Shine Some Light

Happy Friday, everyone.

• Women who take low does aspirin have a 23% lower chance of developing ovarian cancer.  JAMA Oncology reports this finding as the result of a 2-decades long study of 205K women.
• Sunshine kills indoor germs.  Rooms exposed to sunshine have half of the bacteria of dark rooms (no sunshine).  UV light provides a similar benefit.  Typically, 12% of bacteria in indoor rooms is 'viable' (enough moisture to grow), whereas sun-lit rooms have 6.8% viable bacteria.  Now we know the impact of being left in the dark.
• Things you'd rather not know, but should:  the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America announced that "washing contaminated hospital sheets in commercial washing machines with industrial detergent at high disinfecting temperatures failed to remove all traces of Clostridium difficile, a bacteria that causes infectious diarrhea...."
• Most hamburgers sold in America's 25 biggest fast-food chains include antibiotics.  As we all know, antibiotics are greatly overused, which increases the resistance of bacteria and can create "super bugs".  CDC says it's the world's most pressing public health problem.  Only 2 of the burger joints use no antibiotics (Shake Shack and BurgerFi), and Wendy's at least buys 15% of their meat free of antibiotics.
• Step on that spitting cobra?  One day hikers will be able to carry an "epi-pen" for snakebites in their backpacks. 
• What's In My Food This Week:
• 29 states are reporting 92 cases of chicken with "multi-drug" resistant Salmonella (includes 1 case in TN, 2-3 in GA, and 4-8 in VA).  Don't eat raw chicken.
• Scotland is reporting its first case of mad cow disease since 2015.
• Salmonella and Listeria are in some of the wraps and salads sold at 7-11, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's
• C-sections raise the chance of mom's death by 60%.  The debate about unnecessary C-sections continues.  Since 1990, C-sections have increased from 6% of all births to 21%.  In some regions -- southeast Europe, Latin America and China -- C-section births outnumber regular births.
• In the midst of all the other misery in Africa and the mid-East, there's a historic famine in Yemen, where a civil war has basically caused the country to disintegrate.  The UN warns that 13,000,000 people are at risk of starving to death.
• Who would have thunk that the U.S. is trying to make Vietnam an ally to counter Chinese expansion?  Read about SecDef Mattis' visit to an Agent Orange clean-up site.
• Drug manufacturers may soon have to show you the cost of the drugs they're peddling on your TV screen.
• On national news:  a polio-like illness, "actue flaccid myelitis" has hit children in over 20 states
• "Get ready for even friendlier Canadians!" ... it's now legal to get stoned in Canada. 

PHC news

Have a wonderful weekend...I'm off to find some "Tour Canada" brochures :)