Snip: UBURN, Maine -- More than 100 people in the Auburn area are being tested for tuberculosis on Tuesday. Last week, the Maine Bureau of Health confirmed that an Edward Little High School student had been diagnosed as having the respiratory disease. That student will spend the next few weeks taking antibiotics to fight the infection.Health officials are asking anyone who came in contact with the student to be tested.
Norovirus infects dozens of golf club diners in Sammamish
Snippets: A norovirus that often infects travelers on cruise ships sickened dozens of people who ate at the same private golf club in Sammamish over Easter weekend. Dawn McCutcheon said she got sick after she ate at the Plateau Golf Club. She ended up at the emergency room.
She was also told that at least 30 people fell ill after dinner there Saturday and Easter brunch Sunday, along with four staff members. No one else was hospitalized.
Nurse fined for not properly sterilizing surgical instrument
Snip: Anyone who has had gastric bypass surgery at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla may be at risk of having hepatitis or HIV, 10News reported.
For more than a year a nurse at Scripps La Jolla was not properly sterilizing a surgical instrument called a gastroscope. Nearly 300 patients who had surgery with that nurse are being offered blood-disease screening tests.
Leprosy in America - new cause for concern
Snippets: A new case of leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, is diagnosed somewhere in the world every 60 seconds, but in the United States outbreaks remain rare. Only about 130 new cases are discovered each year, mostly among immigrants from areas such as Mexico, India or the Caribbean, where the disease is more widespread.
“It’s creeping into the U.S.,” said Dr. William Levis, head of the New York Hansen’s Disease Clinic. “This is a real phenomenon. It’s a public health threat. New York is endemic now, and nobody’s noticed.”
Tracking leprosy among immigrants can be difficult, but leprosy is already endemic in Texas, and numbers are rising in New York and California--all states with high immigrant populations. Dr. Levis said he believes America could be on the brink of an epidemic similar to those that swept Brazil and led to the country becoming a global leprosy hotspot.
Armadillos are the only animal besides humans that can get leprosy.