Apparently, in a small number of cases, fecal transplantation has been successful in conquering “C. diff,” or Clostridium difficile. This pesky bacterium, particularly disabling to the elderly and infirm, scoffs at antibiotics like Superman scoffs at bullets.

As with too many other bugs, C. diff loves hospitals, and also thrives in the community, making control of the infection routes that much more difficult.

Probiotics have been making the rounds for years as one type of treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and the like, on the theory that intestinal disorders are caused by a lack of good bacteria in the gut, and fecal transplantation works along the same lines, placing healthy bacteria from a normally functioning bowel into the bowel of a sick person.

It’s too soon to tell if the risks associated with this bacteriotherapy outweigh the potential rewards.  We don’t even know what all the risks might be—there haven’t been enough studies done on this procedure to prove it safe and effective, or not.

Consumers can use this information to determine whether a hospital is taking appropriate steps to minimize a patient’s chance of acquiring an infection such as staph or MRSA as a result of their hospitalization.

Beginning in January 2011, hospitals are required to report rates of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) in the intensive care and neonatal intensive care units. Other reportable infections include surgical site and ventilator-associated pneumonia infections.

The CDC estimates that about 250,000 central line-associated bloodstream infections occur each year in hospitals, resulting in approximately 130,000 deaths.

The CDC defines healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) as “a localized or systemic condition that (1) results from an adverse reaction to the presence of an infectious agent(s) or its toxin(s), (2) that occurs during a hospital admission, (3) for which there is no evidence the infection was present or incubating at admission, and (4) meets body site-specific criteria.”

These infections include blood infections, staph infections, meningitis, pneumonia, and other infections that can be very serious and even fatal. Beginning in 2012, Medicare payments to hospitals will be tied to how well hospitals perform relative to the new safety standards.

Consumers should avail themselves of this information so they can protect themselves and loved ones from getting sicker during a hospital stay. It’s another tool to protect ourselves and our loved ones against the various risks associated with hospitalization.

Hospital-specific information is available at the Stop BSI website.

More patient safety information relative to the new health care reform law is available on the health reform website.

The White House has a section on its website that’s helpful for those of us who don’t really know what’s involved in this legislation. There are several informative and simply written pages to be found, if you poke around.

The States page helps bring the info home.  By clicking on a state, we can hear stories and information about the specific effects of the new Act and how it will directly impact that state and its citizens.

The site is an easy way to gather fast facts about some of the highlights of the new Act and answers some of the more common questions many of us have. For example, will Medicare benefits be reduced? No.  In fact, benefits will be added, including “free prevention coverage, annual wellness visits and a phase-out of the Medicare donut hole.”

Another significant change is being able to keep children up to age 26 on a parent’s health insurance plan.

Information about business incentives, drug rebates, and the specific dates when various provisions take effect can also be found on the White House site.

And for a look at the Act itself – who doesn’t have occasional insomnia? – take a look here.

Turns out, monkeypox the disease isn’t as funny as the word. When infected, one gets a blistery rash similar to smallpox. In areas of Africa where the virus is endemic, one to 10 percent of human cases end in death.

Although the virus was first detected in monkeys, other animals can become infected, including humans

The first outbreak of monkeypox detected in the U.S. was in 1993 and probably started with animals imported from Africa infecting pet prairie dogs, who then infected humans.

Monkeypox can be transmitted in unusual ways, including through the consumption of bushmeat—legal (or illegal) wild animal meat imported to cities in Europe and the U.S.

There’s no specific treatment for monkeypox and prevention methods are the usual: handwashing, avoid sick animals, and practice standard, contact, and airborne precautions.

Turns out monkeypox just isn’t funny.

Sunscreens have never been on our list of things to watch.  They basically do one thing, and the higher the SPF rating, the more protected we are. Right?

Well, before we squirt goo from that bottle or mist ourselves, here’s something to think about. The Environmental Working Group studied 500 sunscreens and ended up recommending only 8 percent of those studied.

The problems they found were:

• Oxybenzone is a chemical ingredient linked to hormone disruption
• Retinyl palmitate, another ingredient, is a form of vitamin A that may speed up the development of skin tumors and lesions
• FDA regulations for sunscreens have been on hold since 1978
• SPFs greater than 50 may not be a good idea because people assume they can apply less, stay out longer without reapplying, and that they’re protected from UVAs, and that’s not always the case

The Personal Care Products Council, an association representing sunscreen manufacturers and others, basically says it isn’t so.  They claim to do all the necessary testing and follow FDA guidelines.

Who should we believe? Wish we had an answer. More studies need to be done by various groups before we can be certain.

As parents, our first concern is the potential impact of the oil spill on our children’s health. Since the spill is happening now, data isn’t yet available to help us understand the health challenges the people of the Gulf Coast region, and more specifically the children in that area, will face. And what of those children already living with health challenges such as chronic infections? How will the spill impact their quality of life? No one knows.

According to former CDC Director John Howard, even the long-term impacts of the Exxon Valdez spill aren’t fully understood, noting that “One of the deficiencies there is that we were able to ascertain some acute effects but we didn’t follow through for chronic effects,” he said. “To be able to identify chronic effects, you have to start very early.”

While anecdotal evidence indicates the clean-up crew who worked the 1989 Valdez spill suffer from the Valdez Crud, no studies were conducted addressing the health dangers posed to Alaskan children by that spill.

Dr. Gina Solomon says that clean-up crew who worked more than “20 days in highly polluted areas, performing 3 or more tasks, having skin contact with oil, or eating while in contact with oil” were more likely to suffer dizziness, nausea, sore throats, and itchy eyes.

