DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Cheese, yogurt and dairy recall: Here’s a list of items linked to Listeria outbreak
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-12 | by ( Mira Cheng | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Multiple large retailers, including Costco and Trader Joe’s, have recalled items containing dairy products from Rizo-López Foods Inc. due to possible Listeria contamination. Since then, the recall has expanded to include additional products made with the recalled yogurt, sour cream and cheese, such as dressings, sandwiches and salad kits. Brands and the products they have recalled in the past week include:• Sprouts Farmers Market: No Brand Chicken Street Taco Kit• SaveMart: Chicken Street Taco Kit• The Perfect Bite Co: Mexican Style Street Corn Bites• Stater Bros: Chicken Street Taco Kit• Fresh Express: Fresh Express Salsa! They can contact Rizo-López Foods Inc. directly with questions at 1-833-296-2233, and report adverse events to the FDA. This is not the first recall of Rizo-López Foods Inc. products related to Listeria, according to the CDC investigation.

Persons: Joe’s, •, Kit •, Tom Thumb, • Dole, Jack, Olive, • Marketside, Bacon, • Rojo’s, Don Pancho, Poblano Caesar, Tio Francisco, Don Francisco, Rizo, Campesino, Dos, Casa, Dr, Sanjay Gupta Organizations: CNN, Costco, López Foods Inc, Brands, • Albertsons, Safeway, Eagle, Star, HEB, Express, FDA, Rizo Bros, US Centers for Disease Control, CDC, Get CNN, CNN Health, Foods Locations: Vons, Marketside, Rio Grande , Food City, El, San Carlos, Santa Maria, Casa Cardenas, California, Texas, Hawaii

☆ Syphilis Is Soaring in the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Apoorva Mandavilli | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Syphilis, once nearly eliminated in the United States, continues to resurge, reaching the highest rate of new infections recorded since 1950, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday. More than 207,000 cases were diagnosed in 2022, the last year for which data are available. That represents an 80 percent increase since 2018, and 17 percent over the previous year’s tally, according to a new C.D.C. said more than 3,700 cases of congenital syphilis were reported in 2022, roughly 11 times the number recorded a decade ago. Experts pointed to a slew of reasons for the continued increases in syphilis and other S.T.I.s.

Organizations: Centers for Disease Control Locations: United States, resurge

☆ Last Salvadoran Woman Imprisoned Over Baby's Death Calls for Change
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-17 | by ( Jan. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

El Salvador has one of the most draconian abortion bans in the Americas, which critics say extends to women who suffer miscarriages and stillbirths. Many women have been sentenced to decades in prison on charges of killing their children. The 28-year-old woman, known as Lilian, was the last woman still imprisoned on such charges, according to two local civil rights groups. "I call on people stop denouncing other innocent women," Lilian told a press conference after a judge last month acquitted her of a 30-year sentence after seven years behind bars. Lilian, who is also the mother of a 10-year-old, said she was happy to be reunited with her family.

Persons: El, Lilian, Lillian, Nelson Renteria, Raul Cortes, Sarah Morland, Leslie Adler Organizations: SALVADOR, Reuters, Central, Citizens, Group Locations: El Salvador, Central American, Americas, Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Caribbean

☆ What to expect at work in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-02 | by ( Jeanne Sahadi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Another recent survey by consulting firm Mercer found that employers expect to promote just under 10% of their employees this year. Expect, too, to see a wider variety of employers offer more financial wellness benefits in 2024. “After three years of turmoil it finally looks like [work from home] has stabilized and 2024 will look a lot like 2023. Employees who can work a hybrid schedule are generally working from home roughly 30% of the week (or about 1.5 days), Bloom noted. For example, someone with a busy work schedule may opt to take them via text or chat on their phone on a Sunday morning, he said.

