No raw meats for pet food; sneezers shouldn't share
Q: I recently married, and my husband says it's OK to feed my dog Oscar raw meat. I don't think so, but I don't want to start an argument. Could you settle this issue for us? - Jayme W., Portland, Oregon
A: Nice to hear from you, Jayme, and congrats on your nuptials. Raw meat diets for dogs (and cats) are increasingly popular. Americans have recently spent $100 million a year on commercially prepared, uncooked chunks of protein, believing it's a diet better suited to a pooch's digestive system.
But not only do new genomic studies show that domesticated dogs have evolved to handle a comparatively starch-rich diet, studies here and in Europe also show that raw meat-based diets often are contaminated with bacteria and parasites that can sicken both a dog and its human handlers.
A new study from The Netherlands published in the BMJ journal Vet Record analyzed 35 commercial, frozen raw meat-based diets from eight different brands. The researchers found the E. coli strain that causes severe sickness - serotype O157:H7 - in 23 percent of products tested. They also found Listeria monocytogenes in 54 percent! If transmitted from pet to human, it can be deadly. The journal Microbiological Reviews reports that Listeriosis has a mortality rate of over 20 percent and "is found mainly among pregnant women, their fetuses and immune-compromised persons." The researchers also found the stomach-turning bacteria Salmonella in 20 percent of products tested. Three varieties of parasites were in more than 22 percent of raw meat-based diets.
These findings come on the heels of a two-year study in which the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine screened over 1,000 samples of pet food for contaminants that can cause foodborne illnesses. And they found raw meat-based diets are more likely to be contaminated with disease-causing bacteria and parasites, when compared with other types of pet food tested (dried and cooked). So Jayme, spare Oscar, your new hubby, yourself and your future offspring the dangers of a raw meat-based diet. Dish up cooked pet food only.
Q: When someone sneezes, what really are the chances of spreading a cold or flu to others? - Sarah T., Springfield, Missouri
A: During cold and flu season, sneezy folks are everywhere. And those sneezes, say MIT researchers, create a cloud of potentially germ-infused droplets that balloon, break apart and disperse as a spray; they can spread up to 6 feet.
While most viruses that trigger cold-like symptoms don't live long on your hands, 40 percent of externalized rhinoviruses are still infectious after an hour. Respiratory syncytial virus, another sneeze-producing microbe, can survive on door handles for up to six hours and on clothing and tissues for 30 to 45 minutes.
Your best bet when around someone who's sneezing is to stand back, don't touch your face with your hands until you wash them, and support your immune system by maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding inflammatory foods (processed grain, sugars and red meat) and walking 10,000 steps daily.
And what should you do if YOU are the sneeze factory? Don't stifle that sneeze. A new write-up in BMJ Case Reports is about a 34-year-old man who severely damaged tissue from his neck to his ribcage when he suppressed a sneeze by pinching his nose shut and clamping his mouth closed. He was in the hospital on a feeding tube for a week. And even if nothing that dramatic happens to you, a squelched sneeze can damage sinuses or ears or cause an ear infection.
Sneezing into the crook of your elbow or upper arm (often recommended) deposits potential infectious material on you that can be easily "shared." Your best bet? When you sneeze, cover your face with a tissue. Flush the tissue. Then wash your hands for 20 seconds. Not possible? Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer. And take heart, no matter which end of a sneeze you're on, in one study, out of 61 folks with the flu, less than half released the virus into a room.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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