Tag: Reuters

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Russian partiers blinded by rave lasers

photo by loupiote (Old Skool) on Flikr I’ve seen many a laser show in my day and have even booked the guys at UV99 for one of our last blow outs but this news is crazy and unique to the idiots running the lasers at this out door festival in Russia – revelers were subjected to intense laser burns when they were refracted down to eye level.

MOSCOW (Reuters story here) – Dozens of partygoers at an outdoor rave near Moscow last week have lost partial vision after a laser light show burned their retinas, Russian health officials said on Monday.

Moscow city health department officials confirmed 12 cases of laser-blindness at the Central Ophthalmological Clinic, and daily newspaper Kommersant said another 17 were registered at City Hospital 32 in the centre of the capital.

Attendees at the July 5 Aquamarine Open Air Festival in Kirzhach, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Moscow, began seeking medical help days after the show, complaining of eye and vision problems, health officials told Reuters.

“They all have retinal burns, scarring is visible on them. Loss of vision in individual cases is as high as 80 percent, and regaining it is already impossible,” Kommersant quoted a treating ophthalmologist as saying.

Attendees said heavy rains forced organisers to erect massive tents for the all-night dance party, and lasers that normally illuminate upwards into the sky were instead partially refracted into the ravers’ eyes.

“I immediately had a spot like when you stare into the sun,” rave-attendee Dmitry told Kommersant.

“After three days I decided to go to the hospital. They examined me, asked if I had been at Open Air, and then put me straight in the hospital. I didn’t even get to go home and get my stuff,” he said

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Roma Tomatos will give you the shits!

By Paul Simao in Reuters (Health)

ATLANTA (Reuters) – Contaminated Roma tomatoes were the likely cause of a string of salmonella outbreaks that made 561 people sick in the United States and Canada last summer, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.

Salmonella is a common bacteria sometimes found in eggs, raw milk and raw meat. It typically causes diarrhea and other flu-like symptoms, and is rarely fatal.

Tomatoes have been linked to the bacteria in the United States since 1990 and are believed to have played a key role in three outbreaks that surfaced in North America last summer, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a report.

More than 150 people in 18 states, stretching from Kansas to New Hampshire, as well as the Canadian province of Ontario were hospitalized to be treated for salmonella infection, the Atlanta-based federal agency said.

Most had eaten at a U.S. delicatessen chain, according to the CDC, which did not identify the chain. Pre-sliced Roma tomatoes with the bacteria were found at one of the chain’s locations.

U.S. and Canadian health officials have been unable to determine the exact source of the suspect Roma tomatoes, which are smaller than the regular variety and oval in shape.

“Although a single tomato-packing house in Florida was common to all three outbreaks, other growers or packers also might have supplied contaminated Roma tomatoes that resulted in some of the illnesses,” the CDC said.

The outbreaks are a concern on both sides of the border because of the popularity of tomatoes in the food chain and a noticeable rise in the number of salmonella outbreaks linked to tomatoes in recent years.

A total of 1,616 such cases were reported to the CDC between 1990 and 2004, but officials say that the vast majority are not reported. When identified, salmonella infection is treated with antibiotics.

Tomatoes are usually grown in areas that are natural habitats for birds, reptiles and other species that carry salmonella. The bacteria is believed to enter tomato plants through roots or flowers and the fruit itself through small cracks in the skin, stem scar or plant.

Eradicating salmonella once it gets inside a tomato is almost impossible without cooking.