Attention, chocolate lovers: You may not be able to help yourselves. Swiss and British scientists have linked the widespread love of chocolate to a chemical "signature" that may be programmed into our metabolic systems.
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Health Highlights: Nov. 6, 2007
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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay: MRSA Common Among Pigs, Pig Farmers Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria are common among Canadian pigs and pig farmers, says a study that looked for MRSA in 285 pigs at 20 Ontario farms. Researchers found MRSA at 45 percent of the farms, in nearly 25 percent of pigs, and in 20 percent of pig farmers. The study, which appears in the journal Veterinary Microbiology, is the first to indicate that North American pigs and pig farms regularly carry MRSA. The findings seem to support previous European research that identified pig farms as a possible source of these antibiotic-resistant infections, which commonly occur in hospitals. In the United States, members of the Keep Antibiotics Working coalition want the federal government to study whether the use of human antibiotics in farm animals is contributing to an increase in MRSA infections and deaths among people. "Identifying and controlling community sources of MRSA is a public health priority of the first order. Are livestock farmers and farms in the United States also sources? We don''t know for sure, because the U.S. government is not systematically testing U.S. livestock for MRSA," Richard Wood, steering committee chair of Keep Antibiotics Working, said in a prepared statement. In 2005, MRSA infections killed nearly 19,000 people in the United States, compared to 17,000 HIV/AIDS deaths, according to results of a study published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association. ----- Mattel Recalls Fisher-Price Kitchen Toys
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