E.coli

Watching CSI Miami a couple of nights ago really freaked me out. It was the E.coli poisoning episode where a girl who'd eaten a salad in a restaurant fell ill and died a week later. The CSI team found that the E.coli was in the irrigation system of a big commercial farm which supplies fruits and vegetables to restaurants.

Me, I love having the grilled chicken caesar salad at McDonalds. Its convenient since McD's is just behind my apartment. I also like to buy ready packed salads from the supermarkets - I just open the pack and its ready to eat, I do not need to rinse them at all.

That episode of CSI maybe based on the 1996 E.coli outbreak in the Eastern U.S. which was traced back to Fancy Cutt Farms in California.

According to health authorities, the company was rinsing lettuce in dirty, bacteria-laden water, in a shed 100 feet away from a cattle pen, right in the path of dust-borne manure.

It's not that the fresh produce itself is dangerous. The E. coli bacteria breeds in animal or bird manure, which can come into contact with fresh produce in the field, during the packing or shipping process.

Increased public demand for fresh fruits and vegetables, and the growing popularity of ready-to-eat packaged salad mixes and fresh juices, has encouraged many small companies to enter an increasingly competitive field.

In particular, small-scale farmers who used to just grow lettuce and radishes have now started cleaning, chopping and processing their own salad mixes. Some of them have little understanding of correct safety procedures and have little incentive to implement them. And because most of this produce is eaten raw, high-heat techniques to kill bacteria such as boiling or pasteurization are not applicable.

Scrupulous cleanliness at every step of the operation, from harvesting through processing is paramount.

The story adds that another serious health hazard concerns the cleanliness of shipping trucks, which is also not regulated. Trucks used to transport poultry from farm to market one day can be used to ship fresh vegetables the next day, and there is no law which states how that truck must be cleaned.

This episode urged me to do some research about E.Coli and I found the following excerpt:

Experts in foodborne illnesses are urging consumers to wash their lettuce carefully, leaf by leaf. Simply giving a head of lettuce a quick rinse under the faucet doesn't wash away E. coli bacteria and other possible pathogens that could be contaminating the inner leaves, according to Ross Davidson, a clinical microbiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

Davidson performed a study in which he sprayed heads of lettuce with E. coli and then washed them three different ways. One group of lettuce was cored and the head was rinsed under a stream of tap water. A second group was cored and dipped several times in a sink full of water. In the third group, the lettuce was washed leaf by leaf in a sink of water. The study showed that washing the leaves individually was significantly better at removing E. coli from the lettuce than the intact washing.

Health officials do not know how widespread E. coli contamination is in produce, but in the past couple of years, a handful of outbreaks have been linked to lettuce, alfalfa sprouts and apple juice, Davidson said. It's also unclear how E. coli gets into lettuce. Davidson suggested two possible routes: through lettuce fields that are contaminated with water from cattle farms; or through unsterilized manure used to fertilize lettuce fields.

 

What are the precautions that home consumers can take?
Well, for one I will think twice before having McD's salads again, unless I bring it home and rinse it a few more times...
The following are other precautions we can all take when preparing food at home:

Always wash fresh fruits and vegetables thoroughly before eating.
Always clean any surface that has come in contact with raw meat before any other item is placed on that surface. FYI, it is better to use a plastic cutting board than a wooden one (though a wooden one is aesthetically more pleasing, it also breeds bacteria if not properly cleaned).
Always thoroughly wash hands after handling raw meat, and before handling any other utensil or food item. Always cook meat until the juices run absolutely clear.
Prepare meat and poultry separately from fruits and vegetables, and use separate clean utensils for cutting and mixing.

At the store, trust your senses. Look for fresh-looking fruits and vegetables that are not bruised, shriveled, moldy, or slimy. Don’t buy anything that smells bad. Don’t buy packaged vegetables that look slimy. Buy only what you need. Keep meats separate from produce.

Handle fresh fruits and vegetables carefully. Put produce away promptly, and keep it in the crisper. Remember to keep all cut fruits and vegetables covered in the refrigerator, and throw away produce you have kept too long. Wash all fruits and vegetables in clean drinking water before eating. Do not use detergent or bleach when washing fruits and vegetables. Store prepared fruit salads and other cut produce in the refrigerator until just before serving. Discard cut produce if it has been out of the refrigerator for four hours or more.

Please, please go away!!!!

Day 6 - canker sores still here inspite of my trying out several home remedies. If anything, my sores have gotten bigger and another one popped out next to the one on my upper lip! I couldn't eat, couldn't drink and couldn't talk because the one on my tongue hurts like hell. To top it all off, I now have a cold as well...
Yesterday Fred came home with an antiseptic mouthwash and medication recommended by the pharmacist. The medication acts as a protective barrier against my saliva and food and drinks, it forms a white film on the sore and is supposed to help heal the sore. It really hurts when I apply the film but in seconds the pain is gone and I found that I could eat and drink and even hold a conversation once again!

