w/ Ric Hanson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.8MB)

Subscribe: RSS

DES MOINES, Iowa – With the announcement of the first U.S. transmission of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), many are concerned about what it could mean for public health.

Dr. David Swerdlow, who is leading the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) response team for the virus, says there is no alarm for Iowans at this point. While the virus can spread from person to person, Swerdlow says, it isn’t easily transmitted.

“There’s been no sustained transmission like you see with flu, where it goes from person to person to person,” says Swerdlow. “So, at the current time, we are concerned about the virus, we do think that there could be imported cases, but we don’t see this as being a major problem in the U.S. with widespread cases.”

According to the CDC, the first U.S. transmission of the virus occurred when an Illinois resident had contact with a person in Indiana who was infected while traveling in Saudi Arabia. Those two cases of MERS are not linked to a third patient in Florida, who also had traveled to Saudi Arabia.

MERS was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Since then, there have been almost 600 confirmed cases in 15 countries, including 173 deaths. Swerdlow says most patients develop respiratory illness with fever, cough and shortness of breath, and he adds there is no specific treatment.

“If a person gets a respiratory illness like this, they can be treated in an intensive care unit if needed, the standard things that we do for patients with respiratory illness,” he says. “But there’s no specific treatment, like an anti-viral.”

The CDC advises healthcare workers traveling to the Arabian Peninsula to follow guidelines for infection control, and for other travelers to take precautions to protect their health. As with any respiratory illness, Swerdlow says that means frequent hand-washing, covering coughs and sneezes, and avoiding contact with those who are sick.

(Iowa News Service)

(AP) – Conservation officials across the Midwest are urging people headed outdoors to take precautions against tick bites. Insect repellants and covering up are two steps that can help. Officials say long-sleeved shirts, pants and securing pants cuffs are the first defenses.

People should check for ticks after returning indoors and shower quickly to remove unattached ticks. Putting clothes in the dryer on high heat before washing should kill any remaining ticks.

Ticks can spread various diseases, including Lyme disease, Rock Mountain spotted fever and tularemia. Most tick-transmitted diseases require prolonged feeding. To remove a tick, use a tweezers and grasp it as close to the skin as possible. Don’t jerk or twist the tick when removing and clean the bite area.

Iowa’s archaeological past, its cultural history and the importance of its water trails will be the focus of a presentation and float down the West Nishnabotna River on June 7th. The Daily NonPareil reports Golden Hills Resource Conservation and Development Inc. and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources will sponsor the event, which begins with a 45-minute classroom presentation at 9-a.m. at the Oakland City Hall Council Chambers Room off highways 6/59 in Oakland.

The American Red Cross is urging everyone in a national campaign to get some swimming lessons this summer, saying drowning is one of the leading causes of unintentional death and injury in the U-S. Kara Kelly with the Great Iowa Chapter of the Red Cross says a study the organization conducted led them to focus on water skills. “Really some shocking information came out on really how much knowledge folks have on water safety,” Kelly explains. “About 50-percent of Americans either can’t swim or don’t have all of the basic swimming skills.”

Kelly says you are putting yourself in danger if you can’t do some of the basics. “Knowing how to float, being comfortable jumping into the water with the water being over your head, treading water for a minute, and then being able to find or swim to an exit,” Kelly says.

If you are in a pool, you should also know how to get out of the water without the use of a ladder. The survey found that nearly half of Americans (46 percent) report that they have had an experience in the water where they were afraid they might drown. Kelly says many parents take their kids to swimming lessons, but don’t know the basics themselves.

Kelly encourages everyone — regardless of their age — to get some swimming lessons. She recommends you swim where trained life guards are on duty. The Iowa Department of Public Health reports 43 people died in Iowa from drowning in 2012.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Red Oak report a disturbance Monday night lead to the arrest of a local man on drug and other charges. Officers investigating an incident at around 10:30-p.m. Monday arrested 36-year old Timothy Orville Welch, of Red Oak. Welch was charged with Unlawful Possession of Prescription Pills, a Drug Tax Stamp violation, and Public Intoxication. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $5,000 bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

NEVADA, Iowa (AP) — The Story County Sheriff’s Office says it is investigating some equipment failure with its 911 service. Authorities say the office experienced the failure Thursday with some new equipment that handles 911 calls for portions of the county. They say it was quickly remedied, and no 911 calls were missed or dropped.

MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) — A 6-year-old girl has been critically injured in an all-terrain vehicle crash near Montezuma. The Iowa State Patrol says a man was driving the four-wheel ATV on a gravel road Monday morning when it rolled over into a ditch. The vehicle pinned his daughter. The man’s 3-year-old son was also in the ATV at the time of the crash. It’s unclear if the man or boy were injured.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Two Waterloo men face charges in connection to a brief police chase. The Waterloo Police Department says officers attempted a traffic stop Saturday night that began the short pursuit. Officers chased the driver, 30-year-old Dennis Brown Jr., and a passenger, 28-year-old Antonio Evans. They eventually captured both men.

VENTURA, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say no foul play is suspected in the death of a Mason City man found in Clear Lake. The Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Office says it responded around 3 a.m. Saturday to a missing person report near Farmers Beach in rural Ventura. Authorities found the body of 26-year-old David Jon Caspers in Clear Lake. He had previously been fishing with friends.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of a Corning man on Monday for OWI after responding to a call from Lake Icaria.

Sheriff’s officials received a call at 10:00am Monday (5/26) stating that a red Dodge pickup with a red topper was driving and swerving on the pavement around the Lake Icaria beach and the driver had an open container.  A traffic stop was later conducted on Juniper Avenue and the driver 55-year-old Larry Dean Bickford was arrested for OWI first offense.  Bickford was taken into custody and held on $1,000 bond.

Researchers at the University of Iowa were key contributors to a national study that finds cancer care in rural America is lacking and without significant changes, won’t likely improve. One of the study’s authors, Dr. Blase Polite, a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, says there are too few cancer specialists in rural areas and they face an increasing number of cancer patients. “We know that 20% of Americans live in rural areas but we found that only 3% of our cancer docs, our oncologists, are living in those areas,” Dr. Polite says. “Amazingly, 70% of counties in the United States don’t have a cancer specialist and our concern is that this is likely to get worse.”

It costs a tremendous amount of money to maintain a cancer treatment practice and the report finds many smaller operations won’t be around much longer. Polite says those doctors face a host of challenges, not the least of which is burnout. Polite says, “A lot of our small practices, those one- and two-doc or four- and five-doc practices, we surveyed them and almost two thirds of them will likely close or merge or sell in the next year because a lot of the cost pressures going on.” Medical advances are helping people to live longer, healthier lives, but he notes, there’s something of a downside to our increasing longevity, especially for rural residents.

“As we live longer, it’s just a biological fact that more people are likely to get cancer but our cancer workforce isn’t going to keep up with that,” Polite says. “We anticipate that if we continue the way we’re going right now and continue the way we deliver care right now, as many as 400,000 cancer patients out there in the future may have a difficult time finding a doc.” One of the fears is that some rural patients will simply give up because of the uphill fight to get treatment in a far-away city.

Polite says, “You have to imagine when folks have to travel three and four hours to get care, especially if you’ve got cancer and you’re not feeling great, there are going to be some folks who just decide not to keep going forward with treatment.” Polite is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, which put out the report, “The State of Cancer Care in America: 2014.” Learn more at the website: www.asco.org

(Radio Iowa)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Authorities in Sioux City are investigating an attempted abduction near a park.
Sioux City television station KTIV reports that a 12-year-old boy told police he was walking home from Highview Park shortly after 6 p.m. on Friday when a man in a black ski mask tried to lure him into a van.

The boy reported that the van was white with a blue air freshener inside. Police are still searching for the suspect. Sioux City Police Sgt. Kevin Heineman is urging parents to remind their children not to talk to strangers and to report any suspicious activity to an adult.