Health Buzz: Recall of Salmonella Tainted Products Expands

Recall of Salmonella-Tainted Products Expands

The Department of Agriculture has recalled 1.7 million pounds of ready-to-eat beef taquito and chicken quesadilla products that contain a flavoring ingredient probably tainted by salmonella, the Associated Press reports. The move comes a week after the Food and Drug Administration announced that hydrolyzed vegetable protein manufactured by Basic Food Flavors and added to thousands of processed foods was contaminated with the bacteria. For weeks after the manufacturer learned of the contamination, it continued to make and distribute the ingredient, according to the agency. The company notified its customers of a recall on February 26; the FDA made a public announcement the following week, the AP reports.

 
[Read Riskiest Foods: 3 Tips for Protecting Your Family From Illness and 4 "Harmless" Acts That Could Give You Food Poisoning.]

Women: 4 Ways to Boost Your Sexual Life Expectancy

While women live an average of five years longer than men, their other halves have a "sexual life expectancy" that's nearly five years longer than women's, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal. Perhaps it's Mother Nature's way of evening the score—or perhaps it's the pharmaceutical industry's, U.S. News's Deborah Kotz writes.

"Over the decade since Viagra was introduced, we've seen the levels of sexual interest increase noticeably in 55-year-old men, whereas it's stayed the same for women, widening the gender gap," says study author Stacy Lindau, an associate professor of medicine-geriatrics at the University of Chicago. Lindau has published numerous studies on the sex lives of adults up to age 85, finding that health is the biggest factor that determines how long we can expect to have sex and how much we can expect to enjoy it.

Her latest study shows that men who report being in "very good" or "excellent" health can expect to add five to seven years to their sexual life expectancy, while women can add three to six years. That means that while a typical 55-year-old woman can expect to have sex for an additional 11 years, that same 55-year-old who's in excellent health can expect to remain sexually active for up to 17 more years—or through age 72. (A 55-year-old man in excellent health can expect to stay active until 77.) Read more.

[Read 5 Natural Ways to Boost Sex Drive and Dr. Ruth Offers Advice on Improving Your Sex Life.]

Vaccines and Children: What the Hutterites Can Teach Us About Altruism

More and more parents are refusing to have their children vaccinated because they think that the shots aren't adequately tested or could cause autism. But when parents refuse vaccines over concerns about their own children, they may put the health of all children at risk. Putting it another way, having your kids immunized against infectious disease can be considered an altruistic act, U.S. News's Nancy Shute writes.

That's the message in a new study on how "herd immunity" combats infectious disease. It's a notion that's been around for centuries: When enough people in a population are vaccinated, disease can't spread, even if some people (such as those who, because of suppressed immune systems or other health problems, can't get the shots) aren't. About 75 to 95 percent of a group needs to be vaccinated for herd immunity to work; the proportion varies depending on how efficiently a given bug spreads. An 85 percent immunization rate halts polio, while more than 90 percent of a group needs to be vaccinated to derail pertussis. Rates of pertussis, measles, and mumps have been increasing in the past few years as more and more parents have refused vaccines.