Number of people sickened in E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders rises to 90: CDC
Photo Illustration by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
The number of cases in the E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders has risen to 90, federal health officials said in an update on Wednesday.
Cases have been reported in 13 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Most of the cases have been in Colorado, which has 29 reported cases, and Montana, which has 17 reported cases, according to the CDC.
Cases have also been reported in Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming, according to the CDC, which further notes that illnesses have occurred between Sept. 27 and Oct. 16 of this year.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(VANCOUVER ISLAND, CANADA) — Police in Canada said they have arrested six people and taken down an organized crime group believed to have produced tens of thousands of counterfeit cannabis-laced candy bars and edibles resembling popular name-brand products.
The takedown began early this month when the Pacific Region Royal Canadian Mounted Police federal policing investigators executed search warrants at two dispensaries and five separate residences on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, on Oct. 3, according to a statement from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Tuesday.
“These warrants were associated to an organized crime group allegedly involved in the production and distribution of illicit drugs, and contraband tobacco in Port Alberni and Nanaimo,” authorities said. “The dispensaries in question were Green Coast Dispensary in Port Alberni and Coastal Storm Dispensary located in Lantzville.”
Search warrants were also executed at a suspected stash site in Port Alberni, as well as a storage and production facility adjacent to Coastal Storm Dispensary, including two modular trailers where cannabis edibles were being produced, stored, and distributed, authorities said.
The list of items seized includes over 120,000 cannabis edibles with packaging resembling popular name-brand chocolate bars, potato chips, nacho chips, honey and other candies, including over 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) of psilocybin mushrooms, 1,740 psilocybin capsules, over 400 psilocybin chocolate, candies and a multitude of other psilocybin products, 2.2 pounds of pressed cannabis resin, over 500 pounds of cannabis bud, more than 19 pounds of shatter, over 5000 cannabis vape cartridges, counterfeit cannabis-laced honey, five vehicles, two ATM machines containing cash, an estimated 164 master cases of contraband tobacco equating to 82,000 packs of cigarettes, over $400,000 in cash and a shotgun, police said.
“Although the contraband cannabis-laced candy bars and chips resembled professionally manufactured, packaged, and quality-controlled products, they were discovered to have been produced in the highly unsanitary, and heavily contaminated modular trailers,” authorities from RCMP said. “A preliminary assessment of the edibles also indicates that they had been treated with unknown amounts of THC, and likely cross-contaminated with other drugs and substances present in the trailers where they were being produced and packaged.”
Of equal concern, according to police, was the fact that the counterfeit snacks had packaging claims of possessing medicinal properties and dangerously high drug potency values, with many of the candy wrap labels claiming to be “100 times more potent than regulated cannabis products.”
“Given the highly contaminated and unsanitary conditions of the illicit drug production facility where these cannabis edibles were being produced, it is possible that the consumption of these products can lead to serious health risks,” RCMP said. “We urge members of the public to practice extreme caution if they already possess, or come across such products in the future, especially with Halloween being just around the corner.”
This investigation is ongoing and numerous drug-offence-related charges are being pursued.
(NEW YORK) — Dr. Lisa Newman, the chief of the section of breast surgery at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, sat down with ABC News to discuss breast cancer prevention, early screenings and diagnosis discrepancies.
A new American Cancer Society report, released in October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, finds that breast cancer mortality rates overall have dropped by 44% since 1989, averting about 517,900 breast cancer deaths. However, not all women have benefited from this progress.
ABC News discussed the issue with Newman, who provided more context.
ABC NEWS: Dr. Lisa Newman, chief of the section of breast surgery at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Dr. Newman, thank you so much for joining us. So overall, are you encouraged or concerned by this report?
DR. LISA NEWMAN: Well, thank you for this attention to such a major problem of breast cancer. As you mentioned, it is rising in incidence in American women. So we are very gratified to see these continued declines in breast cancer mortality rates. This is a testimony to our successes with breast health awareness, early detection through screening mammography programs and wonderful advances that we’ve made in treatment.
But as you also noted, we are still seeing some rather appalling and disturbing trends in the breast cancer statistics. It’s very concerning to us that the rates of breast cancer are rising for young women, women younger than the age of 50. And this is for a variety of reasons. We are also seeing very concerning disparities in the burden of breast cancer and, in particular, breast cancer death rates continue to be significantly higher for African-American women and for Black women younger than the age of 50.
ABC NEWS: As far as the disparities with regard to ethnic groups, which we also discussed, why the increase there as well?
