from the other guy’s vehicle or even the inside of their own vehicles.

Since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates 51,000 (2010) motor vehicle accidents have been caused by a vehicle versus an object, this is a serious matter to the cargo carrier and the motorist. With that in mind, are there laws that protect motorists from incidents such as the flying axe accident? Read more

Danger with Xarelto

Bayer and Johnson and Johnson manufacture Xarelto. Xarelto is an anticoagulant drug used to reduce the risk of blood clots and strokes. These newer direct thrombin inhibitors, Xarelto and Pradaxa,  drugs are heavily marketed, with direct to consumer advertising, as a replacement for Coumadin, or Warfarin, which has been the standard anti-coagulation therapy for the past 30 years.

Xarelto, Pradaxa and other newer anticoagulants have no reversal agent. Doctors use vitamin K and plasma to reverse any bleeding problems with Warfarin. Unfortunately, no antidote is available for the direct thrombin inhibitors. It is impossible to prevent serious injury or death if patients suffer bleeding problems.  The lack of antidote is where the danger lies with Xarelto.

The Unintended Dangers of Prescription Painkillers

Every day there are forty-six deaths in the United States attributable to a prescription overdose. In 2011 alone, 16,917 overdose deaths involved opioid pain relievers, with 31% of the deaths including benzodiazepine sedatives as well (CDC WONDER, unpublished data, 2014). In 2012, health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for opioid painkillers. Although many injuries and medical conditions require pain medication as treatment, prescription drug overdose has become an epidemic in the United States according to the Center of Disease Control Director Thomas Frieden. Prescriptions have increased 400 percent in the last decade. Nebraska has the third lowest drug mortality rate in the United States, however does little to curb prescription drug abuse.

One reason there is such a problem with overdosing on prescription drugs is overprescribing. Unfortunately prescription opioid abuse kills twice as many people as heroin and cocaine combined, and new studies suggest that 3 out of 4 people with a dependence on heroin began with prescription painkillers. Some states have begun to institute a prescription drug monitoring program in order to deal with the problem. In 2013, New York saw a 75 percent decline in the number of patients obtaining painkillers from multiple subscribers after instituting a monitoring program.

If you have an injury requiring prescription drugs, you can avoid falling into the addiction which leads to overdose by taking your medication exactly the way it is prescribed.  Read more

Should I Stop & Render Aid to Accident Victims?

 

We have all done it.  We see someone who has had an accident and needs help.  We stop and offer assistance.  Do we have to stop and render aid?  Can we get into any trouble if we do not?  What if we stop and render aid and do something wrong?  If you actually are involved in the accident, you must stop, ascertain the identity of all involved, identify yourself and render reasonable assistance to any injured persons including ensuring injured persons obtain transport to a physician for medical or surgical treatment if it is apparent such treatment is necessary or requested by an injured person.  Neb. Rev. Stat. §60-697.   If you fail to stop and render aid, you risk  Read more

The Three Most Common Car Accident Injuries

One in every 46 Nebraska drivers will be involved in an automobile accident each year, according to the Nebraska Department of Highway Safety.  The most common automobile accident injury is neck strain, commonly referred to as “whiplash”.  Neck strain injuries often occur as a result of the impact felt when a vehicle is rear-ended.  Upon impact, the force of the rear vehicle reaches the driver causing the head of the driver to snap forward and then backwards.  Neck strain caused by this type of injury is often accompanied by other symptoms, Read more

Severe Bleeding Risk Linked to Xarelto

One of the newest blood thinners on the market, Xarelto, has been added to the list of drugs with dangerous side effects.  Xarelto was approved in 2011 as a potentially safer alternative to Warfarin, as Xarelto does not require regular blood monitoring or frequent doctor follow up.  Unfortunately, Xarelto has now shown to be on the same dangerous path as other blood thinners which have severe and lethal risks.  Xarelto was originally prescribed to prevent stroke or blood clots in patients suffering from atrial fibrillation and to reduce the risk of blood clots in patients undergoing knee or hip replacement surgery.  Xarelto was expanded in 2012 to allow the drug to be used as a treatment for deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism.  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received reports of dangerous blood clots, caused by uncontrollable bleeding.  Patients who have suffered side effects from this drug can experience high medical debt from emergency visits to the hospital and the costs of ongoing care, as well as lost wages from time away from work.

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