A Hospital Germ on the Warpath

You can take some simple steps to avoid infection

 

 

Grace Voros was 85 and enjoying life, watching her family grow and taking romantic walks with the man she fell in love with 61 years ago, when she took a minor fall. She went to the hospital for an x-ray, where tests confirmed she had no broken bones. But while there, she contracted an infection no one in the family had ever heard about, “C. diff,” and died.

C. diff, short for Clostridium difficile, is raging through hospitals, infecting hundreds of thousands of patients a year. The bacteria contaminate every surface, including bed rails, bed tables, nurses’ uniforms, privacy curtains, faucets and call buttons. When patients touch these surfaces and then pick up food without washing their hands, they ingest the germ. Any patient taking antibiotics who ingests C. diff is in danger of developing severe diarrhea, leading to dehydration, inflammation of the colon and even death.

Routine cleaning isn’t enough to protect you from C. diff. Researchers at Case Western Reserve and the Cleveland VA Medical Center found that after routine cleaning at a hospital, 78 percent of surfaces were still contaminated. To kill the germ, you need to use bleach.

When surfaces are not properly disinfected, the results can be deadly. At Thomas Jefferson Medical Center in Philadelphia, three consecutive patients occupying the same room came down with C. diff. One died.

Staffs at many U.S. hospitals are woefully uninformed about what to do. One study reported that 39 percent of medical personnel didn’t know that C. diff could be spread on stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs and other equipment. About two-thirds of medical staff were unaware they should clean their hands with soap and water, because alcohol sanitizers don’t kill this superbug.

What can you do to protect yourself? Insist that everyone treating you clean their hands before touching you.

Clean your own hands thoroughly before eating. Do not touch your hands to your lips. Do not place your food or utensils on any surface except your plate. Ask family to bring wipes containing bleach to clean the items around your bed.

When you leave the hospital, assume any belongings you bring home are contaminated. Do not mix clothes from the hospital with the family wash; wash with bleach. Regular laundry detergents do not kill C. diff.

If you are visiting someone in the hospital, be careful about eating in the cafeteria or a restaurant where the staff go in their scrubs or uniforms. These uniforms could be covered in invisible superbugs. More than 20 percent of nurses’ uniforms had C. diff on them at the end of a workday, according to one study. Imagine sliding into a restaurant booth after a nurse has left the germ on the table or the seat. You could easily pick it up on your hands and then ingest it with your sandwich.

Poor hospital hygiene and lax practices such as wearing scrubs in public are putting all of us at risk. That’s why I founded RID, the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, so that other families won’t have to go through what Grace Voros’ family suffered.

SOURCE:  http://bulletin.aarp.org/opinions/othervoices/articles/a_hospital_germ_on_the_warpath_.html

I've been with Greenpeace for more than 17 years, and I've never encountered such a dire situation, much less two at the same time.  Your help is critical to prevent two potential devastating tragedies. PLEASE SIGN OUR PEITION BELOW. THANK YOU!!

Amazon Rainforest

The Brazilian government is threatening to weaken the core legal protections for the Amazon, endangering one of the planet's most important ecosystems that helps balance our climate.  In just the last year, we've lost nearly 3 million acres of rainforest in Brazil alone.  Many of the protections we've won for the Amazon rely on Brazil's Forest Code.  Right now, agribusiness is attempting to influence the Brazilian Congress to weaken the Forest Code.  If that happens, we can expect a dramatic increase in deforestation rates, a significant loss of biodiversity, and a massive impact on global warming as carbon stored in the forest is released into the atmosphere.

Take Action NOW >> The need is dire, and a vote may come as early as tomorrow!

Alaska's Bering Sea

We've been warning for years that the Bering Sea's pollock fishery - the world's largest - is suffering from overfishing.  We've been called everything from crazy to exaggerating for making this claim about a fishery that has been held up as a model of sustainability.  But news this month confirms our worst fears.  The pollock population has plummeted by almost 50% in just one year.  Pollock is the very foundation of the Bering Sea's food chain, feeding everything from the endangered Steller Sea Lion to fur seals.  In fact, baby fur seals are already washing up dead in the Pribilof Islands, and scientists hypothesize that their deaths are caused by starvation.

Take Action >> The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council will vote this month to set fishing limits on pollock!

I'll be writing you over the coming month with more ways that you can help us save these amazing places for the wildlife and people who rely on them for survival.  I hope I can depend on you during this crisis.

1. Watch the video 2. Send it to friends and family

The Bush administration isn't about to let democracy or the will of the people stop them from further ruining this country before they leave office. Knowing he can't get his long list of favors to his Republican cronies through Congress, Bush is doing a last minute end-run, jamming as many rules through the executive branch as he can during his waning days in power. These so-called "midnight regulations" will allow factories to pollute more, further restrict women's access to abortion services, cut off aid to needy families in the middle of a recession, and much more -- all without Congress' oversight or approval. It's wrong, it's antidemocratic, but, sadly, it's legal.

When given the opportunity to be "naughty or nice" this holiday season, Bush has clearly opted to go down as one of the naughtiest, most sinister presidents in our nation's history. We've created a satirical spin on the famous poem, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, in order to show President Bush crafting his last-minute agenda for health care, the environment, civil liberties, and labor practices -- rules that will affect everyone and will be difficult for the next administration to overturn. We are using humor here in the hopes that it both commands people's attention and enables us to shine a light on these all-too-serious midnight regulations.

Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B4y5sZKdI4

 

 

  Reuters
Friday, December 12, 2008; 12:22 PM

KNX - New Virus Infects Facebook

http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/12/koobface-virus.html

http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=omg-koobface-worm-gets-up-in-the-gr-2008-12-05

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4B37LV20081204

 

HI ALL, this link is for real so, please pass it on.. It explains how to get rid of the facebook/myspace virus.
The guy walks you through how to get rid of it... please pass it on.

http://www.livevideo.com/video/Oregon-Coast-Guy/4F01854ADEE049DB853CCEA28E0C1739/killing-the-facebook-virus.aspx

Dear friends,

Thank you for supporting our work for a sustainable, just peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Please see the important call below from historian Howard Zinn. He is working with our allies at Jewish Voice for Peace to support the Shiministim - the movement of Israeli conscientious objectors whom AFSC has long supported. They are an important voice of conscience speaking out against militarism and the Israeli military occupation. Right now they need our help and support as they begin to face open-ended jail sentences for refusing mandatory military service.

Please send a letter to the Israeli Minister of Defense to support them today.

Also as the situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, please continue to check the AFSC End the Siege on Gaza blog to get the latest news and things you can do to help people trapped in the ongoing and increasing siege.

Peace,

Ron G.