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Pediatrician says H1N1 appears to cause more bronchitis, pneumonia

October 16, 2009 By

A Des Moines area pediatrician says the new H-1-N-1 flu appears to be causing an increase in bronchitis and pneumonia among kids. Doctor Peter Heatherington is a general practitioner at Blank Children’s Hospital. He says the hospital’s health care clinic is seeing more cases of bacterial infection than usual for this time of year and it’s most likely linked to H-1-N-1.

“What tends to happen with those infections, as it runs its course, either the children just tend to get over it or they may be without fever for a few days then spike a fever and then start to develop those complications…maybe bronchitis, pneumonia, an ear infection or sinus infection,” Heatherington said. Younger children often have trouble clearing their throat and nose of secretions, which can lead to bacteria.

“It’s a consequence of having more of the viral illness and then they will sometimes get the secondary bacterial infection,” Heatherington said. “I think it’s pretty easy to say it’s a time a year we don’t tend to see as many sick children as we’re seeing this year.” Heatherington says if your child’s fever returns after a few days, call your pediatrician to see if you should schedule a visit. While antibiotics cannot be used to treat the flu, he says they can be used to treat a bacterial infection like bronchitis or pneumonia.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine

Dubuque couple found after 12 hours in wrecked car

October 16, 2009 By

A Dubuque couple is recovering after spending the night in their wrecked car. The accident happened about 10 P.M. Wednesday on Highway 20 near Dubuque. A car occupied by 64-year-old Marilyn Blanchard and 66-year-old Theodore Blanchard went off the road into a ditch, rolled onto its side and became pinned against a tree.

The car went unnoticed for nearly 12 hours until a passerby noticed lights reflecting off the chrome bumper. Theodore was found hanging nearly upside down, held in by his seatbelt.He sustained broken limbs and was taken to Finley Hospital in Dubuque. A condition report was not available.

Marilyn’s legs were trapped under the dashboard and she was freed about an hour and half later. She is listed in good condition at Finley.

Contributed by Roger King, KOEL, Oelwein

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters

Realtors say home sales up in September

October 16, 2009 By

The Iowa Association of Realtors latest report shows the number of home sales across the state were up in September. Association president, Carey Jensen. She says there was a 4.6% increase from August to September with 2,922 homes sold last month compared to 2,794 homes sold in August.

Jensen is a realtor in Council Bluffs and says the buyers are getting a little less for their homes on average. Jensen says the average sale price decreased from $140,254 dollars last year to $137,343. Jensen says the first-time homebuyer tax credit is about to expire and that has spurred some people to move ahead and buy a home.

Jensen says some people who were on the fence waiting to buy a home have decided to take advantage of the tax incentive. Sales were up only 2.5% in September compared to last year, but Jensen says it’s a move in the right direction. Jensen says an increase is great for the industry and she expects that to continue through this year. Jensen says realtors are anxious to see if the tax credit will be extended and expanded. The average number of days it took to sell a home remained at 99 from August to September.

Filed Under: Business

Harkin takes pitch for health care on the road

October 16, 2009 By

Senator Tom Harkin plans to visit a Des Moines hardware store today to highlight portions of health care reform which may benefit small businesses. “One element of the emerging legislation…deserves more attention. It’s what I’ve said many times before, that this health reform bill that we have is going to be a huge boost for small businesses and the self-employed across America –including more than 65,000 small businesses in Iowa,” Harkin says.

“In fact, I’d go so far as to say small businesses and the self-employed are the big winners in this health reform bill.” Harkin, a Democrat, recently took over as chairman of the Senate Health Committee and he’s been involved in back-room negotiations as senate leaders merge the bill which cleared his panel with the health care reform plan that passed the Senate Finance Committee this week.

Harkin cites statistics which indicate small business owners wind up paying up to 18 percent more per worker than big companies do for the same insurance coverage. “That’s a big reason why 63 percent of small businesses in Iowa don’t provide insurance for their employees. They simply can’t afford it,” Harkin says. “This dismal situation would be changed dramatically by our emerging health reform legislation.”

