SPRINGFIELD, IL – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has confirmed the first human West Nile virus-related death in Illinois for 2018.  A LaSalle County resident over 65 years who became ill during the first part of August and tested positive for West Nile virus has died.

“Although we’re moving toward the end of summer, West Nile virus remains a risk until the first hard frost,” said IDPH Director Nirav D. Shah, M.D., J.D.  “It’s important for everyone to continue taking precautions like using insect repellent, wearing long sleeve shirts and pants, and staying indoors between dusk and dawn.”

Last year IDPH reported the first human West Nile virus death in Illinois on September 29, 2017. During 2017, there were 90 human West Nile virus cases, including eight deaths.  IDPH is currently reporting 22 human cases.  West Nile virus positive results in humans, birds, mosquitoes, and/or horses have been reported in 58 counties this year.

West Nile virus is transmitted through the bite of a mosquito.  Common symptoms include fever, nausea, headache and muscle aches.  Symptoms may last from a few days to a few weeks.  However, four out of five people infected with West Nile virus will not show any symptoms.  In rare cases, severe illness including meningitis or encephalitis, or even death, can occur.  People older than 50 and immunocompromised individuals are at higher risk for severe illness.

Remember to take some simple precautions to reduce the number of mosquitoes around your home and protect yourself from being bitten.

• Minimize being outdoors when mosquitoes transmitting West Nile virus are most active, especially between dusk and dawn.
• When outdoors, wear shoes and socks, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt, and apply insect repellent that contains DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus or IR 3535, according to label instructions.  Consult a physician before using repellents on infants.
• Eliminate all sources of standing water where mosquitoes can breed, such as old tires, buckets and other receptacles, or refresh the water in bird baths, flowerpots and wading pools every couple days.

Additional information about West Nile virus can be found on the IDPH website.

SPRINGFIELD, IL – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and other state and local health departments, is expanding its investigation of a multi-state cluster of E. coli infections to include not only chopped romaine lettuce, but full heads and hearts of romaine lettuce.

Information collected to date indicates that romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona growing region could be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 and could make people sick.  At this time, no common grower, supplier, distributor, or brand has been identified.  However, the investigation now not only encompasses chopped romaine lettuce, but all romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona region.

One case linked to the outbreak has been identified in Illinois.  To date, 53 other cases have been reported in 16 states with 31 hospitalizations and no deaths.  The central Illinois resident reported consuming chopped romaine lettuce before illness onset.

Consumers in Illinois who have store-bought romaine lettuce at home, including salads and salad mixes containing chopped romaine lettuce, should not eat it and should throw it away, even if some of it was eaten and no one has gotten sick.

If you do not know if the lettuce is romaine, do not eat it and throw it away.  Before purchasing romaine lettuce at a grocery store or eating it at a restaurant, consumers should confirm with the store or restaurant that it is not romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona growing region.  If you cannot confirm the source of the romaine lettuce, do not buy it or eat it.

Restaurants and retailers should not serve or sell any romaine lettuce, including salads and salad mixes containing chopped romaine lettuce, from the Yuma, Arizona growing region.
Restaurants and retailers should ask their suppliers about the source of their chopped romaine lettuce.

People usually get sick from Shiga toxin-producing E. coli 2 to 8 days after swallowing the germ.  Most people infected with E. coli develop diarrhea (often bloody), severe stomach cramps, and vomiting.  Most people recover within one week although some illnesses can be more severe, resulting in a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

Talk to your health care provider if you have symptoms of an E. coli infection and report your illness to your local health department.  You can also write down what you ate in the week before you started to get sick and talk to public health investigators if they have questions about your illness.

SPRINGFIELD, IL – Illinois State Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, sent a letter urging Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to investigate the Department of Healthcare and Family Services’ (HFS) Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) program in response to ongoing revelations and the announcement of a second audit by the auditor general. The letter was also signed by state Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, and state Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills.

“I believe the fact that HFS could not come up with complete data on what they spent on administrative costs, or whether the state had overpaid, should raise some eyebrows,” Crespo said. “$7 billion in Medicaid bills that cannot be unaccounted for is not something that should be taken lightly. I applaud the auditor general for looking into this further, taxpayers deserve answers.”

Medicaid managed care organizations, or MCOs, are private insurers that administer benefits for Medicaid. In January, an audit by the auditor general revealed that the DHFS failed to properly monitor $7.11 billion in payments made to and by managed care organizations. Among other things, the report found that the DHFS was unable to provide complete data on what MCOs spent on administrative costs, the number of claims denied, and what percentage of each MCO’s premium income went to health care and quality improvement as opposed to marketing and other costs, which is information required by federal law.

