'Team Diarrhea' investigators in MN

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that investigators from the Minnesota Department of Health helped trace the source of a mysterious salmonella outbreak. Turns out it was jalapeno peppers.

"While tomatoes haven't been entirely cleared by federal authorities, attention has now turned to the peppers in what federal officials said was a major break in the case. A gee-whiz state lab, investigators dubbed "Team Diarrhea" and a unique approach to sleuthing illness contributed to the breakthrough."

Peruvian bird dung

Peru's Guano Trade - a New York Times slideshow June 2008

"Guano is an organic fertilizer once found in abundance on more than 20 islands off the coast of Peru, where an exceptionally dry climate preserves the droppings of seabirds like the guanay cormorant and the Peruvian booby.

"...teams of laborers from the highlands of Peru now scrape the dung off the soil by hand and place it on barges destined for the mainland... they rise before dawn to scrape the hardened guano with shovels and pick-axes.

"Guano in Peru sells for about $250 a ton while fetching $500 a ton when exported to France, Israel and the United States. Its status as an organic fertilizer has also increased demand, transforming it into a organic niche fertilizer sold around the world."

Pool water contamination

A certain Pennsylvania county wants to prevent incidents in pool water that sicken residents.

"Impatient for tighter state health safeguards following cryptosporidosis outbreaks at pools in Montgomery and Chester counties last summer, Bucks County has drafted its own tougher rules for public bathing places.

"The highly contagious parasitic infection -- spread through contaminated feces -- causes diarrhea, cramps and other symptoms that mirror stomach flu.

"...Central to Bucks County's effort to prevent an outbreak of cryptosporidosis is a requirement that pools shut down after any "fecal, diarrhea or vomiting incident" in the pool water."

newspaper article:
Bucks looks to safeguard pools; County wants rules to prevent contamination from feces, vomit. Morning Call. Allentown, Pa.: May 9, 2008. pg. B.1

Toliet use in outer space

Here's another story on the CNN website about bodily functions in outer space.

"The international space station's lone toilet is broken, leaving the crew with almost nowhere to go. So NASA may order an in-orbit plumbing service call when space shuttle Discovery visits next week.

"Until then, the three-man crew will have to make do with a jury-rigged system when they need to urinate.

"While one of the crew was using the Russian-made toilet last week, the toilet motor fan stopped working, according to NASA... Fortunately, the solid waste collecting part is functioning normally."

Human wastes fertilize the soil

Today an online search went awry. Instead of information about Michigan in the late 1880s the database located a journal article titled "From city to farm: Urban wastes and the American farmer" in Agricultural History, Vol. 49, No. 4, (Oct., 1975).

"City wastes were used on the land in America as early as the mid eighteenth century, if not before. One historian notes that in 1765 much of the 'dung and ordure of Manhatten' [sic] was used to fertilize farms along the East River, while another observes that farmers utilized the night soil of Boston as well as New York in the 1830s and 1840s.

In a footnote I saw:

"Several sources mention the utilization of 'poudrette,' a commercial fertilizer manufactured from urban sewage and night soil, before the Civil War."

"Motility" in scholarly article

A recent visit to an academic library turned up an accidental discovery: a journal article titled "Listening to Bowel Sounds: An evidence-based practice project." The subtitle: "Nurses find that a traditional practice isn't the best indicator of returning gastrointestinal motility in patients who've undergone abdominal surgery."

This article was found discarded next to the public printer. It can be found the American Journal of Nursing (2005) Vol. 105, No. 12.

At the end of the article was a 15-part multiple choice test. Question Six said:

"The key bowel-related parameter of postoperative recovery of GI motility is:
A) coordinated contractions of the stomach;
B) passage of flatus;
C) coordinated contractions of the colon;
D) passage of stool

Poop school?

A story on the CNN website discussed ways to help children, saying some are in a "power struggle" with their parents over pooping.

"Sarah Teres enrolled Molly in the Toilet Training School at Children's Hospital Boston. At age 2½ "...she wouldn't poop. She would hold it for days," Teres admitted.

"By the time the children come in with their families, it has become a power struggle," explained Dr. Alison Schonwald, a pediatrician who supervises the "poop school," as it's affectionately called by staffers. "The kids kind of dig in their heels and put a line in the sand."

"For some kids, the toilet training process can take more than a year, or longer.

"The six-week program at Children's Hospital is one of a handful around the country. Kimberly Dunn, a pediatric nurse practitioner, has worked with some of the 450 young graduates over the years."

Dunn uses books, music and art to help the students overcome their fear of using the toilet.