Harkin plans to meet with a hardware store owner and members of the “Iowa Main Street Alliance” in Des Moines this afternoon. On Saturday, Harkin will meet with a small business owner in Waterloo, then visit a printing company in Cedar Rapids which has struggled to provide insurance to its employees.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Griswold, Maquoketa look to extend 7-0 streak

October 16, 2009 By

The championship in Class 1A district one is on the line this evening as seventh rated Griswold hosts top ranked Council Bluffs St. Albert. Griswold coach Andy Everett. Everett says they have never won a district title and he says anytime you get a chance to be 7-0 and win a district title, you have to be pretty proud of that.

Everett says St. Albert will be a tough matchup as they have good depth lots of speed and lots of talented kids. He says their defense probably does not get enough credit.

Everett says the Tigers will need to contain the Falcons’ option attack he says it comes down to making good tackles and taking good angles.

In class 3A district four seventh rated Maquoketa visits number six Marion and the winner locks up at least a share of the district title. At 7-0, Maquoketa is having its best season in more than 30 years.

Maquoketa coach Kevin Bowman says the community has rallied around them as this is the first time they have been 7-0 since 1973. He says it is a neat feeling to walk around and see all the pride in the football team and school district.

Bowman says the turnaround began last year when the Cardinals missed out on the post-season. They tied for fourth in the district last year, but lost in the tiebreaker to advance. He says the rededicated themselves to qualify this year.

Bowman says this team has experience and depth and is a great group of kids. They play a 3-3-5 defense that they started last year, and he says this year they are more experienced and it makes it easier.

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With:

More kids missing school with the flu

October 16, 2009 By

The number of Iowa children missing school because of the flu is rising. Doctor Patricia Quinlisk is Medical Director for the Iowa Department of Public Health. She says the department received reports this week from 56 schools in 23 counties that had at least 10-percent of their students absent due to illness, most likely the H1N1 virus.

“This was not entirely unexpected,” Quinlisk said. “Anytime we have a flu virus that hits school age children as hard as this one does, this is the type of scenario we expect to see.” Most of the H1N1 influenza cases in the state have involved people between the ages of 5 and 24. So, Quinlisk says it’s easy for the illness to spread in schools.

“Schools can often have pretty easy transmission,” Quinlisk said. “Children just spread it from one child to another and to teachers, then they go home to give it to their parents and siblings.” Shipments of the H1N1 vaccine are being shipped to Iowa is small batches. Most county health departments are running out of their supply shortly after receiving it.

Quinlisk says parents can help slow the spread of H1N1 by getting their children vaccinated. “Just realize you may not be able to do it in the next week or so, but within a couple weeks, we’re hoping to get most of the children vaccinated in the state of Iowa,” Quinlisk said. A Des Moines school closed on Wednesday after 70 of the school’s 190 students called in sick on Tuesday.

Saint Joeseph’s Catholic School Principal Phyllis Konchar says classes will resume next week.

Filed Under: Education, Health & Medicine

Study shows video games make it difficult for kids to focus

October 16, 2009 By

Iowa State University researchers have found kids who spend lots of time playing video games have more difficulty focusing on other tasks, like school work. I.S.U. psychology professor Rob West, a co-author of the study, says this probably isn’t a surprise to parents who nag their kids to shut off the video games.

“In a sense there is kind of an, ‘Ah ha! I knew that!’” West says. “We’ve got some other data from folks here at I.S.U. that have shown if you look at adolescents who report being bacially addicted to video games they have higher incidence rates of attention deficit, they tend to report lower grades in school and number of kind of negative outcomes for adolescents.”

This new I.S.U. research found kids who play high-action video games for at least 40 hours a week had more difficulty focusing on tasks that require their long-term attention. West says the study raises other questions. “Is it that the video games are actually causing this,” West asks, “or is it that people who choose to play a lot of games have this reduced ability to stay on task?”

West is working on another study which asks people who don’t play video games to start playing them for hours at a time — to see if they develop this inability to focus on tasks. “One of the things that got us interested in this line of research, too, is that there’s a lot of work that has shown beneficial effects of experience with the same types of games in terms of basic visual processing, so that’s a benefit, but that might be a cost?” West says. “…Are we producing some negative effects that might not have been considered in previous work?”

West is director of the cognitive psychology program at I.S.U. Another Iowa State professor and a graduate student collaborated with West on the study which was published online this week in the latest issue of “Psychophysiology” — a professional journal.

Filed Under: Health & Medicine Tagged With:
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