SANTA FE the new Mexico Department of Health and the new Mexico Livestock Board advise families to avoid potential exposure to salmonella by not giving baby chicks and ducklings to children as Easter gifts.

In the last five years, new Mexico has had 15 salmonella cases related to baby chicks. Many of the cases were in young children.

This year several other states are investigating salmonella cases related to baby chicks. Many chicks and young birds carry Salmonella in their droppings, and it is difficult to know if animals are carrying salmonella because they will not usually show signs of illness.

“While there are many good reasons to purchase baby chicks, we are asking feed stores around the state to strongly discourage people from buying baby chicks as pets, especially if they have young children,” said Department of Health Cabinet Secretary Dr. Catherine Torres.

Early symptoms of salmonella in people include fever, diarrhea and abdominal pain. These symptoms develop within one to three days after exposure to baby chicks and their droppings. other symptoms might be nausea, chills or headaches.

“Children have become infected with salmonella when parents keep the baby birds inside the house and allow their small children to handle and snuggle with them,” said Dr. Paul Ettestad, state public health veterinarian at the Department of Health. “In other cases, parents did not wash their hands properly after handling the birds and gave the infection to their children indirectly.”

The Department of Health also recommends the following preventive measures:

• Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water immediately after touching live baby poultry or anything in the area where they live and roam. use hand sanitizer if soap and water are not readily available.

• Adults should supervise hand washing for young children.

• Don’t snuggle or kiss the birds, touch your mouth, or eat or drink around live baby poultry.

• Do not let live baby poultry inside the house or in areas where food or drink is prepared, served, or stored, such as kitchens, pantries, or outdoor patios.

• Do not clean any equipment or materials associated with raising or caring for live poultry, such as cages or feed or water containers, in the house.

• Do not let children younger than 5 touch chicks, ducklings, or other live poultry.

• Visit your physician if you experience abdominal pain, fever and/or diarrhea.

To learn more about salmonella infection from live baby poultry, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website at: cdc.gov/Features/SalmonellaBabyBirds/.

A new study published in the journal Lancet on March 1 reports that the human papillomavirus (HPV) infects about half of men in the United States, Brazil and Mexico. Here’s what you need to know about this prevalent sexually transmitted virus.

The study also cites that every year, six percent of men become newly infected with HPV 16, the strain that causes cervical cancer in women and other cancers in men.

Risk factors increase the more sexual partners a person has. Men who had 50 or more female partners were 2.4 times more likely to become infected than men who had one or no partner. For men who had been with three or more male partners, the risk was 2.6 times higher than men with no male partners.

The study cites more than 40 types of HPV that are transmissible via sexual contact, with genital warts being the most common. Most men who get any time of HPV, however, never develop any symptoms or health problems. other types can cause penile, anal, or head and neck cancers.

Currently, there is no test to find HPV in men, nor is there any recommended routine screening for men. some doctors use Pap tests to screen for anal cancer in men, however, and a screening for oral lesions can be conducted during a dental visit.

Boys and men ages 9 to 26 can be vaccinated against the HPV strains that cause cancer and genital warts, according to the US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as can young women under the age of 26.

Condoms, if used every time you have sex from start to finish, may lower your chances of passing HPV to someone else or developing an HPV-related disease yourself, according to the CDC. but HPV can infect areas that are not covered by a condom, so they don’t offer full protection.

The CDC states that because HPV is so common and usually invisible, the only sure way to prevent it is not to have sexual contact. More realistically, limiting your number of sexual partners can reduce your risks.

Get the facts here: cdc.gov/std/hpv/stdfact-hpv-and-men.htm

cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/HPV

Friday March 4, 2011

PITTSFIELD — Massachusetts health officials suspect they’ve identified a possible fifth case of measles in the state, and Berkshire health professionals say the county is at the ready should the highly contagious disease show up locally.

“We saw it with H1N1 [bird flu], which made it through from Mexico,” said James Wilusz of the Pittsfield Board of Health. “It doesn’t take long to get to a state of pandemic. There’s always a possibility [for the disease to reach the Berkshires], which is why we always preach prevention.”

Measles has been rarely seen in the United States in half a century. Doctors have been giving vaccinations for the disease since the late 1950s, and students are required to get two vaccinations before beginning school. Older Americans carry the antibodies from when the disease was more widely prevalent.

An employee of the French Consulate in Boston brought measles back to Massachusetts in January, the only confirmed case of the disease. since then, an additional four people in the state have been identified as having measles-like symptoms, the latest being a University of Massachusetts Boston professor.

Local officials are wary, but aren’t predicting an immediate threat here.

“Do I think it’s going to make it out here? I think the likelihood is very low,” said Dr. Philip Adamo, saying that the geographic distance mitigates much of the threat. “But if somebody in the Berkshires was in the same building as the [original patient], or rode the T when this woman did and they weren’t vaccinated, that would be the perfect storm.”

According to Adamo, measles is a condition that travels through airborne contact, including sneezing, coughing or breathing on other people. the main symptoms of the disease include fever, rashes, pinkeye, watery eyes, cough and white spots inside the mouth.

If left untreated, measles can lead to life-threatening respiratory and neurological conditions, including pneumonia, brain swelling and death. He said that with the U.S.’s history of vaccination, the most vulnerable people would be foreign-born residents, who might not have received one or both shots.

“This is a good way to educate people,” Adamo said. “It’s a very safe vaccine, so people shouldn’t worry about that.”

Wilusz said that with the county’s preparation for H1N1 and its connections with the federal government, the framework is in place to treat mass numbers if measles did somehow spread throughout the county.

When H1N1 was at its peak, Wilusz worked with the Berkshire Sheriff’s Department and the local school systems to divide the county into three coalitions.

These coalitions would then dispense vaccines or immune system-boosting treatments such as Immune Globulin, in the event someone was exposed.

“We always try to be as prepared as we possibly can — the board and I are in constant communication with emergency dispenser site plans, pandemic plans, continuation of operation plans,” Wilusz said. “We’re always doing our best to stay ahead of the curve.”