- Number of Addicted Newborns in Kentucky Soars 2,400 Percent
- Dole Italian Blend Salad Recalled
Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
Number of Addicted Newborns in Kentucky Soars 2,400 Percent
In Kentucky, the number of hospitalizations for addicted newborns rose from 29 in 2000 to 730 last year, a 2,400 percent increase that dwarfs the national rise of 330 percent between 2000 and 2009.
One day this month at the University of Louisville Hospital, more than half the babies in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit were suffering from drug withdrawal, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.
The rapidly growing numbers of addicted newborns are an indication of Kentucky's huge problem with prescription drug abuse, which kills about 1,000 people in the state each year and destroys thousands more lives.
"It's a silent epidemic that's going on out there," Audrey Tayse Haynes, secretary of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, told the Courier-Journal. "You need to say: 'Stop the madness. This is too much.'"
-----
Dole Italian Blend Salad Recalled
Possible Listeria contamination has led to the recall of 1,039 cases of Dole Italian Blend bagged salads that were shipped to eight U.S. states, California-based Dole Fresh Vegetables announced Wednesday.
The company said the bagged salads -- which contain romaine lettuce and radicchio -- were distributed to Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Mississippi and Virginia, CBS News reported.
The recalled bags of salad have a Use-By date of Aug. 20 and UPC number 7143000819.
The recall was triggered after the North Carolina Department of Agriculture detected Listeria monocytogenes bacteria in a randomly selected sample of the product. No illnesses have been reported.
Listeria monocytogenes can cause the foodborne illness listeriosis and is especially dangerous to the elderly, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, CBS News reported.
For more information, consumers can call the Dole Food Company Consumer Response Center at 1-800-356-3111, between 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (PT) Monday through Friday.
-----
Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Reader Comments (