Health Highlights: June 11, 2015

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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Likely Source of Listeria Contamination Identified at Blue Bell’s Oklahoma Plant

Listeria contamination at Blue Bell Creameries’ Oklahoma plant is likely linked to equipment and sealed-ingredient buckets stored in a non-sanitary room, but a single source of listeria contamination at its Texas plant has not been pinpointed, according to the company.

Also, surface areas tested at Blue Bell’s Alabama plant were contaminated with the most serious form of listeria, according to documents submitted to the FDA that outline how the company plans to correct the problems, the Associated Press reported.

The plants were inspected by the FDA after the Texas-based company’s ice cream was linked to listeria illnesses in four states and three deaths in Kansas.

Blue Bell issued a recall in April and halted production at its Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama plants. Contaminated products have been found at the Texas and Oklahoma plants, the AP reported.

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Genetic Characteristics of Brain Tumors Key to Treatment: Studies

Treatment of brain tumors can be improved by first determining their genetic features, rather than the current standard practice of analyzing tissue samples under a microscope, according to two new studies.

Experts say the findings published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine are an important advance in what’s called precision medicine, in which cancer treatments are individualized according to the genetic characteristics of patients’ tumors, The New York Times reported.

This approach could change the way that thousands of brain tumor patients are diagnosed and treated.

“Prognosis is going to be more accurately delineated by these kinds of genetic subtypes, outstripping the value of looking through a microscope,” Dr. David Langer, chief of neurosurgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, told The Times He was not involved in the studies.

The use of genetics to help guide treatment is already being used with other types of cancer, particularly breast cancer.

Each year, about 23,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with brain cancer and about 14,000 die from the disease. The two new studies focused on gliomas, which account for about one-third of brain cancer cases in the U.S., The Times reported.

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Ebola Cases on the Rise Again: WHO

After a long period of decline, the number of Ebola cases in Guinea and Sierra Leone started rising again in recent weeks, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

“In recent weeks, the decline in case incidence and the contraction of the geographic area affected by Ebola virus disease transmission that was apparent throughout April and early May has stalled,” WHO said in its latest update, NBC News reported.

“In total, 31 confirmed cases of Ebola were reported in the week ending 7 June: 16 cases in Guinea and 15 in Sierra Leone. This is the second consecutive weekly increase in case incidence, and the highest weekly total number of cases reported from Sierra Leone since late March.”

WHO also said the sources of some of the new Ebola cases are unclear, NBC News reported.

More than 27,000 people have been infected and more than 11,000 of them have died so far in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

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