Having canker sores made me find out what is the root cause of getting it and how to prevent them.
Canker sores can develop anywhere in the mouth, but the most common and most painful types are those that appear on the tongue. Despite popular belief, they are neither contagious nor are they caused or spread by a virus. They usually occur as a result of a food allergy, medication reaction, or local trauma. This trauma can be caused by things like accidentally biting the inside of your cheek, toothbrushes or even abrasive foods like potato chips or pretzels. There are a number of possible canker sore causes, but nothing is certain. Stress could be causing your canker sores. Eating crunchy foods or foods with sharp edges, like chips, and spicy foods can be the cause of canker sores as well. Even nutritional deficiencies have been attributed to recurring canker sores.
For me, my canker sores are caused by the ginger tea that I consumed, I think my body was already starting to get heaty as I was eating a lot of mangoes as well, and drinking copious amounts of pineapple juice didn't help as it increased the acidity in my body.

Canker sores treatment and prevention:
1)Avoid toothpastes with sodium lauryl sulfate, or SLS. SLS is a foaming agent in many brand name toothpastes, and studies done show that people who suffer from canker sores are up to 80% less likely to get those sores if they use toothpaste without SLS in them.

2)For canker sore relief, it is recommended that you try Benzocaine or Advil.
Benzocaine is a main ingredient of almost all anesthetic mouth gels. It does not have any anti septic properties but only numbs the pain for some time. It is to be applied topically upon the canker sores on the tongue. Although, its effects begin to wear off after half an hour, it is not advisable to apply it every half an hour. In Malaysia, the product is called Benadryl mouthwash.
If a canker sore is particularly painful, you should try using a product like Bonjela or an anti inflammatory medicine like Ponstan.

3)Hydrogen peroxide is a very effective antiseptic against all forms of infections. Its application on the wound kills the germs and helps to treat canker sores on tongue. It is readily available at the pharmacy shop, but it has to be diluted by 50% before applying it. Apply it 3-4 times a day on the sores until they heal completely.

4)Antibacterial agents have shown to help treat and get rid of canker sores. Mouthwashes like Listerine are perfect examples of antibacterial agents. You can also go with an iodine-based mouthwash as well. Iodine makes for a great canker sore cure if applied regularly, but don’t swallow it.

5)Salt and baking soda are natural antiseptic substances. Take an equal amount of salt and baking soda and dilute in water. Apply this mixture on the canker sores on tongue at least 3-4 times a day. You can also use the solution to swish, until the sores heal completely. Apparently if you dab baking soda directly onto the sore, it helps heal the sore faster.

6)My aunt emailed me to try gently rubbing garlic onto the sore as garlic is known to be a natural antiseptic - definitely NOT for the faint hearted! It was really really painful ; I had tears in my eyes, and the smell of garlic stayed in my mouth all day - not that it matters anyway cos I am in France... and the French are thought to rub garlic onto their armpits everyday LOLs... (actually since I've been here I hardly ever smelt a bad smelling french.... even the SDF do not smell bad, but I will wait til its Summer time and let you all know if they still smell OK...)

From what I have read on the many sites on the internet, canker sores can't really be cured--it just takes time for them to heal, sometimes up to 6 weeks! If the canker sore remedy you're looking at says it will help to dull the pain and protect the sore, then that's good enough for now.

What to eat with canker sores:
* Eat soft, bland foods that are easy to swallow, such as yogurt or cream soup. Cut your food into small pieces or mash or puree it. Avoid coffee, chocolate, spicy or salty foods, citrus fruits or juices, nuts, seeds, and tomatoes.
* Drink cold fluids, such as water or iced tea, or eat Popsicles. Sometimes fluid touching the canker sore can cause a stinging pain. Use a straw so the fluid doesn't touch the canker sore. Hold ice on the canker sore until it is numb.
* Rinse your mouth with salt water as an alternative to an antiseptic mouthwash. To make a salt water rinse, dissolve 1 tsp (5 g) of salt in 1 cup (250 mL) of warm water.
* Buy an over-the-counter medicine such as milk of magnesia to put on your canker sores. Use a cotton swab to apply the medicine. Put it on your sores 3 to 4 times a day.
* Take a pain reliever, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), including aspirin (such as Bayer), ibuprofen (such as Advil), or naproxen sodium. In France, you can get Ponstyl but you need a doctor's prescription.
In general, it is important to get enough vitamins and minerals in your diet, like folic acid, vitamin B12, zinc, and iron.

