Dr. Ron Chapman, director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and state health officer, on Friday warned consumers not to eat Red Vines Black Licorice Twists, Family Mix, Mixed Bites and Snaps containing black licorice.
This warning comes after the manufacturer expanded its Aug. 22 recall because it determined these products may contain levels of lead exceeding the state’s standards.
Consumers in possession of the candy should discard it immediately.
The following products are subject to this expanded recall:
Black Licorice Bar, 2.5 oz.
Jumbo Black Licorice Hanging Bag, 8 oz.
Black Licorice Tray, 5 oz.
Black Licorice Laydown Bag, 7 oz.
Black Licorice Laydown Bag, 16 oz.
Black Licorice Jar, 4 lbs.
Mixed Bites Hanging Bag, 8 oz.
Mixed Bites Bag, 16 oz.
Family Mix Laydown Bag, 24 oz.
Family Mix Laydown Bag, 32 oz.
Snaps Hanging Bag, 5.5 oz.
Snaps Theater Box, 4.5 oz.
Snaps Tin, 12 oz.
Red Vines Sugar Free Black Licorice and Red Flavor Licorice products are not subject to this recall.
A full list of the recalled products and pictures of their labels can be found at http://www.cdph.ca.gov/pubsforms/Documents/fdbFrAME2p.pdf .
Red Vines Black Licorice candy products are manufactured and distributed by American Licorice Co., Union City, Calif.
CDPH is currently working with the manufacturer to ensure that the contaminated candies are removed from the marketplace. American Licorice Co. expanded its earlier recall after additional testing of black licorice products determined that recently produced products could also contain elevated levels of lead.
Pregnant women and parents of children who may have eaten this candy should consult their physician or health care provider to determine if medical testing is needed.
Consumers who find this candy for sale should call the CDPH Complaint Hotline at 1-800-495-3232.
For more information about lead poisoning, contact your county childhood lead poisoning prevention program or public health department.
Additional information is available on the CDPH Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention page, http://www.cdph.ca.gov/healthinfo/discond/Pages/CLPPBChildrenAtRisk.aspx , and the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Lead and Lead-Contaminated Products Web page, http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/Pages/LeadFAQ.aspx .
National Institutes of Health scientists have identified how a kind of immature immune cell responds to a part of influenza virus and have traced the path those cells take to generate antibodies that can neutralize a wide range of influenza virus strains.
Study researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of NIH, were led by Gary Nabel, M.D., Ph.D., director of NIAID’s Vaccine Research Center. Their findings appear online in advance of print in Nature.
“This new understanding of how an immature immune cell transforms into a mature B cell capable of producing antibodies that neutralize a wide variety of influenza viruses could speed progress toward a universal flu vaccine – one that would provide protection against most or all influenza virus strains,” said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
Universal flu vaccines, which are in development at NIAID and elsewhere, differ significantly from standard influenza vaccines.
Unlike standard vaccines, which prompt the immune system to make antibodies aimed at the variable head of a lollipop-shaped influenza protein called hemagglutinin (HA), a universal flu vaccine would elicit antibodies that target HA’s stem.
Because the stem varies relatively little from strain to strain and does not change substantially from year to year, a vaccine that can elicit HA stem-targeted antibodies would, in theory, provide recipients with broad protection from the flu. The neutralizing antibodies generated would recognize any strain of flu virus.
Finding ways to elicit these broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) is thus a key challenge for universal flu vaccine developers.
However, there is a snag. Researchers knew what the end products (mature bnAbs) look like, but they did not have a clear picture of the initial steps that stimulate their development.
Specifically, they lacked an understanding of how the precursor immune cell – called a naïve B cell – first recognizes the HA stem and starts down a path that ends in mature bnAb-producing B cells.
In the new research, Dr. Nabel and his colleagues demonstrated that the immature antibodies can only recognize and bind to HA’s stem when the antibodies are attached to the membrane of a naïve B cell.
The investigators showed that this initial contact delivers a signal that triggers the maturation of these naïve B cell into countless daughter cells, some of which acquire the specific genetic changes that give rise to HA-stem-binding antibodies.
“We have repeated the first critical steps in the route leading to broadly neutralizing influenza antibodies,” said Dr. Nabel. “Understanding how such antibodies originate could allow for rational design of vaccine candidates that would prompt the correct naïve B cells to go on to mature into bnAb-producing cells.”
