There are 26 confirmed cases of food poisoning related to deli meats produced by a Canada-based Maple Leaf Foods plant. 12 of those cases have resulted in death. Listeria, the bacteria that was found in all of the people who contracted food poisoning, was detected in two beef products made at the Toronto plant.

The plant in question is closed while health officials inspect and test product until they're sure it is safe to reopen the plant. Maple Leaf Foods voluntarily pulled 220 products that are produced at the plant, a safety move that cost the company roughly $19 million.

There are another 29 suspected cases of food poisoning related to the tainted deli meats and health officials expect more cases will surface in the coming days.

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The United States is the richest and most powerful country on the planet (although China is making a run for the title). So it.s distressing to hear that the U.S. ranks at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to preventable death rankings for treatable conditions among 19 leading industrialized nations.

Raking in the top spots were France, Japan and Australia. So, why is the U.S. so low? Researchers reporting their results in Health Affairs peg the cause at a faulty U.S. health care system.

If the health care industry performed like the three countries that rated best in preventable deaths, there would be 101,000 fewer deaths every year in this country. Wow. That's 100 thousand, folks.

And this I agree completely with: the researchers also said that these preventable deaths are an important way to gauge the performance of a country's health care system. I wonder what Michael Moore thinks about these rankings?

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A new report from the U.S. government indicated this past week hat the incidence of vaccine-preventable deaths in American has reached an all-time low.

The report, published by the CDC, concluded that childhood vaccinations have severely reduced the death rates from common childhood diseases to the tune of 100 percent.

Looked at in the study were 13 vaccine-preventable deaths: diphtheria; pertussis (whooping cough); tetanus; polio; measles; mumps; rubella (German measles); invasive Haemophilia's influenza type b (Hib); acute hepatitis B; hepatitis A; varicella (chickenpox); Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcal); and smallpox.

Although some parents are against the vaccination of their kids to so many conditions, do you consider this "news" from the CDC to be good or just some sign of the times?

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U.S. health officials said this past week that a mutated version of a common cold virus has caused 10 deaths in the last year and-a-half. Generally, the common cold is not thought of as a cause of death, except in those with severely weakened immune systems.

This version of an 'Adenovirus' has caused respiratory infections as a variant of a normal cold virus that, to this time, has caused about 140 illnesses in New York, Oregon, Washington and Texas.

The mutation, which was published in a report by the CDC, is not a threat to normal, healthy people, so no new precautions need to be taken by the public, according to the published report.

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One difference between the terms "obese" and "overweight" is the number associated with body mass index (BMI). Take your weight, divide it by your height, and square it -- that's your BMI. If your number is 30 or above, you are considered obese. If it's 25 to 30, then you fall in the overweight category. Be warned, though. Some experts don't put much stock in the BMI since it only accounts for weight and height, and not muscle mass.

According to a new study appearing in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, another difference between the two is that one -- obesity -- is associated with 11 percent of deaths from a number of cancers and nine percent of deaths due to cardiovascular problems. Being overweight is not linked at all to these types of deaths. In fact, it's also not related in any significant way to the 40 percent of deaths due to other causes.

Could being overweight have health benefits? Perhaps, although experts don't advise gaining weight because of this speculation. And you surely should not increase your BMI to that dreaded number 30 -- because it seems that's when problems begin to occur.

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It's not a secret that pollution isn't good for the planet or the many creatures that inhabit it, but still I find the results of the study reported on here are absolutely mind-blowing. According to a study conducted at Cornell University by a professor of ecology and agricultural sciences along with a team of graduate students, various forms of pollution can be blamed for up to 40% of deaths across the globe.

Numbers that large offer a pretty scary wake-up call. Water, soil and air pollution are the biggest killers, with air pollution alone being blamed for up to 3 million deaths a year. The piece points out that toxins in the environment can lead to a range of potentially deadly health problems including cancer, immune system defects, birth defects and more.

I think that this sort of news really brings home that fact that we all need to think more about not only what we put into our bodies but also what we're expelling into the environment, as eventally a lot of that junk will end up in our bodies anyway. What do you think?

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Medtronic, a leading supplier of high-tech medical devices to hospitals and patients, is recalling the skin contact leads on its Sprint Fidelis defibrillation machines after deaths were connected to the product.

The leads themselves were names as potential causes of five deaths recently after they apparently fractured while being used on patients. Defibrillators are used to send electric charges to the heart through skin contact in order to "reset" it.

Medtronic said today that a "small chance of fractures in particular locations" were found on its Sprint Fidelis models 6930, 6931, 6948 and 6949. As a result of the leads being damaged in its findings, the biotech company is asking doctors nationwide to return affected leads and stop implantation into patients for fear of more complications until it can figure out exactly what went wrong.

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It's hard to imagine that more than 17 million people will die annually from cancer in the year 2030, but that is what a cancer official with the United Nations predicted this week.

It's comforting for those concerned with secondhand smoke to know that public smoking bans are increasing all over the world, but that till won't make a huge and significant dent in cancer cases (although perhaps lung cancer cases). My take: the junk many of us eat and the pollution we are exposed to will be main cancer culprits in the future.

In what could be considered devastating, the same U.N. official stated that poor countries will suffer the most from this projected cancer increase due to limited health fiscal resources and a lack of treatments and associated therapy.

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UNICEF said today that a record has been reached in the world of tracking children fatalities on a worldwide basis. For the first time ever, worldwide child deaths dropped to below the 10 million level.

The possible reasons for such a decrease? UNICEF pegged the causes as vitamin supplementation, insect nets (strange) and increase vaccination levels for children particularly living in poor countries. From 1990's 13 million fatality rate, 2005's 9.7 million rate is quite a decrease indeed.

Now, UNICEF's data comes form government-conducted surveys in more than 50 countries back from 2005 to last year, and the variation in all that data should cause these decreases to off the mark to some level (which will probably always be unknown). But with the increasing population of the world, it's comforting to know that many kids are surviving in it.

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Although in many cases it seems like the health care trends are leaning towards less personalized care, some doctors are trying to go in the other direction instead -- by attending the funerals of their patients. Although it can be a slightly controversial idea (especially if the family wasn't necessarily satisfied with the care), in many cases having the doctor at the funeral can be a positive experience for both sides. The doctor can get a completed picture of the client and have the opportunity to support the family, and the family can build a stronger relationship with the doctor and feel affirmed.

Do you think it's a good idea? Should all doctors try to to make themselves available and open to this idea?

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