What I've Learned

Blogging on The Animal Link was not only a great introduction to blogging, but it has also caused me to be more mindful of the human/animal health connection and how it is portrayed in the news. I have also learned that the biggest animal threats tend to lie in the smallest animals, like insects and parasites. I hope this blog has provided as many new insights for those who've read it as the research side of it has for me.

Pets and your health

While it is often said that having pets improves a person's health, I would like for you to think about all the unsanitary conditions that humans live under with their pets. I saw on TV recently a family that had been getting sick a lot recently and it was determined that their problems may have stemmed from them letting their dog jump up onto the counter, thus depositing feces on the surfaces they prepared food on. And how about the cat that drinks from the toilet bowl and plays in the litter box, then walks around on tables and counter tops. There are so many more scenarios I could mention. But this just gives you something to think about. My point is not that people should not keep house pets, but that they should be more careful if they do.

Malaria research

Another article in the New York Times talks about the latest, and controversial, research into a malaria vaccine. Those pesky mosquitoes are a big threat to human health. This is the sole vaccine using the whole malaria-causing parasite. There is still a lot of research to be done and many questions to be answered, but an adequate malaria vaccine is certainly something the world needs.

No rare burgers for me

An article I read in the New York Times today talks about how meat processers are trying to come up with better ways to make ground beef safe. Apparantly there were a lot of recalls this year. I think that an increased effort on the part of the industry is great, as long as they don't make replace one health problem with another. For example, one of their ideas was irradiation. Hmmmm.

In my opinion the biggest threat exists when you eat at restaurants, because you don't know how they cooked your hamburger. But at home, you can prevent E. coli poisoning and other potential health hazards by making sure you cook your food well.

Consider the plover

As I explore various topics related to animals and human health through this blog I have also thought about broader ways to approach this beat. Today I read a NY Times article about efforts to increase the numbers of the endangered Atlantic piping plovers on Massachusetts beaches.

Over 20 years ago the population of these birds had fallen to 722 nesting pairs. In 2006 biologists found 1,743 pairs on the Atlantic coast, a number attributed to repopulation efforts by scientists. Part of these efforts in Revere, Mass. have included closing off various beach areas and banning off-road vehicles. Some people still complain about these inconveniences.

While this article is primarily one about how humans affect animal health, I believe the benefits come full circle. If we start paying attention to how we inhabit the world in which we live, whether for human, plant or animal sake, we will be more likely to maintain a healthy natural environment. Thus, by keeping the earth healthy, many problems associated with endangerment to human health might dissapear as well.

Struck down, but not destroyed--Rebuilding lives in New Orleans

Earlier this month, I with the rest of my health and medical journalism class took a trip to New Orleans. While the image of one abandoned house after another stands strong in my mind, something else more amazing stands out even stronger: the hard-working people embodying determination, perseverance and a hopeful vision of the future. It was the nurse who has seen more despair than many of us could take, but continues to offer care to those who need it most. It was the mental health worker who held out hope that a man's suicide attempt had not ended in death. It was the people working on rebuilding projects on empty streets. I am amazed by these efforts that started small but have grown tremendously. New Orleans offered so many examples of how care put into even the smallest action can make a difference.

Visiting the devastated areas of New Orleans put me face to face with a tragedy I had not taken much time to consider before. Dealing with the realities of life post-Katrina has left many residents depressed, some of them so much so that they choose to end their lives. I take for granted how much having a home and a sense of security is really worth. As demonstrated in the lives of New Orleanians, the loss of these things may be almost unbearable. Those people didn't just lose material possessions, they lost a way of life and many lost even the most basic tools of survival. All of a sudden there was no doctor to go to, no grocery store, no clean water, and the list goes on and on.

Cecille Tibo, administrator of the New Orleans Police Department Crisis Unit, saw the lack of healing as a stand still in the grieving process. After grief, comes acceptance, she said, but the people of New Orleans are in constant grief. Nobody can get to the acceptance part.

Tibo related to us a situation in which a man from North Carolina (also a recovered alcoholic) had moved to New Orleans to work. He became so depressed that he relapsed and one day decided to commit suicide by jumping into the river. Those at the scene assumed he was dead, but when Tibo arrived she thought that he couldn't be dead. Sure enough, he was rescued down river, lucky to be alive. Tibo said that the man later said he did it to see if God wanted him to live.

Unfortunately, this man is one of many in New Orleans who have decided that they can't take anymore. Perhaps this trend can be reversed as people like Tibo continue to reach out a helping hand and speak words of encouragement into the lives of a struggling people.


"We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed--always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen." (2 Corinthians 4:8-10, 16-18)

How about some zebra chips?

Wouldn't it be fun to have "zebra chips?" Reminds me of the zebra cakes Little Debbie makes. Well I don't think you will be getting zebra chips anytime soon, because all of those potatoes get thrown out. Now, scientists believe the phenomenon may be caused by cicada-like insects called psyllids, as reported in a Science Daily article last week. (Also see link for picture)

The article stated that the disorder was first reported in Mexican potato fields in 1994 and then in Texas potatoes in 2000. Outbreaks occurred in Mexico and the U.S. in 2004 and 2006, causing millions of dollars in losses. The article did not say whether consumption of said potatoes would be harmful to humans. I read an article on the Agri-Inject, Inc. Web site that said the stripes appear when the potatoes are sliced and put into the fryer.

All I want to know is, what would happen if you ate one?

An article on SeedQuest cited scientists as saying that the disorder is not harmful to human health "but causes serious and expensive reductions in crop yields and quality."

I guess they figure people don't really want to eat diseased potato chips, no matter how cool they look.