Number of people sickened in E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders rises to 90: CDC
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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.
(NEW YORK) — New York state reported its first case of eastern equine encephalitis in nearly a decade on Friday.
The rare mosquito-borne virus was detected in Ulster County, the New York State Department of Health said. The individual is hospitalized, it said.
The Ulster County Department of Health is currently investigating the case, which marks the first case of EEE confirmed in New York state since 2015, health officials said.
“Eastern equine encephalitis is a serious and fatal mosquito-borne disease with no vaccine,” New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said in a statement. “Even though temperatures are getting cooler, mosquito-borne illnesses are still a risk and New Yorkers must be cautious.”
The human case comes after a case of EEE was confirmed in a horse in Ulster County in August, the state health department said. Earlier this month, two emus in New York’s Rensselaer County also tested positive for the virus, which does not spread directly from birds to humans, the department said.
The latest human EEE case in New York brings the national tally to at least 11 so far this year, according to an ABC News tally. The national yearly average is 11, with most cases occurring in eastern or Gulf Coast states.
Beyond New York, cases have been reported in at least six other states so far this year: Massachusetts, with four; New Hampshire, with two; and, with one each, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.
Between 2003 and 2023, there have been at least 196 EEE cases reported in the U.S., including 176 hospitalizations and 79 deaths.
The best way to prevent infection from the disease is to protect yourself from mosquito bites, including by using insect repellant, wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants, treating clothing and gear and taking steps to control mosquitoes indoors and outdoors.
“With the first confirmed human case of eastern equine encephalitis in Ulster County, I urge residents to take the recommended precautions to prevent mosquito bites and the risk of infection,” Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger said in a statement.
Most people infected with EEE do not develop symptoms. For those who do, symptoms can include fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, behavioral changes and drowsiness, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Approximately a third of all people who develop severe cases die, according to the CDC.
(NEW YORK) — A woman who lost over 200 pounds said she accomplished it by focusing not on the weight she was losing, but the life she was gaining.
“I wanted to gain life more than I wanted to lose weight,” Leah Hope told ABC News’ Good Morning America of her motivation, adding, “There’s a much bigger picture that this is not about wanting a smaller body, but it is about chasing a bigger life.”
Hope, 35, said she hit a “rock bottom” moment in 2022 when she visited Disneyland in California with family members.
Weighing almost 400 pounds at the time, Hope said she remembers being in pain after just a few hours of walking at the theme park.
“I just had to end up spending most of the day by myself while my sister’s family was out enjoying the park,” Hope recalled. “I just left that day saying, ‘This is not the life that I want to be living, and if I continue on the path that I’m on, this is what my life is going to continue to look like.'”
After being overweight most of her life, Hope said she realized she had “become comfortable in my discomfort” and was motivated to change things.
She said she started small and focused on making one change at a time and then layering on more changes.
“Once that thing didn’t feel overwhelming anymore, then I added another thing,” Hope said.
For example, Hope said she started her weight loss journey by just adding one nutritious food to her diet each day.
Once she was comfortable with that change, she added one nutritious meal, and then began walking 10 minutes per day and later began writing what she was eating in a food journal.
“What prompted me to try to lose weight naturally was my focus on wanting to get healthy from the inside out, both internally, hormones, organs, all that, and mentally, emotionally, just holistic health, changing my lifestyle overall,” Hope said. “And so it seemed like it would make most sense to approach this naturally for myself.”
Hope added that while small changes and a natural approach to weight loss worked for her, everyone is different. People should consult with their health care provider before starting any weight loss routine.
“I strongly believe everyone has to decide what the best route is for them,” Hope said.
As she started to change her lifestyle, Hope began sharing her journey on social media. A TikTok video she posted last year, one year into her weight loss effort, now has over 14 million views.
When she faced obstacles on her two-year weight loss journey, Hope said she reminded herself of her focus on “gaining life” versus losing weight.
“As long as I continued to tell myself that, I could look at the scale and say, ‘You know what? Maybe the scale didn’t go down this week, but I did 2,000 more steps this day,’ or, ‘I actually enjoyed this healthy meal that I prepared,” Hope said. “Shifting my mindset to focus on building healthy habits, rather than just seeing a smaller number on the scale, is really what helped me continue through the road bumps, through not seeing the results that I wanted, and just continuing to remind myself that there’s a much bigger picture to this.”
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(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.