Persons: WTW, Mercer, ” Mercer, Rich Fuerstenberg, Emily Rose McRae, ” McRae, McRae, ”, Nick Bloom, Bloom, Anthony Reynolds, Reynolds Organizations: New, New York CNN, Gartner Inc, …, Stanford University, Employees Locations: New York

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Survivors of the harmful morning sickness drug thalidomide were in the public gallery Wednesday when Australia’s Parliament made a national apology to them on the 62nd anniversary of the drug being withdrawn from sale in the country. “Today, on behalf of the people of Australia, our government and this Parliament offers a full unreserved and overdue apology to all thalidomide survivors, their families, loved ones, and carers,” Albanese said. The apology was recommended in 2019 by a Senate inquiry into the support that was available to aging thalidomide survivors. The government will fulfill another recommendation Thursday by opening a memorial in Canberra in recognition of thalidomide survivors and their families. Australia established a support program in 2020 that is providing lifelong assistance to 148 survivors, and Albanese said his government was reopening the program to survivors who had yet to register.

Persons: thalidomide, Anthony Albanese’s, “, ” Albanese, Trish Jackson, ” Jackson, Albanese, Jackson, “ It’s Organizations: —, Australian Broadcasting Corp, Diageo Scotland Ltd Locations: CANBERRA, Australia, Canberra, Zealand, British

___Their recommendations include securing land rights for women, promoting women's cooperatives and encouraging women to lead on developing climate policy. The link between phenomena like uterine prolapse and climate change is indirect but significant, said Seema Bhaskaran, who tracks gender issues for the nonprofit Transform Rural India Foundation. “It must prioritize awareness programs that emphasize the specific health challenges women face in the wake of climate change as a critical step towards increasing public knowledge. These efforts will also serve as a call to action for governments, institutions, and communities to prioritize women’s health and well-being as a central component of their climate initiatives,” she added. “Definitely there is a very clear recognition that climate has a health impact and health needs to be considered more seriously,” she said.

Persons: Manju Devi, Devi, hadn’t, ___, Seema Bhaskaran, Bhaskaran, Savita Singh, Singh's, Singh, ”, Babita Kumari, Kumari, Poonam, COP28, Anjal Prakash, Shweta Narayan Organizations: DELHI, India Climate Journalism, Associated Press, Stanley Center for Peace, Security, Press Trust of India, India's, Transform Rural, Foundation, Climate Central, Population Foundation of India, Bharat Institute of Public, Indian School of Business, United Nations, Health, AP Locations: Delhi, Dubai, India, New Delhi, Syaraul, Uttar Pradesh, Nanu, U.S

☆ Infants Are Born With Syphilis in Growing Numbers, a Sign of a Wider Epidemic
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Apoorva Mandavilli | More About Apoorva Mandavilli | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Syphilis during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage and stillbirth, and infants who survive may become blind or deaf, or have severe developmental delays. In 2022, the disease caused 231 stillbirths and 51 infant deaths. Nearly 90 percent of the new cases could have been prevented with timely testing and treatment, according to the agency. “Syphilis in babies continues to increase, and the situation is dire,” Dr. Laura Bachmann, chief medical officer at the agency’s division for prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, said in an interview. “We need to do things differently.”

Persons: Dr, Laura Bachmann, ” Organizations: Centers for Disease Control Locations: United States

Nov 7 (Reuters) - The number of newborns with syphilis in the United States surged more than 10-fold in the last decade, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Tuesday. The agency said 3,761 cases were recorded in 2022, the highest in over 30 years, up from 334 cases in 2012. The 2022 cases included 231 stillbirths and 51 infant deaths. Congenital syphilis occurs when a mother with syphilis passes the infection to her baby during pregnancy. The CDC recommends screening for syphilis at the first prenatal care visit to reduce perinatal transmission.

