Scientists Appendix protects good germs
Sat, 06 Oct 2007 05:54:42 GMTBy SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON - Some scientists think they have figured out the real job of the troublesome and seemingly useless appendix: It produces and protects good germs for your gut. That's the theory from surgeons and immunologists at Duke University Medical School, published online in a scientific journal this week.
For generations the appendix has been dismissed as superfluous. Doctors figured it had no function, surgeons removed them routinely, and people live fine without them.
And when infected the appendix can turn deadly. It gets inflamed quickly and some people die if it isn't removed in time. Two years ago, 321,000 Americans were hospitalized with appendicitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The function of the appendix seems related to the massive amount of bacteria populating the human digestive system, according to the study in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. There are more bacteria than human cells in the typical body. Most of it is good and helps digest food.
But sometimes the flora of bacteria in the intestines die or are purged. Diseases such as cholera or amoebic dysentery would clear the gut of useful bacteria. The appendix's job is to reboot the digestive system in that case.
The appendix "acts as a good safe house for bacteria," said Duke surgery professor Bill Parker, a study co-author. Its location — just below the normal one-way flow of food and germs in the large intestine in a sort of gut cul-de-sac — helps support the theory, he said.
Also, the worm-shaped organ outgrowth acts like a bacteria factory, cultivating the good germs, Parker said.
That use is not needed in a modern industrialized society, Parker said. If a person's gut flora dies, they can usually repopulate it easily with germs they pick up from other people, he said. But before dense populations in modern times and during epidemics of cholera that affected a whole region, it wasn't as easy to grow back that bacteria and the appendix came in handy.
In less developed countries, where the appendix may be still useful, the rate of appendicitis is lower than in the U.S., other studies have shown, Parker said.
He said the appendix may be another case of an overly hygienic society triggering an overreaction by the body's immune system.
Even though the appendix seems to have a function, people should still have them removed when they are inflamed because it could turn deadly, Parker said. About 300 to 400 Americans die of appendicitis each year, according to the CDC.
Five scientists not connected with the research said that the Duke theory makes sense and raises interesting questions.
The idea "seems by far the most likely" explanation for the function of the appendix, said Brandeis University biochemistry professor Douglas Theobald. "It makes evolutionary sense."
The theory led Gary Huffnagle, a University of Michigan internal medicine and microbiology professor, to wonder about the value of another body part that is often yanked: "I'll bet eventually we'll find the same sort of thing with the tonsils."
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On the Net:
The Journal of Theoretical Biology:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00225193
Study Flu shot cuts elders death risk
Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:44:50 GMTPORTLAND, Ore. - Flu season is almost here, and a new study finds that skipping that annual flu shot could have serious consequences for older people.
The 10-year study of seniors included those from the Portland area. It found that vaccination against influenza was associated with a 27 percent decrease in the risk of hospitalization for influenza or pneumonia — a common complication of the flu. The risk of death fell 48 percent.
The report was in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.
Roughly 60 percent of adults older than 65 are vaccinated against influenza each year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, well below the national goal of 90 percent.
Manufacturers have shipped more than 400,000 doses of influenza vaccine to Oregon, and health officials want high-risk groups to protect themselves against the virus.
The elderly are more at risk of serious complications from the flu because they are more likely to suffer from chronic lung or heart problems, said Gary Oxman, health officer for Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties.
"For people with existing lung or heart disease," Oxman said, "the flu can produce enough of a compromise in the ability to get oxygen that it can lead to heart problems or respiratory failure."
An estimated 450 Oregonians die of influenza each year, according to the Oregon Department of Human Services' Public Health Division. Each year, between 5 percent and 20 percent of the U.S. population gets the flu, and about 36,000 people die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC recommends seeking vaccinations in October or November.
Influenza, a contagious respiratory disease caused by a virus that changes year to year, is characterized by high fever, headache, sore throat, cough and muscle aches. It can be spread through contact with an infected person a day before that person experiences any symptoms, and it is contagious for as long as five days after symptoms appear.
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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com
Ark. officials promote getting flu shots
Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:44:42 GMTBy PEGGY HARRIS, Associated Press Writer
LITTLE ROCK - As cooler weather approaches, Arkansas health officials are stressing the importance of flu shots to two groups in particular — young children and pregnant women.
The two groups are among those most threatened by the virus, as are the elderly and those with heart trouble, diabetes, weakened immune systems or other serious health problems.
But young children are the main "distributors" of influenza, said Dr. James Phillips, branch chief of infectious diseases for the state Health Department. They shed the highly contagious virus in greater amounts and for longer periods of time, so the agency is hoping to vaccinate more children this season, ages 6 months to 5.
