With the end of summer fast approaching many people set to the highways this weekend to do some exploring and while many stay with family and friends there are some who will book a room to just get away from everything. Often hotel travel can be pretty cheap with popular travel rewards programs and credit card promotions for money back in spending points, so people opt to travel and use those to their advantage. This…

Being a stay-at-home-dad, lunchtime can be a time when I get to have a bit of fun in the kitchen. The little one is asleep, even I take a break from work to eat, and sometimes there is a recipe I want to try out before preparing it for the rest of the family. Other times though, when time is short, I will fix a sandwich. It was not until I began a food writer…

Spring and Summer months bring so much fun and ways to make memories. This summer we have gotten out to do so many more things outdoors and now that our boys are both getting older we are finding these day trips to be a lot easier. We want to make sure that our outings have positive memories and no illnesses. We follow the CDC closely to monitor outbreaks of illnesses and make sure that the…

The Kane County of Health Department has confirmed four cases of Legionnaires disease at a retirement facility in Batavia. In a statement released by county health officials, the department is investigating the Legionnaires disease outbreak at Covenant Living at the Holmstad Retirement Community. Here’s what we know about the Covenant Living Legionnaires Outbreak: All of them were hospitalized as soon as they came down the symptoms. “We do not know if they are still hospitalized,…

A significant increase in acute frequent diarrhea has resulted in several cases of Shigellosis in Amador County. The County’s Environmental Health and Public Health announced the outbreak after a number of people were diagnosed with Shigellosis dysentery. Shigellosis is a bacterial infection that causes food poisoning. Symptoms include watery diarrhea, abdominal cramps and vomiting. It is caused by bacteria called Shigella. Some people who are infected may have no symptoms at all, but they…

The Ohio Department of Agriculture and the FDA has issued a public health alert after four cases of Scombroid food poisoning were reported in Montgomery and Franklin counties. The illnesses were sourced to Kroger stores at Austin Landing and Cornerstone fresh yellowfin tuna steaks. FDA has advised consumers to not eat and discard the following products: Yellowfish tuna steaks sold at Kroger retail stores in AL, AR, GA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MI, MO, MS,…

A foodborne illness outbreak can be anywhere from 2 people falling ill from the same food source to hundreds or even thousands.  When an outbreak is identified, an investigation takes place to help prevent others from becoming sick for the same reason.  One of the tools investigators use is a surveillance network known as PulseNet. Here’s the latest on PulseNet and Whole Genome Sequencing: PulseNet Surveillance System PulseNet USA is a surveillance network used…