Persons: Laura Bachmann, Bachmann, Sriparna Roy, Nancy Lapid Organizations: U.S . Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, CDC's, CDC, Thomson Locations: United, Bengaluru

The fallout was quick: Nevada, which saw a 44 percentage-point jump in congenital syphilis from 2021 to 2022, was supposed to get more than $10 million to bolster its STD program budget. In 2021, there were 77.9 cases of congenital syphilis per 100,000 live births. Doing so in a timely manner can prevent congenital syphilis. Mississippi is also seeing an uptick in congenital syphilis cases, which a recently published study showed rose tenfold between 2016 and 2022. Agency head Dr. Dan Edney said one of his top priorities now is finding money from other parts of the state's health budget.

Persons: they’d, Dawn Cribb, ”, Sam Burgess, Deneshun Graves, Lupita Thornton, Graves, Thornton, “, Dan Edney, Rebecca Scranton, ” Scranton, Robert Wood Johnson Organizations: Nevada Division of Public, Behavioral, Associated Press, Louisiana Department of Health, U.S . Centers for Disease Control, Houston Health Department, Health, Mississippi State Department of Health, Agency, of Health Services, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AP Locations: U.S, Nevada, . Mississippi, Arizona

☆ El Salvador’s abortion laws are notoriously harsh. These women say they were convicted of homicide after having stillborn babies
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-08 | by ( Catherine E. Shoichet | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +19 min

CNN —A sign greets visitors arriving at a sun-filled two-story house in El Salvador’s capital. But within El Salvador, a largely Catholic and evangelical Christian country, some viewed the women’s accounts with skepticism and hostility. Again, the UN’s human rights office weighed in, calling El Salvador’s laws “draconian.”Two months later, 11 justices from El Salvador’s Supreme Court commuted Vásquez’s sentence, saying evidence in the case did not prove that she had taken any action to end her baby’s life. The Harvard professor has been studying these women’s cases and the impact of El Salvador’s abortion restrictions for years. This shows her after a visit in August 2018, six months after El Salvador's Supreme Court commuted her sentence.

Persons: Teodora Vásquez, they’ll, It’s, El Salvador, it’s, Vásquez, who’ve, “ We’ve, ” Vásquez, “, ”, Teodora, Oscar Rivera, Salvador Melendez, Jocelyn Viterna, ” Viterna, Viterna, Dana Sussman, —, Benedicte, Ra’ad Al Hussein, José Miguel Fortín Magaña, Jose Cabezas, El, ‘, ’ ” Vásquez, Libres, who've, Jessie Wardarski, “ I’ve, Jacqueline Castillo, “ It’s, ” Castillo, she’s, Mujeres, there’s, Marvin Recinos, She’s, Merlin Delcid, CNN’s Tierney Sneed Organizations: CNN, El, Getty, Hollywood, Amnesty, of Women, Harvard University, Salvadoran, Pregnancy, UN, Human Rights, El Salvador’s Institute of Legal Medicine, Reuters, Citizen Group, Harvard, Mujeres Libres El, Inter, American, of Human, “, of Steel Locations: El Salvador’s, “, Libres El Salvador, Mujeres, Salvadoran, El Salvador, United States, New York, El, San Salvador, Mujeres Libres, Mujeres Libres El Salvador, AFP

☆ Why It’s Alarming That Poland Can Test Women for Abortion Pills - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Patrick Adams | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Women who suffer miscarriages and stillbirths in El Salvador are sometimes accused of homicide and sentenced to years or even decades in prison. Now that Roe has been overturned, U.S. abortion-rights advocates are bracing for cases like these to become increasingly common in America. A small but growing group of abortion “abolitionists” are calling for women who get abortions to be charged with murder and criminally punished — even put to death. Amid these concerns, reproductive rights activists need to prepare for the possibility that testing for abortion drugs could happen here, too. Should prosecutors in Poland inspire copycats in American states, no health care provider should enable or support such a move.

