More Children Hospitalized In Outbreak Stemming From Dental Clinic’s Water
Water samples from the clinic have tested positive for bacteria that causes an infection that is treatable but often requires multiple intravenous antibiotics given for months.
Orange County Register:
Dental Infection Outbreak Climbs To 14 Children Treated At Anaheim Clinic
An outbreak of infections among patients treated at an Anaheim pediatric dental clinic has grown to 14 children, the county’s Health Care Agency said Tuesday. The children, ages 3 to 9, have all required hospitalization at some point after undergoing baby tooth root canals, or pulpotomies, at Children’s Dental Group between April and July, said agency spokeswoman Jessica Good. The clinic stopped doing the procedure Sept. 6, and on Thursday the Health Care Agency ordered the office to stop using water for dental work after lab tests found the presence of mycobacteria believed to be the source of the illnesses. (Perkes, 9/20)
In other news from across the state —
East Bay Times:
Oakland: Preemies, Kaiser Staff Hold Special Reunion
Dozen of babies and preschoolers were among about 300 people who gathered at Dunsmuir House on Sept. 17 for a special kind of reunion. The children were all “graduates” of Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The “preemies” were all born many weeks before their due dates — some as young as 26 weeks gestation — and were nursed through those critical early days and weeks by NICU staff, many of whom attended the reunion. Jessica Casher, an RN who works in the 24-bed NICU, was delighted to reunite with some of the kids she’d cared for. “It’s amazing to see all these children. It’s why we do what we do,” Casher said. “Once they leave, we don’t usually see them again, so it’s great to see them thrive. It makes the hard days at work all worth it.” (Sharpe, 9/20)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Interfaith To Open Detox, Health Center
Interfaith Community Services plans to open a 75-bed behavior health and addiction recovery center in North County early next year, the head of the nonprofit announced at the group’s annual meeting Tuesday. The project is being funded by the Alliance Healthcare Foundation, which awarded Interfaith a $1 million grant to operate it for the next two years. Interfaith’s Recovery and Welleness Center will include sobriety services, which are available in downtown San Diego and El Cajon, but haven’t existed in North County since 2013, when Interfaith closed its Escondido Community Sobering Services. That facility had 10 beds for detox and 32 bed residential program. (Warth, 9/20)
Santa Cruz Sentinel:
Santa Cruz County Discarded Needle Count Pushes 12,000
In the nearly four years that the community group Take Back Santa Cruz formed its Needles Solutions Team, volunteers have recorded finding 11,745 used hypodermic needles that were improperly disposed throughout Santa Cruz County — averaging 261 found per month. Between August and September this year, the group marked a significant spike in found needles, up to 423, but for the right reasons, said Take Back Santa Cruz founder Analicia Cube. (York, 9/20)
The Press Democrat:
Clover To Make All Its Conventional Milk Products Non GMO
Petaluma-based Clover Stornetta Farms next year will start to make all its dairy products free of genetically modified organisms. In the first quarter of 2017, the Bay Area’s largest dairy processor will sell a new product, “Non-GMO Project Verified” conventional milk, President/CEO Marcus Benedetti said Tuesday. Clover will start its transition with all conventional milk sold in half-gallon cartons, including the various weights from nonfat to whole milk. Over the next two years the company will switch all its other liquid milk products, like half-and-half and buttermilk, to non-GMO production, with a goal of eventually adding ice cream and other food products. GMOs appear in dairy products through livestock feed. (Digitale, 9/20)