DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The medical director for the Iowa Department of Public Health is warning against the tapeworm diet.  In her weekly email to public health workers around Iowa, Dr. Patricia Quinlisk recounted a recent incident: A physician sought the department’s help for a patient who said she’d swallowed a tapeworm she’d bought over the Internet. The woman was hoping the parasite would help her lose weight.

Quinlisk says hucksters sold tapeworm eggs in pill form as a weight-loss aid a century ago. She says ingesting them “is extremely risky and can cause a wide range of undesirable side effects, including rare deaths.” Tapeworms can live for years in the intestines and grow to several feet long. They can be accidentally ingested in undercooked meat.  An anti-worm medication was advised for the woman.

Police in Red Oak report the arrest Thursday evening, of 69-year old Karen Jean Tuntas, of Red Oak. She was charged with OWI/1st offense, and cited for having no or improper registration and no insurance, following a traffic stop at around 5:25-p.m., in the 1300 block of north Broadway Street, in Red Oak.

Tuntas was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond.

Police in Red Oak report the arrest Thursday night of 35-year old Randall Aron Lane, of Red Oak. Lane was charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, following an investigation into a fire at 104 east Oak Street, that occurred at around 8:40-p.m.

When officers with the Red Oak P-D arrived on the scene of the reported house fire, they located a first floor bedroom and its contents on fire. Red Oak Fire & Rescue personnel were quickly able to contain the fire damage to the lone bedroom. The amount of damage is unclear, but officials say there was extensive smoke damage throughout the residence.

No injuries were reported, and an investigation into the incident remains ongoing. During the initial investigation, authorities found indications of drug usage in the home. Lane was taken into custody and was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $300 bond, with regard to the drug charge.

The Iowa Association of Realtors report for July shows sales were up just over 18-percent. Association president, Don Marple, says more people decided it was the time to move their homes. “Homes available for sale have gone up a little bit, which is gonna be great because people are understanding that the market is going to be better to be out there and selling their homes right now. Prices have gone up almost 11-percent from last year…we just can’t ask for a better market right now,” Marple says.

The report says nearly 41-hundred homes sold or closed in July, with the average sale price of 168-thousand-823 dollars. July is normally the time of year when sales pick up as people are looking to move before school starts again in the fall. Marple says some of the uptick can be attributed to that, but not all. “It is better compared to the last two or three years. Some of our numbers are showing that our market right now is better than in 2005,” Marple says.

Interest rates moved up a little bit in the last month, but Marple says that was probably a positive for the housing market. “Well if anything, it might have spurred people to say ‘hey we need to get into the market now, we’ve been so low, let’s get it while we can,'” according the Marple. The final quarter of the year is here and Marple says the overall real estate picture should shape up to be a good one. “With the pendings so high in July, it just looks like it is going to be great,” Marple says. “And I see nothing but the market increasing every month, and the values increasing every month. Everything is just positive for this year into 2014.”

The report from the realtors association says sellers on average received 96-point-two-percent of the price they asked for their homes. Marple says that’s an indication of the tight supply of homes on the market as he says the list price received at sale has not been consistently above 96-percent since the summer of 2007.

(Radio Iowa)