More Salmonella Deaths From Peanut Butter (Video)

The Ohio Department of Health announced Friday that four deaths have been reported among the 67 cases and 19 people have been hospitalized.

Sixty-seven cases of salmonella poisoning have been reported in Ohio, the most in any state during a nationwide outbreak linked to peanut butter products.

Ohio has now surpassed California in the number of cases reported.

There are six reported food poisoning cases in Georgia so far, but no deaths.

As the recall of salmonella-tainted peanut butter products widens, a Washington state lawyer is now calling on the Virginia-based Peanut Corporation of America to pay funeral costs for several of those who died from food poisoning.

PCA officials say they’re laying off nearly all of the workers at the Blakely facility, and will only keep several managers on duty.

Local officials say 40 to 50 people are employed at the plant.

(Source: CDC)

"As of 9PM EDT, Wednesday, January 22, 2009, 491 persons infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium have been reported from 43 states. The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Alabama (1), Arizona (10), Arkansas (4), California (62), Colorado (12), Connecticut (9), Georgia (6), Hawaii (3), Idaho (11), Illinois (6), Indiana (4), Iowa (2), Kansas (2), Kentucky (3), Maine (4), Maryland (8), Massachusetts (42), Michigan (25), Minnesota (35), Missouri (9), Mississippi (3), Nebraska (1), New Hampshire (11), New Jersey (19), New York (18), Nevada (5), North Carolina (6), North Dakota (10), Ohio (67), Oklahoma (2), Oregon (7), Pennsylvania (14), Rhode Island (4), South Dakota (2), Tennessee (9), Texas (6), Utah (5), Vermont (4), Virginia (20), Washington (13), West Virginia (2), Wisconsin (3), and Wyoming (2). Additionally, one ill person was reported from Canada."

(Source: CDC)

As the salmonella recall of products containing peanut butter continues to expand, a Washington state lawyer is calling on the company with Georgia operations to pay funeral costs for the six people believed to have died from the outbreak.

That comes as Virginia-based Peanut Corporation of America announced it's laying off the majority of it's workforce.

Click here for more on this developing story.

(With John Sepulvado and the AP)

CDC head resigns

The Bush administration appointee for the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is out of the job effective January 20. Dr. Julie Gerberding stepped down as director of the CDC.

Her resignation was announced in an email sent Friday to employees of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Gerberding’s decision complies with the Obama administration’s request for her resignation, along with a number of other senior-level officials.

Gerberding was appointed head of the CDC in July 2002. Her six- year tenure is marred with controversy, from allegations she allowed politics to interfere with science to concerns her decisions would inhibit the agency from responding in a public health crisis.

A CDC spokesman said Gerberding was traveling in Africa and unavailable for comment. The CDC's chief operating officer William Gimson, will step in as interim director.

CDC: South not scaling back obesity

The South tips the scales again as the nation's fattest region, according to a new government survey.

Overall, about 26 percent of the CDC's telephone survey were obese.

More than 30 percent of adults in each of the 10 states surveyed tipped the scales enough to ensure that the South remains the nation's fattest region.

Georgia ranks eighth out 10 states with the highest levels of adult obesity, according to a 2007 survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Colorado was the least obese, with about 19 percent fitting that category in a random telephone survey last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Survey results:
1. Mississippi, 32.0 percent
2. Alabama, 30.3
3. Tennessee, 30.1
4. Louisiana, 29.8
5. West Virginia, 29.5
6. Arkansas, 28.7
7. South Carolina, 28.4
8. Georgia, 28.2
9. Oklahoma, 28.1
10. Texas, 28.1
Source: Associated Press

Dr. William Dietz, who heads CDC's nutrition, physical activity and obesity division says the traditional Southern diet -- high in fat and fried food -- may be part of the answer.

The South also has a large concentration of rural residents and black women -- two groups that tend to have higher obesity rates, he said.

Obesity is based on the body mass index, a calculation using height and weight. A 5-foot, 9-inch adult who weighs 203 pounds would have a BMI of 30, which is considered the threshold for obesity.

CDC officials believe the telephone survey of 350,000 adults offers conservative estimates of obesity rates, because it's based on what respondents said about their height and weight. Men commonly overstate their height and women often lowball their weight, health experts say.

"The heavier you are, the more you underestimate your weight, probably because you don't weigh yourself as often," Dietz said.

Overall, about 26 percent of the respondents were obese, according to the study, published this week in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

A different CDC survey -- a gold-standard project in which researchers actually weigh and measure survey respondents -- put the adult obesity rate at 34 percent in 2005 and 2006, the most recent years for which there are data.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of health issues in Georgia, and here for more coverage about the CDC.

(The Associated Press)