2022 Vol. 4, No. 3
Mushroom poisoning is one of the most serious food safety issues in China. Most poisoning incidents resulted from eating mushrooms causing gastroenteritis and psycho-neurological disorder from which patients usually could fully recover. Most deaths resulted from species causing acute liver failure and rhabdomyolysis, and the remaining deaths were attributed to acute renal failure and hemolysis.
In 2021, the total number of investigations was 327 from 25 provincial-level administrative divisions, involving 923 patients and 20 deaths, and the overall mortality was 2.17%. Overall, 74 poisonous mushrooms causing 6 different clinical syndromes were successfully identified, 15 of which were newly recorded in China as poisonous mushrooms.
Considering the potential huge risks for collecting and eating wild mushrooms, we strongly advise not collecting and eating unfamiliar wild mushrooms. Promoting knowledge about poisonous mushrooms is essential and urgent to reduce mushroom poisonings. Precise species identification timely after mushroom poisoning is important for appropriate diagnosis and treatment. Many deaths were ascribed to delayed hospitalization.
The association of diabetes mellitus (DM) with both increased risk of tuberculosis (TB) and unfavorable treatment outcomes has been identified by many studies (1). However, epidemic data for TB cases in DM patients is absent in China.
This current population-based prospective cohort study, conducted in ten counties located in eastern, central, and western China during 2013–2015, revealed a high prevalence and incidence of TB in known DM patients. Most TB cases were captured by active case-finding and a much higher presence of being asymptomatic among TB/DM patients was obtained.
Active case-finding should be carried out in DM patients and populations at high risk for developing TB. A TB symptom screening-based case-finding strategy is not enough; chest radiography check should be done once a year for these patients.
Chinese dietary guidelines recommend an intake of milk and dairy products to be closely related to human health. Although the production capacity of dairy in China is strong, the per capita consumption of dairy products is not high.
This report showed that the consumption rate of milk and dairy products of junior high and senior high school students in China was 82.5% from 2016 to 2017. Only 44.1% of them consumed milk and dairy products every day. Only 20.4% of these students reached intake levels recommended by the Dietary guidelines for Chinese residents (2016).
Milk and dairy products are a key food group in a healthy dietary pattern. To cultivate a healthy eating habit of including dairy for children and adolescents, the government, suppliers, schools, and parents need to cooperate together.
Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) presents a significant public health challenge in China. A sharp contrast in survival rate after OHCA exists between China and more developed countries. Due to the short life-saving time window, emergency medical services (EMS) and bystanders peripheral to EMS are key contributors to survival after OHCA. Here we discuss limitations and challenges for current EMS in rescuing OHCA by reviewing requirements for EMS in China. We call for an updated public health-based pre-hospital rescue system that includes establishing a cardiac arrest registry, promoting a “Three Early’s” campaign [early dialing of emergency hotline 120, early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and early defibrillation], and operating a mechanism comprised of professional public health institutions (EMS, CDC, specialized disease prevention and control institutions, and health education institutions) as well as many governmental departments, such as healthcare, industry and information technology, and education, and non-governmental organizations, such as the Red Cross Society. Following the optimization of the pre-hospital rescue system and the participation of the whole population in self-rescue and mutual rescue, we believe that a dramatic improvement in OHCA survival will come about in China.