When asked about the audit’s findings, Gov. Bruce Rauner claimed that the findings in the Illinois auditor general’s report were inaccurate, ignoring the fact that his administration had already started implementing some of the report’s recommendations. As a result, Crespo is urging Attorney General Lisa Madigan to conduct an investigation into the MCO program.

“In order to hold government accountable, there must be transparency,” Crespo said. “It is my hope that as the chief law enforcement officer of our state, Attorney General Madigan will look into this further, so the General Assembly can take the necessary steps to ensure tax dollars are being spent appropriately.”

SPRINGFIELD, IL – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and other state and local health departments, is investigating a multi-state cluster of Salmonella associated with kratom.  One case linked to the outbreak has been identified in Illinois. 

To date, 40 other cases have been reported in 28 states with 14 hospitalizations and no deaths. The Illinois resident reported consuming kratom before illness onset and purchased the kratom at a smoke shop in Williamson County.

Kratom is a plant native to Southeast Asia that is consumed for its stimulant effects and as an opioid substitute. It is also known as Thang, Kakuam, Thom, Ketom, and Biak. No common brands or suppliers of kratom products have been identified at this time. Accordingly, the CDC is recommending against consuming kratom in any form because it could be contaminated with Salmonella and cause illness.

Symptoms of Salmonella may include headache, muscle aches, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal cramping, chills, fever, nausea, and dehydration.  Symptoms usually appear 6 to 72 hours after ingesting the bacteria, but can be longer.  Person-to-person transmission of Salmonella can occur if an infected person’s feces, from his or her unwashed hands, contaminates food during preparation, or comes into direct contact with another person.

Most illnesses resolve on their own and do not require treatment other than drinking fluids to stay hydrated.  If your symptoms persist or are severe, promptly contact your health care provider.

CHESTER, IL – The Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) is reporting that one patient at Chester Mental Health Center has tested positive for Legionnaires’ Disease. IDHS received the confirmation of the positive test on Tuesday, February 13th. The patient is being treated and is currently in stable condition.

Out of an abundance of caution, IDHS has informed staff, residents and community stakeholders.

IDHS is working with the Illinois Department of Public Health to determine the potential source of the bacteria. Environmental engineers will be on grounds this week to gather data and begin collecting water samples. IDHS will continue to be vigilant for respiratory illness. Staff are actively monitoring patients to quickly identify any residents with respiratory illness to make sure they receive immediate medical care.

Legionella bacteria occur naturally in the environment. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports there has been a rise in the number of cases of Legionnaires’ disease over the past 15 years, with 6,000 cases reported nationwide in 2015. Approximately 300 cases are reported each year across Illinois. Legionnaires’ disease cannot be transmitted person-to-person.  Common water sources include decorative fountains, hot tubs, shower areas, and cooling towers.

The Chester Mental Health Center is the state’s only maximum security forensic mental health facility. The facility is operated by the Illinois Department of Human Services and located in Chester, Illinois.

Journal of the American Heart Association Report

Study Highlights:

* Children from socially and economically disadvantaged families and neighborhoods appear more likely to have thicker carotid artery walls, which in middle-aged and older adults has been associated with higher risk for heart attack and stroke.

* The socioeconomic position of a child’s family was more strongly associated with thicker carotid artery walls than living in a disadvantaged neighborhood.

Dallas, TX (BlackNews.com) — Children from socially and economically disadvantaged families and neighborhoods appear more likely to have thicker carotid artery walls, which in adults may indicate higher risk for heart attack and stroke in later life, according to new research in Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

The carotid arteries supply blood to the brain. An ultrasound test of the arteries’ inner layers, the intima and media, may detect the early development of atherosclerosis, or “hardening of the arteries,” which underlies the development of cardiovascular disease later in life.

“We know that socioeconomically disadvantaged people are at greater risk of health problems, including more cardiovascular disease earlier in life, and we also know that atherosclerosis is a life-long process that starts in childhood,” said David P. Burgner, Ph.D., senior study author and senior research fellow at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia. “For this study, we wanted to determine if there is an association between socioeconomic position and the thickness of the carotid artery wall in mid-childhood.”

Researchers analyzed both family and neighborhood socioeconomic position data from 1,477 Australian families. Socioeconomic measures included income, education and the occupation of parents, as well as the relative socioeconomic status of the immediate neighborhood. Between the ages of 11 and 12, the children’s right carotid artery was imaged and maximum carotid intima-media thickness measured.