The findings could also be relevant to HIV vaccine design, noted Dr. Nabel. There, too, eliciting bnAbs to relatively constant portions of HIV is a key goal.
The insights into how naïve B cells recognize constant components of a virus and mature into bnAb-producing cells could guide efforts to design an HIV vaccine capable of reproducing this effect.
NIAID conducts and supports research – at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide – to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses.
SACRAMENTO – Raw milk, raw skim milk (non-fat) and raw cream produced by Organic Pastures Dairy of Fresno County and with a code date of SEP 13 are the subjects of a statewide recall and quarantine order announced by California State Veterinarian Dr. Annette Jones.
The quarantine order followed the confirmed detection of campylobacter bacteria in raw cream. No illnesses have been reported at this time.
Under the recall, Organic Pastures Dairy brand Grade A raw cream, Grade A raw milk and Grade A raw skim milk, all with a labeled code date of SEP 13, are to be pulled immediately from retail shelves, and consumers are strongly urged to dispose of any product remaining in their refrigerators.
CDFA inspectors found the bacteria as a result of product testing conducted as part of routine inspection and sample collection at the facility.
According to California Department of Public Health, symptoms of campylobacteriosis include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever.
Most people with campylobacteriosis recover completely. Illness usually occurs two to five days after exposure to campylobacter and lasts about a week.
The illness is usually mild and some people with campylobacteriosis have no symptoms at all. However, in some persons with compromised immune systems, it can cause a serious, life-threatening infection. A small percentage of people may have joint pain and swelling after infection.
In addition, a rare disease called Guillain-Barre syndrome that causes weakness and paralysis can occur several weeks after the initial illness.
The United States lags three other industrialized nations – France, Germany and the United Kingdom – in its potentially preventable death rate, and in the pace of improvement in preventing deaths that could have been avoided with timely and effective health care, according to a Commonwealth Fund–supported study published as a web first online on Aug. 29 in Health Affairs.
Between 1999 and 2006-07, the overall potentially preventable death rate among men ages 0 to 74 dropped by only 18.5 percent in the United States, while the rate declined by nearly 37 percent in the UK For women, the rate fell by 17.5 percent in the U.S. but by nearly 32 percent in the UK
In “In Amenable Mortality – Deaths Avoidable Through Health Care – Progress In the US Lags That of Three European Countries,” Ellen Nolte, director of Health and Healthcare at RAND Europe and Martin McKee, Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine analyzed amenable mortality trends.
Amenable mortality is a measure of deaths before age 75 that could potentially have been prevented by timely access to appropriate health care.
The research also looked at death rates for those under 65, as well as deaths between ages 65 and 74 from conditions like treatable cancer, diabetes, infections, and heart disease.
While the pace of improvement was slower in the U.S. for both age groups, the lag was most pronounced among American men and women under age 65, who are more likely to be uninsured and have problems with access to care than those 65 and older, who are eligible for Medicare.
By comparison, France, Germany and the United Kingdom all provide affordable, universal coverage to their populations regardless of age.
“These findings strengthen the case for reforms that will enable all Americans to receive timely and effective health care” said Nolte, lead author of the study.
By 2007, the potentially preventable death rate among U.S. men under age 65 was 69 per 100,000, considerably higher than in the UK (53), Germany, (50) and France (37).
Death rates for men in this age group have declined more rapidly in all three countries since 1999 than in the United States.
Among women under age 65, the potentially preventable death rate dropped from 64 to 56 per 100,000 in the U.S., from 61 to 46 per 100,000 in the UK, from 49 to 40 per 100,000 in Germany, and from 42 to 34 per 100,000 in France.
For both women and men under age 65, U.S. potentially preventable death rates were higher than the other three countries.
In contrast to the under-65 population, U.S. potentially preventable death rates compared relatively well for men and women ages 65-74, the age when people in the U.S. become eligible for Medicare. However, the U.S. rate of decline in this age group was slower than that in the UK And Germany.
“Despite spending about twice as much per person each year on health care as France, Germany or the UK – $8,400 in 2010 – the U.S. is increasingly falling behind these countries in terms of progress in lowering the potentially preventable death rate,” said Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis. “The good news is that the Affordable Care Act is already beginning to close the gaps in access to care. When fully implemented, it will cover nearly all Americans, with the potential to put our country on track to improve to levels seen in the best-performing countries.”