NEWMAN: Yeah. The disparities in breast cancer burden are also secondary to some complex factors with the disproportionate mortality rates that we see in Black women. We know that this is going to be explained heavily by socioeconomic disadvantages that are more prevalent in the African-American community, and African-American women are more likely to be diagnosed with more advanced breast cancers because of delays in diagnosis.
Black women are more likely to have delays in initiation of treatment, and there are some tumor biology questions that we need to evaluate in research, as well. A lot of the research that I do actually looks at the breast cancer burden of women with African ancestry. And we do know that African ancestry in and of itself increases the likelihood of getting biologically aggressive forms of breast cancer and getting breast cancer at younger ages. So we need to address that, these socioeconomic disparities, but we also need more research to understand these biological differences.
ABC NEWS: And we saw that we’re just seeing that trend of an increase year after year. What can we do to, to try and bring these numbers down?
NEWMAN: Being aware of breast health is very important and making sure that you get screened regularly. For average risk women, The American Society of Breast Surgeons advocates in favor of getting yearly mammograms starting at age 40. If you have a strong family history, you should consider getting genetic testing, because if you do have inherited predisposition for breast cancer, you may need to start getting your mammograms at even younger ages.
ABC NEWS: The good news that we see here in this report: The mortality rate has dropped in the last year compared to 35 years ago. What do you attribute that to?
NEWMAN: Yeah. Very exciting to see that the mortality rates are declining. This is secondary to women advocating more forcefully for themselves and getting screened regularly. Women also, we want to remind women that mammograms aren’t perfect. And so women do indeed need to be aware of the potential danger signs of breast cancer, such as a new lump in the breast, lump in the underarm, bloody nipple discharge, changes in the skin appearance of the breast like swelling, a rash.
ABC NEWS: And what are some basic things that all women can do to protect themselves? You mentioned diet, for example. What kinds of food or diet would be helpful with this?
NEWMAN: Well, a good way to look at it is in terms of the holistic picture and in general, the dietary patterns that are good for cardiovascular health are good for breast health. So a diet that has lots of fresh fruits and vegetables in it, minimizing fat intake, minimizing alcohol intake, alcohol has also been associated with breast cancer risk.
ABC NEWS: Such important and lifesaving information. Dr. Newman, thank you very much for coming on the show.
(NEW YORK) — While body mass index (BMI) has long been a go-to measure of a person’s health, used by doctors and health insurers alike, a new approach is taking hold.
Body roundness index, or BRI, is gaining prominence as a way of predicting one’s health risk by taking into account more than just a person’s height and weight, which are the sole factors used to determine BMI, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Here are five questions answered about BRI and why it’s being used with increasing frequency.
1. What is body roundness index?
Body roundness index takes into account a person’s height and waist circumference to determine whether they are in a healthy or unhealthy sphere, according to Maya Feller, a registered dietitian and nutritionist.
A study published in June in JAMA Network Open described BRI as an evidence-backed tool for more accurately determining a person’s mortality risk.
2. How do I calculate my own BRI?
BRI is calculated using a mathematical formula: 364.2 − 365.5 × √(1 − [waist circumference in centimeters / 2π]2 / [0.5 × height in centimeters]2, according to the study.
There are online calculators where you can enter your height and waist and hip measurements to determine your BRI.
Once your measurements are entered, you will see a number and whether that puts you in or out of the “healthy zone.”
3. What are the criticisms of BRI?
According to Feller, one criticism of BRI is that it favors a certain body type.
“The challenge with the BRI is that it really favors more slender bodies, and it says that, okay, rounder bodies are not as ‘healthy,'” Feller said.
4. What is wrong with using BMI?
BMI is still a go-to determinant of health used by medical providers.
Some critics, though, argue that BMI does not take into account a person’s body composition because it only measures weight and height, according to Feller.
With BMI, a person is categorized as either underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese.
Last year, the American Medical Association said in a policy announcement that BMI does not account for racial, sex, age ethnic and gender diversity.
“It doesn’t take body composition into consideration,” Feller said. “So someone who’s very muscular might wrongly be put in the overweight or obese category, and that’s just not okay.”
5. What are other ways to check my health status?
Feller noted that while BRI and BMI can be useful, she recommends relying on tests that measure a person’s internal health rather than their weight or measurements.
“I always like to check the insides,” Feller said. “You can look as wonderful as you want on the outside, but what’s happening with your lipids? What’s happening with your blood pressure, your blood sugars? Those are the things that I want to see.”