Now all the "western" ideals aside, I believe the cause of my mouth ulcers is because I am "heaty".
When a Chinese uses the terms 'heaty' or 'heatiness' to describe the kinds of foods to have or avoid, most Westerners would probably have no idea what those concepts are or find them strange. The notion of heaty (yang)(as opposed to cooling or yin) is related to the balancing of ‘yin’ and ‘yang’. To most people, especially the chinese it is important to avoid heatiness which will cause mouth ulcers, hot flushes, acne, sore throat and constipation among other ailments.
My aunt in Seattle says she will send me "pat chi chou" since I cannot get in here, for me to boil with rock sugar and drink to cool my body down. Once my body cools, the mouth ulcers will disappear. If I had some "Hor Yan Ho" tea, I'd drink that every 4 hours to cool down my body.
To avoid heatiness, one should reduce fried, hot and spicy foods and drink at least 8 glasses of water a day.

H1N1 Vaccination - do the benefits of getting this vaccination outweigh the risks?

We received the vaccination letter for Lucas more than a week ago and so far we haven't come to a decision yet...
This topic of vaccination has been in the news for months, and because of the sudden widespread disease here in the SW where schools are closing due to the outbreak, suddenly the vaccination centers are getting filled with people waiting in line to get the injection. Previously a lot of people were reluctant to get the injection, including medical workers. A majority of people I spoke to are still uncertain about the safety of the H1N1 vaccines, and are worried about the potential side effects, especially the risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome which can cause paralysis or death in severe cases.
The most commonly reported side effects of H1N1 vaccination remain pain, redness, or swelling at the site of the injection. Headache, fever, fatigue, and muscular aches are also common, though less so, and generally go away within two days of getting the shot.

The most common worry is the risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome. Although there have been only two cases reported in France in possible connection to the vaccine, it continues to be a major concern for many, including Fred & I.

Another concern is the worry that the H1N1 vaccine may not be effective for long as mutations of H1N1 have been reported in a number of places. These mutations have not spread beyond a few individuals, and so far the vaccine has remained effective against the mutated H1N1 viruses but it still raises concern in many people that if the mutations continue and the vaccine becomes ineffective, what's the point of taking the vaccine now and exposing oneself to Guillain-Barre?

Also causing worry is the safety of the small amounts of mercury in H1N1 vaccines used as a preservative in the multi-dose formulas. Thimerosal has been found in the multi-dose vaccine and contains a form of mercury. It's ethyl mercury, which is likely not as toxic as some other forms. Even so, mercury can't be good for your body. People who want to avoid thimerosal-containing flu vaccines should get the single-syringe shots.

Last night after the news showed thousands of people lining up to get the vaccine and the start of vaccination to all school going children today nationwide in schools and colleges, Fred says that if so many people are getting vaccinated, the number of swine flu cases will decrease so there should not be a need for Lucas to get the vaccine...

Methinks the Minister of Health is under fire for over ordering the amount of vaccines paid for by the taxpayers and so needs the whole nation to take the vaccines collectively which is why there is so much hype about the number of people going for the injections. After all, people attract people right?

Would you take the vaccine? Would you give your kids the vaccine? In France we have been given the choice of saying no. Everyone is so uncertain about this vaccine, its making us stressed out just thinking about it. But for now, this is a moot point as Lucas is having a cold and a cough - we need to wait for him to recover before we come to a decision.

H1N1

It was announced in the news that the french public will be given the H1N1 vaccine starting from October onwards for free. As this service is open to all french citizens and PR holders, the government has recommended that certain groups of the population receive the 2009 H1N1 vaccine when it first becomes available. These target groups include pregnant women, people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age, healthcare and emergency medical services personnel, persons between the ages of 6 months and 24 years old, and people ages of 25 through 64 years of age who are at higher risk for 2009 H1N1 because of chronic health disorders or compromised immune system and the elderly.
For mere mortals like me, I will have to wait for the social security to send me a letter to bring to the doctor for my vaccine. The Government has announced that there is no fear that they will run out of the vaccine but everyone should be systematically vaccinated in the order above.

As of today 1 creche and 1 college has closed because of the outbreak - school just reopened last week in France.

Mat Rempits, H1N1 & Andy Lau

Wow, this whole week has passed in a blur! My days seem to be all Lucas, laundry, lunch, grocery list, dinner and looking forward to some me time after dinner.
The weather has changed for the past couple of days. It's cold for late August. This morning was 12 degrees; its been overcast for the whole day and its 22 degrees now (230 pm).
Weather forecast tells me its the same for tomorrow as well... Looks like its going to rain too, so Lucas & I will once again forego our walk around the neighborhood.