Persons: Roe, ”, —, what’s, it’s, United States “, Glen P, Jackson Organizations: Republican, Food, West Virginia University Locations: Europe, El Salvador, America, Poland, copycats, Wroclaw, United States

☆ STIs are on the rise in the US. A pill taken after sex could help slow them down
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

Yet recent research suggests that one pill of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. He added that any guidance from the CDC will help “fill gaps,” provide direction to clinics and offer a framework for using doxyPEP for STI prevention. “Drug resistance when taking doxyPEP is currently being studied in people using this treatment for STI prevention. “There are still many STI prevention and treatment gaps left to fill. “In STI prevention, we’ve been relying on tools that are decades, sometimes centuries old.

Persons: Dr, Jonathan Mermin, ”, doxyPEP, Stephanie Cohen, “, “ We’re, ” Cohen, ” David C, Harvey, ” Harvey, DoxyPEP, someone’s, Annie Luetkemeyer, gonorrhea, ” Luetkemeyer, Connie Celum, Kenya Medical Research Institute —, Jenell Stewart, Stewart, ” Stewart, Suneer Chander, Wisp, ” Chander, Sanjay Gupta, Mermin, Deidre McPhillips Organizations: CNN, US Centers for Disease Control, CDC’s National Center, HIV, CDC, San Francisco Department of Public Health, California Department of Public Health, San Francisco Department of Public, National Coalition, STD, “, New England, of Medicine, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, UCSF, University of Washington, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Hennepin Healthcare, University of Minnesota, PEP, Food and Drug Administration, CNN Health Locations: United States, San Francisco, Seattle, King County, Washington, Kenya, Hennepin

☆ Most children in South Asia are exposed to extreme high temperatures, UNICEF says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Rhea Mogul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Nearly half a billion children in South Asia are exposed to extreme high temperatures as life-threatening heat waves caused by the climate crisis become stronger and more frequent, according to the United Nations’ children’s agency. The analysis showed 76% of children in South Asia were exposed to extreme high temperature compared to 32% globally, UNICEF said. Not only is there high potential for record extreme heat, the impacts are compounded by dire social and economic problems. At the same time, extreme weather has had a deadly impact in other parts of the region. In its report, UNICEF warned that ultimately children, adolescents and women are among those who pay the highest price for extreme weather events.

Persons: ”, Sanjay Wijesekera, Sudipta Das, Shahid Saeed Mirza, “ Young, ” Wijesekera Organizations: CNN, United Nations ’, UNICEF, South, Mashal, Getty, stillbirths Locations: South Asia, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Sindh, Farah Province, Xinhua, New Delhi, Kolkata, Multan, AFP

☆ Fact Check-California reproductive health bill does not legalize infanticide
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The bill has since been misinterpreted due to language surrounding the phrase “perinatal death” in one of its sections (here). Perinatal death, by one of three definitions by the American Academy of Pediatrics published in May 2016, is the fetal death starting at gestation of 20 weeks and ending at infant death up to 28 days of age (see “Definitions” section on “perinatal death”) (here). BILL AMENDEDThe bill’s language on “perinatal death” was amended twice in assembly before reaching the state senate (see different versions of the bill) (here). BILL DOES NOT DECRIMINALIZE INFANTICIDELaw professors on reproductive health consulted by Reuters said the bill does not decriminalize infanticide and the amendment sought to limit misinterpretation of its language. A California reproductive health bill does not legalize infanticide or killing babies up to 28 days old.

Persons: recirculating, Bill, Gavin Newsom, Satan ”, BILL, ”, Buffy Wicks, Wicks, ” Cary Franklin, ” Franklin, Mary Ziegler, Martin Luther King Jr, Read Organizations: Reuters, Facebook, American Academy of Pediatrics, California, University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, Los Angeles Times, Davis School of Law, California Catholic Conference, CCC Locations: California, “ CALIFORNIA, “ California

☆ Global push to tackle maternal and newborn deaths has stalled, WHO report finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Annually since 2015 there have been about 290,000 maternal deaths, 1.9 million stillbirths, and 2.3 million newborn deaths within a month after birth, the report said. Countries need to ramp up investment in primary care to see different results, said Anshu Banerjee, the WHO's director of maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and ageing. Only 12% of 106 reporting countries have fully-financed maternal and newborn health plans, it said. The report also found that only 61% of reporting countries have systems for keeping track of stillbirths. The report found that 10 countries with the highest maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths account for 60% of all such deaths globally.

