Por Jacqueline Howard, CNN

Los casos de diarrea causada por el parásito Cyclospora siguen aumentando, y ante la amenaza de una enfermedad que dure semanas y la incertidumbre sobre el origen, es normal preguntarse: ¿hay algo en la sección de frutas y verduras que sea seguro comer?

El brote ha aumentado a más de 3.000 casos en Michigan y Ohio, y se ha vinculado con casos en Virginia Occidental y Kentucky. Las autoridades sanitarias de Michigan indicaron que su investigación sugiere que la lechuga o las verduras de hoja verde podrían ser la causa, pero no se descartan otros alimentos; aún no se ha identificado ningún tipo específico, productor o proveedor como origen del brote.

A nivel nacional, se han confirmado o están bajo investigación más de 7.000 casos en 34 estados desde el 1 de mayo, según los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades de EE.UU. (CDC, por sus siglas en inglés). No está claro en qué estados se están registrando casos relacionados con el gran brote en el Medio Oeste.

Los funcionarios de salud de Michigan instaron a los compradores a tener especial cuidado al comprar y consumir lechuga y verduras de hoja verde este verano. Además, los funcionarios de salud federales hicieron hincapié en que es importante mantenerse al día sobre las alertas sanitarias y utilizar prácticas de seguridad estándar al lavar los alimentos.

“Cyclospora es un organismo muy interesante. Es un parásito, por lo que históricamente se lo ha relacionado con brotes en el pasado, generalmente brotes transmitidos por los alimentos”, dijo el Dr. Nuwan Gunawardhana, epidemiólogo hospitalario y médico especializado en enfermedades infecciosas en el Centro Médico Irving de la Universidad de Columbia.

“En realidad no se considera contagioso de persona a persona”, dijo. “Cuando hablamos de brotes de enfermedades transmitidas por los alimentos causadas por Cyclospora, se trata de un organismo muy resistente, por lo que tiene la capacidad de adherirse muy bien a las superficies de nuestros productos frescos y frutas”.

La ciclosporiasis es una enfermedad intestinal causada por el parásito microscópico Cyclospora. Los síntomas suelen aparecer entre dos días y dos semanas después de la exposición e incluyen diarrea acuosa prolongada, calambres estomacales, náuseas, fatiga, pérdida de apetito y pérdida de peso. Si bien la infección se puede tratar con una combinación de antibióticos, la enfermedad puede durar semanas si no se trata y puede causar deshidratación.

Aproximadamente 1 de cada 11 casos ha requerido hospitalización, según datos reportados a los CDC. No se han reportado fallecimientos.

“Los que corren mayor riesgo son los niños pequeños, las personas mayores y las personas inmunodeprimidas”, dijo el Dr. Dan Barouch, director del Centro de Virología e Investigación de Vacunas del Centro Médico Beth Israel Deaconess.

“En la mayoría de las personas sanas, la enfermedad suele ser leve”, afirmó. “Si bien es lógico tomar precauciones, sobre todo para las personas con mayor riesgo, no hay motivo para entrar en pánico en este momento”.

Pero para quienes se preguntan qué alimentos son seguros para comer, hay algunos pasos sencillos que pueden seguir, tanto en el supermercado como en casa.

A la hora de comprar lechuga u otras verduras de hoja verde, los expertos recomiendan evitar los productos precortados o envasados, ​​y optar por frutas y verduras enteras, sin cortar, ya que suelen sufrir menos manipulación.

Las mezclas y kits de ensalada envasados ​​se han relacionado específicamente con brotes anteriores de ciclosporiasis en Estados Unidos y Canadá, según funcionarios de salud de Michigan.

Este martes, la cadena de comida rápida Taco Bell también anunció que, como medida de precaución, re

By Jacopo Prisco, CNN

(CNN) — Since the mysterious deaths of a husband and wife in the Medici family, a powerful Italian dynasty that ruled Florence and Tuscany almost uninterruptedly from 1434 to 1737, rumors have swirled about what led to the couple’s untimely demise. Now, scientists believe they have an answer — it wasn’t murder, but malaria.

In 1587, Grand Duke Francesco I de’ Medici and his wife, Bianca Cappello, died within hours of each other after days of agony.

At the time, logic dictated the culprit to be malaria because the couple had shown symptoms of the illness, including a telltale intermittent fever. But rumors of an assassination immediately spread, pointing to Francesco’s younger brother and rival, Ferdinando, as the perpetrator.