In addition, the deaths of three pregnant women in Arkansas from the flu last season impressed upon officials the importance of getting the word out that flu shots can save lives.
The flu vaccine poses no danger to a woman's pregnancy or the baby, Phillips said. In the three cases last season, the babies survived while their mothers got fatally sick. "And that, of course, is a very sad and preventable situation," Phillips said.
Phillips said obstetricians this year have undertaken a deliberate campaign to try to get more pregnant women vaccinated for the flu.
A person can get the virus any time of the year, but the greatest number of cases occur from mid-December to early March. Phillips said the importance of the flu shot is reflected in the number of deaths each year, which varies greatly depending on the number of people vaccinated and the virulence of the organism.
"What kind of year we're going to have is impossible to predict," he said.
The department provided figures Friday by calendar year, instead of by flu season. The state recorded four deaths in 2001; nine in 2002; 33 in 2003; seven in 2004; 14 in 2005; nine in 2006, including one of the three pregnant women; and seven so far this year, including the two other pregnant women.
Unlike the 2004-05 flu season, when the country experienced a shortage of flu vaccines, Phillips said, there is plenty this year. Arkansas will receive about 220,000 doses; general distribution to the public health clinics begins in November. Around the second weekend of that month, the Health Department is planning a mass vaccination program in every county, Phillips said. Children who are not insured or who are underinsured receive the vaccine for free; otherwise, the charge is $20, up from $15 last season.
The agency recommends that healthy adults, ages 50 and older, get a flu shot each year. Those older than 65 fall in a high-risk group, with the risk increasing dramatically every year after that, Phillips said.
Friday, Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, 58, got his annual flu shot from a St. Vincent visiting nurse. The Visiting Nurses Association is offering to schedule flu clinics for businesses.
Phillips said a flu shot should provide protection for both influenza A and influenza B, a milder organism. The effectiveness will depend on how soon exposure to the virus occurs after a person gets a shot.
"It's a crap shoot because you don't know really when the season is going to start," Phillips said.
Besides a flu shot, avoiding people who have flu symptoms helps reduce the risk of getting the virus, although a person can be contagious a day before developing the symptoms. The symptoms include sore throat, stuffy nose, fever, and muscle aches.
A person with the flu should not visit the elderly or work in a nursing home, he said. Child-care and health-care workers should get flu shots.
Sams Club beef recalled after illnesses
Sat, 06 Oct 2007 20:36:35 GMTMINNEAPOLIS - The Sam's Club warehouse chain has pulled a brand of ground beef patties from its shelves nationwide after four children who ate the food, produced by Cargill Inc., developed E. coli illness.
Cargill asked customers to return any remaining patties purchased after Aug. 26 to the store or destroy them.
The children became ill between Sept. 10 and Sept. 20 after eating ground beef patties that were bought frozen under the name American Chef's Selection Angus Beef Patties from three Sam's Club stores in the Twin Cities area.
Sam's Club voluntarily removed the product from its stores nationwide after the illnesses were reported, the company said.
"We can't be certain that meat from other stores is not involved, since the brand ... was likely sold at other Sam's Club locations," said Heidi Kassenborg, acting director of the dairy and food inspection division of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
Cargill, based in Wayzata, Minn., is one of the nation's largest privately held companies and makes food ingredients, moves commodities around the world and runs financial commodities trading businesses.
The patties were produced by Cargill and had an expiration date of Feb. 12, 2008, Sam's Club said in a statement. They were coded UPC 0002874907056 Item #700141.
Cargill spokesman Mark Klein said the company has been cooperating with the state Department of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to determine the scope of the issue.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is working with the federal Agriculture Department to determine the source of the contamination.
Cargill learned of the issue Friday, when a compliance officer from the federal Agriculture Department visited the company's ground beef facility in Butler, Wis., Klein said. Officials had traced the patties to that plant.
Two of the children were hospitalized; one remains in the hospital and the other has been discharged, the Health Department said.
Symptoms of E. coli illness include stomach cramps and diarrhea. People typically are ill for two to five days but can develop complications including kidney failure. People who have developed such symptoms should contact their doctor, the Health Department said.
Sam's Club warehouse is owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, based in Bentonville, Ark.
The Cargill recall comes on the heels of Elizabeth, N.J.-based Topps Meat Co.'s recall of 21.7 million pounds of ground beef amid E. coli concerns. The recall — the second-largest beef recall in U.S. history — caused Topps on Friday to announce that it's going out of business.
The source of the E. coli contamination at Topps is still being investigated, but USDA spokeswoman Sharon Randle said Saturday that the Cargill and Topps cases are not related.