Its peak sales forecast is of more than $2 billion annually together from the maternal vaccine and an RSV shot for older adults. The case highlights how equitable global access will require better advance planning by drugmakers, governments and health organizations, health officials say. "They could have tried sooner," said Erin Sparrow, WHO's technical officer for the RSV vaccine, referring to Pfizer. Pfizer has yet to take a number of steps needed to make the vaccine available in developing countries, according to global health officials and the company. She still expects it to be several years before the RSV vaccine is launched in lower-income countries.

☆ When Does Life Begin?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Elizabeth Dias | Bethany Mollenkof | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +19 min

“It is not black and white.”America’s fight over abortion has long circled a question, one that is broad and without consensus:When does life begin? The question of when life begins has been so politicized it can be hard to thoughtfully engage. Ancient Egypt gave the power to create new human life almost entirely to men. The scientific revolution, from Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution to reproductive science, disrupted centuries of thought on human life. “When does the responsibility for a life begin and end?”

☆ Fact Check-Viral video promotes baseless vaccine depopulation theory
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +14 min

However, there is no evidence that mortality rates have surged or that stillbirths have increased as a result of COVID-19 vaccines. News reports about cardiac arrests and unexpected deaths are then shown on screen and are baselessly attributed to COVID-19 vaccines. There have been 55 deaths involving COVID-19 vaccines causing adverse effects in England between March 2020 and October 2022. While stillbirth rates remain constant, global birth or fertility rates, including in the U.S., have been declining for decades (here, here, here, here). The film does not provide evidence that the global elite are depopulating the world through COVID-19 vaccines.

☆ Fact Check-Graph of unverified data is not evidence of increased miscarriage risk with COVID vaccination
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The graph image has been circulated with remarks including, “THIS IS INSANE…4070% increase in VAERS miscarriage reports from 2019 to 2021. In contrast, VAERS shows 38 miscarriage reports in 2019 with 15 reported stillbirths, for a total of 53. VAERS data is unverified, and reporting rates are known to fluctuate, influenced by a variety of factors, including media attention to a particular illness or a new vaccine. Multiple studies around the world have found no increased risk of miscarriage or stillbirths associated with COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy. Reuters has previously fact-checked claims that COVID-19 vaccination is associated with greater risk of pregnancy loss (here), (here), (here), (here), (here).

☆ Babies born to Black mothers who use fertility treatments die at far higher rates than those born to white mothers
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Babies born to Black mothers are twice as likely to die in the first month than infants born to white women. That death rate was 1.6% among babies born to Black mothers, compared with just 0.3% for babies born to white mothers. Death rates were twice as high among newborns of Asian, Pacific Islander and Hispanic mothers who used fertility technologies compared with babies born to white mothers. Black women are also twice as likely to have stillbirths or preterm births than white women, according to Lisonkova's study. Indeed, Black women in the study who conceived using fertility treatments were slighter older on average than white women who did so.

☆ 'Out of control' STD situation prompts call for changes
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

“It is imperative that we ... work to rebuild, innovate, and expand (STD) prevention in the U.S.,” said Dr. Leandro Mena of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a speech Monday at a medical conference on sexually transmitted diseases. Last year the rate of syphilis cases reached its highest since 1991 and the total number of cases hit its highest since 1948. Annual congenital syphilis cases numbered only about 300 a decade ago; they surged to nearly 2,700 last year. But some experts say the government needs to provide more funding for STD work, not divert it. Mena, who last year became director of the CDC’s Division of STD Prevention, called for reducing stigma, broadening screening and treatment services, and supporting the development and accessibility of at-home testing.

Search resuls for: "stillbirths"

22 mentions found