Ferdinando was next in line to the throne, but he was at risk of being passed over in favor of Francesco’s illegitimate son, Antonio. What’s more, Ferdinando had visited the grand duke and his wife at their residence just before they fell ill, further bolstering the suspicion that he poisoned them with arsenic to ensure his own rise to power.

The couple fell ill in a Medici villa in Poggio a Caiano, near Florence, an area dotted with marshes and rice fields — ideal habitats for mosquitoes that can carry malaria. Nonetheless, the murder rumors endured, likely aided by the Medici family’s history of murder and assassination attempts.

Since 2004, when exhumation and analysis of skeletal remains began for 49 Medici family tombs as part of the Medici Project, various studies have confirmed malaria as the cause of Francesco’s demise. However, other studies published as recently as 2006 used toxicological investigations to determine that the couple were indeed victims of arsenic poisoning,

A new study jointly conducted by the University of Pisa in Tuscany and Yale University used DNA extracted from the skeletal remains of Francesco and another one of his brothers, Giovanni, in an attempt to settle the debate once and for all.

“In recent years, we tried to solve this mystery by performing some specific analysis, in particular paleo-immunological analysis, which attested to the presence of malaria in the remains. But the rumors would not stop, because paleo-immunology is not resolutive, and only ancient DNA could give an answer with a high degree of certainty,” said Valentina Giuffra, a professor of history of medicine at the University of Pisa and a coauthor of the study, published in June in the journal iScience.

Paleo-immunology uses antigens, substances that trigger an immune response, or proteins to check for traces of disease in ancient remains. DNA analysis, which is a more recent approach, is more definitive because it looks for direct genetic signatures of a disease.

Giuffra and her colleagues found genetic traces of plasmodium, the parasitic protozoa responsible for malaria, in samples of bone material from Francesco’s ribs. “DNA is certain,” Giuffra said. “It solves the problem and the doubts. I think this is a definitive answer.”

Two species of malaria

Malaria

By Ivana Kottasová, CNN

(CNN) — Russia’s grip on its gateway to the Black Sea is slipping after a series of Ukrainian attacks forced Moscow to suspend traffic through the key waterway this week, limiting the Kremlin’s ability to trade with the rest of the world.

The development marks a major reversal of fortunes for Russia as the Azov Sea was for years out of Kyiv’s reach, providing Russia with a convenient staging ground for attacks against Ukraine and linking vast swaths of southern Russia with the world’s oceans.

But recent advances in Ukraine’s drone program have changed this. Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine’s ‌drone forces, said on Wednesday that Kyiv had hit 116 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov in just the past nine days – a sharp increase.

Previously, strikes against Russian ships were mostly limited to the shadow fleet and military vessels. CNN cannot independently verify Brovdi’s claim, but videos of some of the recent strikes shared by Ukrainian officials show direct hits.

The relentless attacks have forced Russia to suspend traffic through the Azov Sea by shutting down the two chokepoints in its corners: the Don-Azov Channel, which connects the sea to inland waterways, and the Kerch Strait, which links it to the Black Sea.

Satellite images and vessel-tracking services show long queues of ships waiting on both sides of the sea.

Ukraine has been increasingly successful in targeting Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers carrying sanctioned fuel, but blockading the Sea of Azov could have a wider impact, including on exports that have not been subject to sanctions, like wheat or sunflower oil.

The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based conflict monitor, said on Tuesday that the Ukrainian strikes in the Sea of Azov “represent a new phase in Ukraine’s efforts to isolate occupied Crimea from the Russian logistics network and to disrupt Russian seaborne shipping routes, especially for petroleum products and grain.”

Russia is the world’s largest grain exporter, accounting for about one fifth of global wheat exports, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service.

About a quarter of Russia’s wheat exports is shipped through the Sea of Azov, according to Andrey Sizov, a leading Black Sea agricultural markets analyst.

“The Black Sea for (the) wheat market is similar to what the Persian Gulf means for the crude market. (The) Black Sea is by far the biggest supplier of wheat to the global market,” he said, adding that if the situation continues, Russia’s economic losses could climb into billions of dollars.

Prices of wheat futures, a key indicator of traders’ expectations, have jumped in recent days, partly because of the Azov Sea crisis. Russia claims it can bypass the Sea of Azov and reroute all of its grain exports via other terminals in the Black Sea, but Sizov said this would not be possible during the peak season when Russia’s total grain exports far exceed the capacity of those ports.

Russia, which has regularly targeted Ukrainian civilian infrastructure,

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