The Occupational Health Blog

• NMS
• Jun 01, 2012

In a weird week of news, a social media firestorm was lit when the story of Miami man, Rudy Eugene, was found naked, gruesomely eating the face of another man. Police were only able to stop the attack after shooting and Eugene. The story sounds something out of a George Romero zombie movie as many took to Facebook and Twitter to jokingly warn of an impending zombie apocalypse. In actuality, the attacker was not infected with a zombie virus but was most likely, according to Armando Aguilar, President of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police, under the influence of synthetic stimulants or what is commonly referred to as "bath salts".

• NMS
• May 30, 2012

Synthetic Cannabinoids (Spice or K2) are a widely growing problem in the workplace today. Everyday more and more people are using this drug despite not knowing the effect and its dangers. Here are ways to test for it. First though, a little education on the drug itself:

• NMS
• May 25, 2012

May 25 marks Heat Safety Awareness Day. Did you know that heat is number one weather related killed in the United States? Every year hundreds of thousands of workers are subjected to heat and most are not adequately protected or educated to know the signs of Heat Exhaustion and Heat Stroke. Education and Prevention are the keys to protecting your employees. Please take a few minutes to review the following information and pass it along to your employees.

• NMS
• May 23, 2012
• Tags: hepatitis c, hepatitis awareness month, hepatitis c antibodies, hepatitis c risk factors

Like Hepatitis A and B, Hepatitis C is an infectious virus that attacks the liver. It is spread from exposures from blood to blood contact such as transfusions, intravenous drug use, and poorly sterilized medical equipment.

• NMS
• May 22, 2012
• Tags: hepatitis b, hepatitis awareness month, hepatitis b vaccine

Hepatitis B is irritation and inflammation of the liver due to infection of the Hepatitis B virus (HBV). Prior to the introduction of the Hepatitis B vaccine in 1981, Hepatitis B infections were the most frequent occupational infection among the health care, laboratory, and public safety workers. Fortunately since the inception of the vaccination, transmission rates have been greatly reduced. Infection rates have dropped by 82% since 1990.