The study found:

* Both family and neighborhood socioeconomic position were associated with carotid artery inner layer thickness, but the family association was stronger.

* Children whose family socioeconomic position was in the bottom fourth (most disadvantaged) at age 11-12 were 46 percent more likely to have thicker carotid measurement, i.e. above the 75th percentile.

* Socioeconomic position as early as age 2-3 years was linked to thickness in carotid artery measurements at age 11-12.

Researchers said that when they considered traditional cardiovascular risk factors, including body weight, blood pressure and exposure to second-hand smoke, their findings did not change.

“It is surprising to see that these traditional risk factors do not appear responsible for our findings,” said Richard S. Liu, M.B.B.S., lead author, resident medical officer and Ph.D. student at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. “There’s a suggestion that there may be additional factors driving this association.”

Based on their other research studies, the authors propose that infection and inflammation may be among the additional underlying factors. Infection, which leads to inflammation, is more common among those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged, they noted.

“This doesn’t mean that body weight and blood pressure aren’t important — they are — but there appear to be additional factors that contribute to cardiovascular disease risk beyond the traditional factors,” Burgner said. “So, there may be multiple opportunities for early intervention to prevent cardiovascular disease.”

The authors wrote that, given the link between socioeconomic position in infancy and carotid artery measurements at mid-childhood, it may be that cardiovascular disease risk begins before a baby is born. “Reducing social inequality and poverty before birth, as well as in early childhood, is likely to have a significant impact on later cardiovascular disease,” Liu said.

“Every child needs and deserves the opportunity to grow up healthy,” said Clyde Yancy, M.D., American Heart Association past president and chief of cardiology at Northwestern University in Chicago. “Fortunately, we have the tools to improve heart health across the lifespan by ensuring every child has healthy foods to eat and safe places to be active. Community leaders need to focus on giving kids a healthy start from birth, healthy schools as they grow up, and healthy communities for families to thrive.”

Because this is an observational study, a cause-and-effect association between socioeconomic position and carotid IMT cannot be proved. It is also not yet known whether thicker carotid arteries in mid-childhood are linked to cardiovascular risk in adulthood. All study participants were Australian, which may limit application of findings to other populations.

Other co-authors are Fiona K Mensah, Ph.D.; John Carlin, Ph.D.; Ben Edwards, Ph.D.; Sarath Ranganathan, Ph.D.; Michael Cheung, M.D.; Terence Dwyer, M.D.; Richard Saffery, Ph.D.; Costan G. Magnussen, Ph.D.; Markus Juonala, Ph.D. and Melissa Wake, M.D. Author disclosures are on the manuscript.

The study was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, The University of Melbourne, National Heart Foundation of Australia, Financial Markets Foundation for Children, and Victorian Deaf Education Institute.

Additional Resources:

* After Aug. 9, view the manuscript link online.
* Atherosclerosis
* Social Determinants of Risk and Outcomes for Cardiovascular Disease
* EmPoweredtoServe.org
* Blacks in all socioeconomic groups have poorer outcomes after heart attack
* AHA statement on social determinants of health
* www.voicesforhealthykids.org/everychildneeds
* Follow AHA/ASA news on Twitter @HeartNews
* For updates and new science from JAHA, follow @JAHA_AHA

Statements and conclusions of study authors published in American Heart Association scientific journals are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the association’s policy or position. The association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific association programs and events. The association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and device corporations and health insurance providers are available at www.heart.org/corporatefunding.

About the American Heart Association
The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke – the two leading causes of death in the world. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, visit www.heart.org or call any of our offices around the country. Follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Contact Information: David P. Burgner, Ph.D., and Richard S. Liu, M.B.B.S, may be reached by contacting Inga Feitsma, communications manager, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, 011-03-9936 6336 (office) or 0408 657 741 (mobile); inga.feitsma@mcri.edu.au. (Please do not publish contact information.)

Campaign designed to engage men to join fight to protect women’s reproductive rights, calling out anti-choice politicians and policies

CHICAGO, IL – On August 9, the Illinois-based pro-choice advocacy organizations Personal PAC and Men4Choice have partnered to launch “CallBullshit” or “CallBS,” a first-of-its-kind campaign that employs provocative, creative tactics to empower men to join the fight to advance women’s reproductive health rights.

The campaign and website callbs.org employ creative content to depict an alternate reality in which male reproductive health is under attack, posing the question: “Men don’t have to put up with this BS – why should women?”

