Westchester Medical Center and Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital are now on Twitter, the hospital’s marketing department has announced.

To receive timely hospital news and pertinent information on a variety of health-related topics, follow Westchester Medical Center at www.twitter.com/WestchesterMed   and Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at www.twitter.com/MFCHatWMC .

New “tweets” are posted regularly.

Prepackaged Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough is the latest food on the dangerous list. Since March, 66 people in 28 states have gotten sick with E. coli poisoning after eating the food, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Nestle USA, which manufactures and markets the Toll House cookie dough, has recalled the product. Check the Nestle website for a list of products that might be contaminated.

E. coli O157:H7 causes abdominal cramping, vomiting and a diarrheal illness, often with bloody stools. Most healthy adults can recover completely within a week. Young children and the elderly are at highest risk for developing HUS, which can lead to serious kidney damage and even death.

So far, 25 people who have gotten sick from eating the cookie dough have been hospitalized,  7 with a severe complication called Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome. No one has died

Healthcare costs are continuing to rise. A new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers indicates that medical costs will go up nine percent in 2010. And indications are that workers covered by employee plans will have to take on more of those costs, the report predicts.

Health reform, a hot topic in Washington, likely won’t have an effect on costs until 2011 or later

To mark National HIV Testing Day, Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic will offer free HIV tests on June 26th at all of its medical centers in Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam counties.

The Planned Parenthood medical centers offer rapid HIV testing, which gives patients results in approximately 40 minutes, eliminating the anxiety of waiting to be called back to the center for results.

No appointment is necessary and HIV testing is free and confidential. For medical center locations and hours visit www.pphp.org or call 1-800-230-7526 to be connected to the nearest center.

A popular cold remedy could cause permanent loss of smell, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning. The FDA is advising consumers to stop using three Zicam products marketed over-the-counter as cold remedies because they can cause  long-lasting or permanent loss of smell.

The products are:

• Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel
• Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Swabs
• Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs, Kids Size (a discontinued product)

The FDA has received more than 130 reports of loss of sense of smell associated with the use of these three Zicam products. In these reports, many people who experienced a loss of smell said the condition occurred with the first dose; others reported a loss of the sense of smell after multiple uses of the products.

People who have experienced a loss of sense of smell or other problems after use of the affected Zicam products should contact their health care professional. The loss of sense of smell can adversely affect a person’s quality of life, and can limit the ability to detect the smell of gas or smoke or other signs of danger in the environment.

The FDA has issued Matrixx Initiatives, maker of these Zicam products, a warning letter telling it that these products cannot be marketed without FDA approval.

Health care professionals and consumers are encouraged to report adverse events (side effects) that may be related to the use of these products to the FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program online, by regular mail, fax or phone.—Online—Regular Mail: use FDA postage paid form 3500 and mail to MedWatch, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852-9787—Fax: 800-FDA-0178—Phone: 800-FDA-1088

For more information:
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/PostmarketDrugSafetyInformationforPatientsandProviders/ucm166834.htm

Dominic J. Ferro, a Nanuet psychiatrist, will be honored tomorrow  by NAMI- FAMILYA, the Roclkand chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, at the group’s annual award’s dinner.

Ferro will be presented with the 2009 NAMI Exemplary Psychiatrist Award  He is a general and forensic and adolescent psychiatrist who is being honored for his contributions to education and advocacy to promote understanding and treatment for mental illness.

Ferro has worked with  NAMI  to conduct  educational outreach to high school and college students and community members. Ferro is past president of the Mental Health Coalition of Rockland and President elect of the West Hudson Psychiatric Society.

Terrie Williams, social worker, author and founder of the Stay Strong Foundation, will be featured  as keynote speaker at the event.

The World Health Organization told its member nations it was declaring a swine flu pandemic Thursday — the first global flu epidemic in 41 years — as infections climbed in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere.

In a statement sent to member countries, WHO said it decided to raise the pandemic warning level from phase 5 to 6 — its highest alert — after holding an emergency meeting on swine flu with its experts.
The long-awaited pandemic decision is scientific confirmation that a new flu virus has emerged and is quickly circling the globe. It will trigger drugmakers to speed up production of a swine flu vaccine and prompt governments to devote more money toward efforts to contain the virus, the Associated Press reports.

There have been 1,241 confirmed cases of the flu in New York, with 46 in Westchester, 8 in Rockland and 2 in Putnam, according to the state Department of Health.

The total number of people with the illness, which is generally mild, is probably much higher, health officials said. Most people who are sick with the flu are not specifically tested for swine flu.

An eighth person in Rockland has been diagnosed with the swine flu, according to the state Department of Health. No public schools in the county have been closed as a result of the swine flu. There have been a total of 866 confirmed cases statewide, including 36 in Westchester and two in Putnam. The Rockland Department of Health did not respond to a request for information.

Scarsdale resident Alison Singer has launched a new not-for-profit organization called the Autism Science Foundation, dedicated to supporting and funding autism research. Singer previously served as Executive Vice President and Board Member of Autism Speaks.

Singer resigned from Autism Speaks in January of this year, citing disagreement with the group’s decision to continue to fund more vaccine related research despite multiple scientific studies exonerating vaccines as a cause of autism.

Other founding board members of the Autism Science Foundation are Karen London, co-founder of the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR) and Dr. Paul Offit, of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.  Both Singer and London are parents of children with autism.  Singer will serve as President of the new organization.  She is former co-chair of Scarsdale CHILD (Children Having Individual Learning Differences).

The Autism Science Foundation is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (APP), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  To learn more, visit www.autismsciencefoundation.org

Two Putnam County residents have been diagnosed with mild cases of the H1N1 swine flu, health officials announced yesterday. These are the first laboratory-confirmed cases of the novel virus in Putnam.

Officials are not releasing information about the two residents except that their symptoms were mild and that they have both recovered. No schools in Putnam County have closed due to the swine flu, said county Health Department spokeswoman Barbara Ilardi.

There were 822 confirmed cases in New York, including 25 cases in Westchester and seven cases in Rockland counties, according to the state Health Department’s Web site. There are likely many more cases of the virus in the state because not all people with symptoms are eligible for testing.