Yay! Busy!!
Of course, I'm also really tired now, but it's a good tired. A tired that comes from doing work, as opposed to tired from inactivity.
I chatted with the restaurant owner implicated in our GI disease outbreak. Nothing the owner described stuck out as being something that would cause a problem. The BBQ meat that the patients think is the culprit didn't come from a single pork shoulder, was kept hot at the restaurant and was pulled when the customer came to the store (rather than being pulled ahead of time and stored in a container). What makes the situation murky is that it's not clear what the path of the meat was between the restaurant and being warmed in the customer's oven. The pan of meat may not have gotten sufficiently hot all the way through or it may have been stored improperly prior to being heated for eating. None of the meat from the weekend was remaining at the store, so cannot be tested. All we'll be able to demonstrate from testing the meat and patient's stool specimens (if any are brought in) is that the same bug or toxin was in both, not when/where it was introduced into the food itself.
And we have a new TB suspect to investigate. This guy has had a sizable weight loss in the past month, hasn't been feeling well and a mass in his lung has been found on a chest x-ray. So far all the skin tests have been normal, but he did live in the housing unit where most of the other confirmed cases originated and his roommate has converted his skin test. To top it all off, he had an abnormal chest x-ray in May (infiltrates in left upper lobe). Could be cancer. Could be TB.
Throughout it all, I got a bunch of data put into the database. I should be able to produce a missing data report for the individuals on treatment for latent infections. The rest of the missing data will be harder to get pulled together, but I should be able to get a partial list done by the end of next week, barring any disasters.
Is it Wrong?
Is it wrong that working up the investigation about the barbecue place made me hungry? *sigh* It reminded me of the semester I took a meat science class as an undergrad. We were learning how to grade carcasses and one week a really nice, large beef carcass inspired some serious beef cravings.
Tired Thursday
I had every intention of working out tonight and I might yet. At the moment I'm just beat. If I pick up a bit of energy in the next hour I'll get on the bike. If I don't, I'll do another round of strength training. In the meantime, I'm going to knit.
Telemarketer Thursday
Thursday is the day I usually get the bulk mail junk. Today is apparently also the day the telemarketers have decided to work overtime. My answering machine has gone off about every 20 minutes since I got home from work. Most of the time there is no message left, but I did get a message from an insurance agent (not *my* insurance agent, but from the same insurance company) telling me that it was time for me to call their office and review my policies. Uh-huh. I don't think so. I don't do anything a cold call tells me to do. My favorite message of all time (and which gets left once or twice a week) is the one that begins "This is not a sales call...." Uh-huh. And I'm the Queen of Freedonia.
I chatted with the restaurant owner implicated in our GI disease outbreak. Nothing the owner described stuck out as being something that would cause a problem. The BBQ meat that the patients think is the culprit didn't come from a single pork shoulder, was kept hot at the restaurant and was pulled when the customer came to the store (rather than being pulled ahead of time and stored in a container). What makes the situation murky is that it's not clear what the path of the meat was between the restaurant and being warmed in the customer's oven. The pan of meat may not have gotten sufficiently hot all the way through or it may have been stored improperly prior to being heated for eating. None of the meat from the weekend was remaining at the store, so cannot be tested. All we'll be able to demonstrate from testing the meat and patient's stool specimens (if any are brought in) is that the same bug or toxin was in both, not when/where it was introduced into the food itself.
And we have a new TB suspect to investigate. This guy has had a sizable weight loss in the past month, hasn't been feeling well and a mass in his lung has been found on a chest x-ray. So far all the skin tests have been normal, but he did live in the housing unit where most of the other confirmed cases originated and his roommate has converted his skin test. To top it all off, he had an abnormal chest x-ray in May (infiltrates in left upper lobe). Could be cancer. Could be TB.
Throughout it all, I got a bunch of data put into the database. I should be able to produce a missing data report for the individuals on treatment for latent infections. The rest of the missing data will be harder to get pulled together, but I should be able to get a partial list done by the end of next week, barring any disasters.
Is it Wrong?
Is it wrong that working up the investigation about the barbecue place made me hungry? *sigh* It reminded me of the semester I took a meat science class as an undergrad. We were learning how to grade carcasses and one week a really nice, large beef carcass inspired some serious beef cravings.
Tired Thursday
I had every intention of working out tonight and I might yet. At the moment I'm just beat. If I pick up a bit of energy in the next hour I'll get on the bike. If I don't, I'll do another round of strength training. In the meantime, I'm going to knit.
Telemarketer Thursday
Thursday is the day I usually get the bulk mail junk. Today is apparently also the day the telemarketers have decided to work overtime. My answering machine has gone off about every 20 minutes since I got home from work. Most of the time there is no message left, but I did get a message from an insurance agent (not *my* insurance agent, but from the same insurance company) telling me that it was time for me to call their office and review my policies. Uh-huh. I don't think so. I don't do anything a cold call tells me to do. My favorite message of all time (and which gets left once or twice a week) is the one that begins "This is not a sales call...." Uh-huh. And I'm the Queen of Freedonia.
Comments
As an almost-lifelong vegetarian turned omnivore, I did have bbq in TN. Of course, my insides are now turning themselves inside out. Related? Who knows? Could be garden-variety stress.