Three out of four Illinois men believe that abortion should remain legal and a private matter between a woman and her doctor, according to an April 2017 poll conducted by Public Policy Polling. But that figure has not always translated into grassroots action.

“We built this campaign to engage directly with the 75 percent of Illinois men who support women’s reproductive health access,” said Terry Cosgrove, President and CEO of Personal PAC. “We hope this campaign sparks men to take action and hold our elected officials accountable, creating a bigger wave of support for women’s reproductive rights here in Illinois, across the Midwest and even nationwide.”

In addition to social media engagement strategies, the campaign is organizing men to attend phone banks, canvass for women’s health issues and help raise funds for pro-choice candidates.

“When we talked to men here in Illinois about the challenges women face when they seek reproductive health care, their reaction was, ‘That’s BS,’” said Oren Jacobson, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Men4Choice. “Our campaign strives to build upon that disgust and the disbelief many man share around these unfair polices and scare tactics that rob women of their bodily autonomy and access to abortion.”

The CallBS campaign launches as the General Assembly prepares to send House Bill 40 (HB40) to Governor Rauner’s desk. HB40 would ensure that abortion remains legal in Illinois even if the Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade. The bill also would ensure that Medicaid and state employees’ health insurance policies provide coverage for abortion care.

Each year, thousands of women travel to Illinois to access safe reproductive health care unavailable in their home state. Even so, 92 percent of Illinois counties do not have abortion providers.

Launched in 1989, Personal PAC is a non-partisan political action committee dedicated to protecting and advancing reproductive rights for all women by recruiting, electing and holding accountable pro-choice candidates to state and local office in Illinois. Men4Choice is a political action committee created in 2015 to create an entry point where men can get engaged, get educated and take action to support women in the fight to protect reproductive health rights.

Death on the table – rooted in cultural imperialism
By Akbar Muhammad

Nationwide (BlackNew.com) – This article is personal for me. I received a call from my daughter informing me that my 27-year-old niece, Tina, died in the Dominican Republic having surgery to change her physical appearance. She lost her life trying to achieve the appearance of a smaller woman in what is now known and marketed as the Brazilian Butt. Unfortunately, she agreed to have three surgeries including breast implants and a nice little word they call a tummy-tuck (liposuction).

Many people get these procedures done because of low self-esteem and poor body-image. However, for black and brown people there is a driving factor that I call cultural imperialism where a foreign culture imposes its standards on another people and culture.

A new report from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons reveals that Americans spent $16 billion – more than ever before – on cosmetic plastic surgery and minimally-invasive procedures in 2016. The truth is some of it like the liposuction can be achieved with more disciplined dietary habits and exercise.

Many of our young men and women want a quick fix by going under the scalpel (knife) to surgically alter features inherited from their parents. They gamble with their life.

Much of this is rooted in the lack of self-knowledge, self-love and accepting how God has made and validated them.

The late Barry White sang it in “Just the Way You Are” where he said “Don’t go changing, trying to please me… Don’t go trying some new fashion… I love you just the way you are.” Whether Barry White was thinking about what we are doing to ourselves, one would never know; but the lyrics appropriately fits what is going on now.

People from all walks of life suffer with this problem.

Celebrities like professional baseball player Sammy Sosa, who is from the Dominican Republic was not happy with his dark skin complexion and medically lightened his skin tone.

It’s a search for validation in a world that has redefined, corrupted and then marketed standards of beauty and cultural expression. But the physical alterations in hope for love, acceptance and validation is shallow and temporary.

Skin whitening products are widely sold in Africa and the Caribbean. A recent Washington Times article said statistics from the World Health Organization say, “roughly 75 % of Nigerian women, 27 % of Senegalese women and 33 % of South African women regularly use skin-lightening products.” The article said, over half of all cosmetic products sold in India are skin-lightening products. This is what I call Cultural Imperialism.

I say to young women and some men, don’t gamble with your life thinking that the change will make you more than what you are.

Some will reject what I am writing about. My niece was a beautiful young lady with a 9-year-old son. If my writing on this will save one life, then it is worth it.

I was asked to speak at her funeral service and Allah (God) willing, I will read this article and hope it will discourage another young lady from going abroad to change her appearance thinking it will make life better.

It is better that you love yourself and live to love and raise your children in self-love, and not try remaking your body to attract a man or a woman or love outside of you.

Akbar Muhammad may be reached at: aakbar314@yahoo.com

Photo Caption: Tina, niece of Akbar Muhammad