The H1N1 is getting bad in France. A few days ago, there was 1 death of a healthy person who contracted H1N1. Previous deaths were of patients who were suffering illnesses made worst by the H1N1. Yesterday's news showed 2 rugby players contracted the disease as well. The Government is making the H1N1 vaccine available to everyone for free. They announced this last night, so anyone can walk into their doctor's office for the vaccine. We have been asked to start washing our hands and bringing bottles of antiseptic hand wash with us.

Lucas & I try to avoid crowded places and I air our apartment everyday by opening the windows during lunch hour when there is no traffic outside. In Tarbes the most quiet time is mealtimes, where no one is on the road from 12pm - 2 pm, and evenings from 7 pm - 9 pm. Literally everyone is eating at home or in cafes, so no one is out on the road. If you look out my window during those time, its totally dead. And the road outside my apartment is normally busy during other time of the day and night.

Oh, did I tell you we have our very own Mat Rempits here? Totally annoying, but apparently the police have a hard time tracking them as they split up and communicate with each other via mobile phones. The police should really camp outside our apartment building as most mornings around 2 am, the mat rempits zoom past in their big bikes, waking up half the neighborhood including me and sometimes Lucas.
Last night it was virtually impossible for me to get back to sleep again and when I finally did in the wee hours of the morning, Lucas woke up and wanted his breakfast.

Tonight I have 2 back to back episodes of CSI NY to look forward to. I try not to miss out on the CSI (Miami, NY and LV) as they are the only English speaking TV shows I can get here. Its weird watching Ugly Betty, Criminal Minds, Law & Order, The Simpsons and Desperate HW in french.

Oh I just read about Andy Lau and his 24 year "secret" courtship! Its bizarre that there are some hard core fans out there threatening to kill themselves just because he is getting married to his long time love- c'mon, even if Andy doesn't have his Carol, its not as if that deranged fan will stand a chance to be Mrs. Andy Lau...

eczema

Wow, its Thursday already. Where did all the time go? Yesterday Lucas ate his meals WITHOUT the aid of Barney! He finished his breakfast cereal but couldn't sit still long enough to finish his lunch and dinner. As he normally naps til 130 pm Fred & I have our lunch without him.
But we have been sitting Lucas with us during dinnertime so that he can get used to sitting with us during mealtimes and learn mealtime etiquette (which he should have learnt way earlier but didn't as he was being fed in front of the telly by the maid....)

Last night, after his half eaten cereal, Lucas & his papa went out to Mamy Anita's (his french granny) and then went to buy pizza for dinner. Because of the many times he's watched that Barney episode on pizza, Lucas was very excited about actually eating pizza (this was not his first time but he got all excited nonetheless) he sat in his highchair and waited as I cut off a small slice for him. I expected him to pick out the minced beef topping and just eat the crust but he ate it all! AND asked for seconds!
Last night Lucas also had a slice of melon but didn't seem to like it even though it was sweet and juicy.

I noticed that Lucas' eczema has come back with a vengence - quickly spreading on both arms! I changed his milk to cow's milk and suspect that its the cause of his eczema. However, as a baby Lucas also had eczema from his infant milk, so hopefully the eczema will fade off soon. I have to take a walk to the pharmacie this afternoon to look for some Eubos Bath Oil and Olive oil for his arms. For those of you with eczema problems and do not want to use any steroid creams, I find that lathering the area with Eubos Bath Oil (leave for 5 mins) then prepare a warm bath with a capful of Eubos Bath Oil, sit in the tub for as long as possible, do not wash off with soap/ rinse with water. Apply virgin olive oil in the area after bath. This remedy does wonders as Lucas' eczema totally disappeared. After his eczema stopped, I normally slather him in olive oil in the bath daily and he hasn't had any eczema problems til now.
Yesterday, since I didn't have any olive oil for skin, I slathered Luc with cooking oilve oil and today his eczema is no longer so inflamed.

Today I am going to incorporate independant playtime into Lucas' schedule. At his age (20 months already!!!!) he should be able to play independantly for at least an hour but he has not been able to do that as he's used to being with someone all the time. He also needs to learn how to "clean up" after he's done playing with his toys instead of leaving them lying around for mama to pick.
I just realized this morning that Lucas is 20 months old! In another 4 months my little baby is going to be 2 years old!!!! Unlike last year, he won't be having a big bash as he hasn't got any friends here. But mama still wants to make his birthday special and that begins with baking a special cake - OMG!!!!! Where do I start? I can easily get the boxed ingredients but I need to learn how to decorate the cake...