Herpes, hepatitis A, swine flu -- beer pong transmits disease?
No beer pong? What is college life without beer pong?
Last year, some publication at the University of California at Los Angeles – UCLA – warned students that beer pong, a communal drinking game, could be a source of infectious disease like herpes.
The N.Y Times reports tomorrow that students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., are being asked to refrain from playing beer pong after an outbreak of illness that officials feared might be swine flu.
The story notes that what used to be O.K. is not anymore, as the flu has ushered in new standards of etiquette that can be, in turns, mundane, absurd and heartbreaking.
Heartbreaking and beer pong. College life is tragic.
New York teen left kitten in oven to die
Associated Press is reporting a New York City teenager has admitted that she failed to let a kitten out of an oven after a friend put the animal inside and left it to roast to death.
After pleading guilty to charges of animal cruelty and attempted burglary on Wednesday, 17-year-old Cheyenne Cherry confronted a row of animal activists outside the courtroom. Cherry stuck out her tongue and told the activists that the kitten named Tiger Lily was dead.
Authorities say Cherry and a 14-year-old friend ransacked a Bronx apartment before putting the cat in the oven, where it cried and scratched before dying.
The 14-year-old was charged with aggravated animal cruelty and burglary in the May 6 incident.
Cherry will serve a year in jail under a plea bargain.
Company says snakehead was planted in T.G.I. Friday's meal
T.G.I. Friday said a severed snake head found in a dish of broccoli at one of its upstate New York restaurants was likely planted in the meal.
The Carrollton, Texas, company says Friday it asked the New York State Police to open a criminal investigation into product tampering. Spokeswoman Amy Freshwater said the snakehead was sent for testing at an independent laboratory that confirmed it had never been cooked and was added to the cooked broccoli.
'Fecal material' at N.Y. Applebee's
Actor John Corbett – Chris on Northern Exposure, Carrie’s boyfriend for awhile on Sex and the City, empathetic husband on The United States of Tara – needs to do a new Applebee’s advert (he’s the voice).
Shigella – it only comes from fecal material.
WSYR-TV is reporting the Onondaga County Health Department in New York state has confirmed seven cases of Shigella in people who recently ate at the Applebee’s in Camillus, and that up to 9,000 people may have been exposed to the bacteria
County Health Commissioner Dr. Cynthia Morrow said Shigella is associated with consuming water or food contaminated with fecal matter.
Those who are confirmed ill ate at the restaurant on either Saturday, March 7th or Sunday, March 8th, but the overall window that the Health Department is looking at is between Sunday, March 1st and Friday, March 20th.
The health department waited until Tuesday to announce the illnesses because it had sent stool samples to the lab, and had just gotten the results back.
Health officials are now testing all employees at the restaurant, which remains open.
Staff butchering deer leads to closure of Chinese restaurant
“In general, you can’t have a dead animal in a food services establishment.”
That’s the advice from Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Anthony J. Billittier IV after a dead deer was discovered being butchered in a restaurant.
The Buffalo News in New York reports the discovery was made after a tipster called the Health Department.
A health inspector was quickly sent to the restaurant, which was immediately closed. A hearing on the matter is expected to be held early next week.
Officials don’t know whether the dead deer at China King, 5999 South Park Ave., had been hunted or if it was road kill.
Hepatitis A scare at New York Wegmans store
Anyone who handled or ate raw produce purchased from the Wegmans on Sheridan Drive since January 7th is asked to contact their doctor or get treated at free clinics this weekend.Produce shelves at the Wegmans store on Sheridan Drive were empty last night after the store pulled all potentially contaminated products.
The Erie County Health Department is hosting clinics at the Erie Community College north campus from 4 p.m. to midnight Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday. For more information call 1-800-808-1987.
Wegmans spokesperson Ann McCarthy said,
"We will be doing, as we've done in the past, making automated phone calls to customers who would have purchased potentially affected products from our Sheridan Drive store."
Additional information about hepatitis A can be found at
www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/a/
Dude, wash your hands. And don't eat poop.