Environmental impacts are being felt by those living in the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama. There are no definitive estimates about the eventual range of the spill, nor are there any estimates about the date of containment. To stay current with the potential health impacts of the spill, check with CDC’s Health Surveillance.

Food – Seafood safety is particularly concerning during this spill. Though Louisiana has closed some areas of the coastline for seafood harvesting, other areas remain open. Both the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association) and the FDA are charged with public notification if or when seafood becomes contaminated. Currently, the FDA assures people that seafood is still safe to eat.

Air – The EPA is monitoring air quality using mobile labs along the coastlines of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida.  As of 16 June, these labs have not detected levels of toxins such as propylene glycol high enough to cause health effects.  However, the dispersants used to clean up the spill do pose a risk to those working in clean-up efforts and those near these efforts.

Water – According to the EPA, drinking water should not be impacted by the spill. However, water used for recreation and industries such as fishing is obviously impacted. Each of the four states offer state-specific information via the CDC website.

Protecting the health of our children during an environmental disaster requires special care, patience, and persistence. As the potential health effects of the Gulf oil spill become known, more specific actions will be required.

What We can Do Now to Protect Our Family’s Health

1. Monitor air quality and stay indoors if air quality becomes too poor
2. Stay current with the CDC health updates
3. Call the Environmental Hotline/Community Information Line with specific health questions- 866.448.5816
4. Before heading to a specific beach, check the status of the spill in that area
5. Exposure to crude oil, even in small amounts, can lead to dizziness, nausea, and blurred vision, and if your child is near a contaminated beach and complains of any of these symptoms, immediately take him or her to the doctor
6. If your child is exposed to oil or oil residue, wash the area immediately using soap and water, or an oil-removing cleanser. For children with respiratory problems, the effect of the spill on air quality in and around Gulf Coast beaches will be exacerbated for them

What You Can Do to Help:

1. If you live in the region, report any oiled wildlife
2. Volunteer your time to help clean-up efforts
3. Add the EPA oil spill widget to your Facebook page or website in order to inform more people about actions they can take in the wake of the spill.

If child mortality rates are the canary in the coal mine of a nation’s ability to care for its people, then Ghandi had it right. Even with its advantages, the United States struggles to care for the most vulnerable among the population.

Over the past 20 years, the U.S. has seen a 42 percent decline in child mortality. This sounds good, until we realize that Kazakhstan, Sierra Leone and Angola all saw the same rate of decline. Given our resources, it seems that we should be doing better than that.

Despite spending a boatload of money on healthcare, the U.S. continues to have frustratingly high rates of preventable disease.

The link between preventable disease and child mortality is part of the clarion call of healthcare reformers, who hope that new legislation will expand coverage for preventive care and make healthcare more affordable.

Whether the recent overhaul can fix this country’s uneven and expensive healthcare system is not yet known.

It’s just not acceptable for children in this or any country to die before they’ve had a chance to live. Here’s what can be done to reduce child mortality rates around the world. We must ensure that everyone in need has access to:

• Vaccines
• Soap
• Basic health education – hygiene, nutrition, prevention
• Safe water
• Sanitation/toilets
• Breastfeeding
• Improved pre/neo/postneonatal care
• Antibiotics
• Insecticide-treated bed nets
• Micronutrient supplementation

Buy a net for someone, educate your neighbor on immunizations, encourage new moms to breastfeed. We can all do one thing and by doing it, we’ll help kids have a chance at life.

Memorial Day started perhaps during the Civil War, when women decorated the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers.  After all, it used to be called Decoration Day. But, no one really knows who started it, or where, and it’s probable that it was borne from the zeitgeist of the time.

A few years after the Civil War ended, in May of 1868, Decoration Day was established by a group of Union veterans as a day for the graves of the fallen to be decorated with flowers. The 30th of May was chosen as a day when flowers around the country would most likely be in bloom.

In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday and moved it to the last Monday in May.

Have you seen the red poppies worn by some on Memorial Day? That tradition started with Moina Michael and her poem “We Shall Keep Faith” (which was itself inspired by “In Flander’s Fields,” a poem by John McCrae):

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

In 2000, Congress established the National Moment of Remembrance, when at 3pm local time, on Memorial Day, Americans across the country stop for one moment to honor and remember those who’ve died for this country.

And so we come to the end of this brief history of Memorial Day. I want to buy a red poppy and pause for a moment, at 3pm on Monday, to think of those gone too soon.

Handwashing is important because if you don’t wash your hands, then you will probably get sick.

You can also spread your germs and make other people sick. For example, if you were to eat a slice of pie with a friend and you or your friend didn’t wash your hands, then you and your friend could be putting your germs into the other person’s mouth.

Everyone should wash their hands after eating a meal and before and after playing outside but if you don’t have soap and water around you it’s always good to keep hand sanitizer with you!=)

Just as the health of our bodies is important, so is the health of our Earth.

Today I want to talk to you about our Earth’s oceans and why it is important to keep them clean.  It is important to keep our oceans clean because they make up about 70% of our planet.

Throwing plastic into our oceans can harm the animals like seals that are curious and get tangled up in plastic and die from suffocation. Another good reason why we should properly throw away our trash is because sea turtles will eat the plastic sandwich bags and they will get caught in their throats or digestive system.

Plus, it just makes our oceans look dirty and we want a clean looking ocean not one that’s filled with tons of trash. So, please make sure your trash ends up in the trash cans or recycle.