Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — McDonald’s Corp. said Tuesday it plans to reduce the use of antibiotics in its global beef supply, fueling projections that other restaurants will follow suit. The move by the world’s biggest fast-food chain addresses concerns that the overuse of antibiotics vital to fighting human infections in farm animals may diminish the drugs’ effectiveness […] Read more
McDonald’s to curb antibiotic use in its beef supply
Abstain from romaine: Canada, U.S. warn on E. coli in lettuce
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Public health officials in the U.S. and Canada on Tuesday warned against eating romaine lettuce while they investigate an outbreak of E. coli that has sickened 50 people in the two countries, including 13 who were hospitalized. The alerts, issued as millions of Americans plan their Thanksgiving Day menus, covered all forms of […] Read more
EU backs plan to tackle antimicrobial resistance
Reading Time: < 1 minute Brussels | Reuters — EU member states backed a plan on Wednesday to combat antimicrobial resistance, an increasing global health issue, that would reduce the use of antibiotics in the food chain and limit certain drugs to humans. Antimicrobial resistance threatens the effectiveness of medicines such as antibiotics to treat infections in humans, as bacteria […] Read more
U.S. study links bumblebee declines to fungicide use
Reading Time: 2 minutes A new look at the environmental factors around declining bumblebee populations and ranges points to a less-than-usual suspect: fungicides. “Insecticides work; they kill insects. Fungicides have been largely overlooked because they are not targeted for insects, but fungicides may not be quite as benign — toward bumblebees — as we once thought,” Scott McArt, assistant […] Read more
Chicken farmers to expand phase-out of antibiotics
Reading Time: 2 minutes The national body for Canada’s chicken producers has set new targets to phase out preventive use of the antimicrobials deemed next-to-most important in human medicine. Chicken Farmers of Canada (CFC) on Tuesday announced that, following the “successful elimination” of Category I antibiotics for disease prevention in chickens, its antimicrobial use strategy will next focus on […] Read more
Guide Health: Don’t let your minor cuts and scrapes get major
Know the difference between an at-home bandage and a trip to the doctor
Reading Time: 3 minutes Your skin protects your body from the outside world while also regulating your temperature, so any damage to your skin can result in damage to underlying structures. Everyone has had a cut or a scrape at one time or other. These usually only need to be covered with a self-adhesive bandage. For larger or more […] Read more
Bovine TB quarantines push into Saskatchewan
Reading Time: 2 minutes Two farms in southwestern Saskatchewan have been added to the list of those under federal quarantine as inspectors widen their search for cattle exposed to a new-to-Canada strain of bovine tuberculosis (TB). As of Thursday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it had “approximately 33” farms in Alberta and two in Saskatchewan under quarantine. The […] Read more
U.S. sees first case of bacteria resistant to last-resort antibiotic
Reading Time: 3 minutes Reuters — U.S. health officials on Thursday reported the first case in the country of a patient with an infection resistant to a last-resort antibiotic, and expressed grave concern that the superbug could pose serious danger for routine infections if it spreads. “We risk being in a post-antibiotic world,” said Thomas Frieden, director of the […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
