Medcare Forum » Colonoscopy

Cost of Food Pathogens by Rank

Kathleen Milazzo — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:13:10 +0000

Meat contains the food pathogens that cost us the most money which includes doctor and hospital care, lost work days and lasting health problems. This includes poultry, pork, beef among other products.

Researchers used data from the feds to link the parasites, bacteria, and viruses with the food that has the most of them the most often and then ranked them according what they would cost in money.

“We tend to think of food-borne disease as 24 hours of diarrhea and it’s over,” said J. Glenn Morris, the director of the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida and one of the authors of the study. “What this shows is that there are diseases that have significant other manifestations, that result in complications, even death. And as a result, the public health burden is so much greater.”

Campylobacter costs the most at $1.3 billion a year. It’s found in poultry and makes 600,000 people sick. Costing about $1.2 billion a year is toxoplasma from pork which can be very dangerous for a pregnant women. Listeria found in luncheon meats costs $1.1 billion a year.

The pathogens that cost the most of which there are ten cost us $8.1 billion a year.

Salmonella was the bacterium that caused the most sickness costing $3 billion a year. Since it’s found in poultry, produce, eggs and many other foods the other researchers recommend that the U.S. Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration join together to reduce contamination.

Overall it seems most of the problem comes from meat and meat products so it makes sense for the USDA to redefine some things.

Colo-rectal Cancer

Kathleen Milazzo — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:25:28 +0000

Doctors are now saying that colon cancer, the third deadliest kind can be almost eliminated. How? By simply having a colonoscopy to detect polyps and eradicating the polyps once found. They say that it’s these polyps that will develop into cancerous tumors.

My own father died an agonizing death with colon cancer, and now to find out how preventable it is, well it’s just devastating to say the least. The test is not pleasant nor is it dignified but it’s a picnic compared with the cancer itself. They are recommending it for people over 50. I’m sure this is not good news for health insurers who may have to pay for part of the tests, but then again it’s got to be cheaper in the long run than to pay for radiation, chemo, and surgeries.

When a Medical Test Makes You Sick

Kathleen Milazzo — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:57:26 +0000

This story involves the Veterans Administration Hospitals in several states and colonoscopies done without the tubing on the equipment being properly sterilized.

How would you like to be told that the colonoscopy you had five years ago may have had body fluids from another person on the equipment that was inserted into your body, and that you now have to get tested for HIV, and hepititis.

They are saying that the tubing on the machine was cleaned only at the end of the day and not in between patients, and that some of these machines had wrong valves on them that could promote contamination.

The VA seems none too willing to discuss this but hundreds of people are having to now be tested for diseases they may have picked up from the VA hospitals. If you have had a colonoscopy within the past five years at a Veterans Hospital call and find out if you need to come in for some additional testing. Remember, better safe than sorry.

Update

Kathleen Milazzo — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:02:23 +0000

Sorry for the silence this past week. We lost our modem and had to switch services, we’ve just been hooked back up this morning.

My father had a CAT Scan and they rushed him up the waiting list for the colonoscopy. My parents tell me he’s got a mass in the colon and cancer cells in three of his organs. My sister, however had a chance to sneak a peek at his doctors report and tells me he’s got cancer throughout his entire body. All his major organs have tumors and he’s so weak he can barely lift his arms. He’s waiting to see an oncologist, but I think we all know the immediate outcome of this situation.

My mothers been so sick this past year, he’s been ignoring his own aches, pains, and fatigue, and now it’s seems it’s probably too late.

We’re talking about what’s to be done upon his death and planning his funeral, per his insistance. Nothing has been harder.

I appreciate the fact that they got him in for the colonoscopy early, but the subject now seems moot.

Follow Up

Kathleen Milazzo — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:39:50 +0000

Since I have already mentioned my daughter’s baby and my mother illness, I thought maybe some of you might be curious about an update, so here it is. My new grandson is a delight and what a good baby he is. Also some of you may already know this trick, but it was new to me. When the baby is crying and you meet whatever need he is crying for, he doesn’t always know how to stop himself from crying any further and will continue. An easy way to calm him almost immediately is to take him by the sink and run the water, when he hears the water he will calm himself instantly. Of course, sometimes the second you shut the water off he will start again, but that’s another story…

Right now, my mother says she feels better than she has in a long time and hasn’t used her walker in about two weeks. The congenital heart failure seems to be getting under control too for the moment. Good news right? Well here’s the flip side. My father is ill and has to have a test. It’s a common test however he was advised that there is a two month waiting list. I think it’s a colonoscopy. They want him in tomorrow for evaluation. Why would there be a two month wait? This is the crappy hospital I mentioned in an ealier post. Is this kind of wait common? What about those who are suspected of having cancer and can’t afford to wait two months?