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Cargill said August 3 that it was recalling 36 million pounds of ground turkey. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it was one of the largest meat recalls ever. U.S. officials requested the recall after they linked a months-long salmonella outbreak to ground turkey from a Cargill plant. USDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did the investigation. So far the outbreak has made 77 people sick and caused 1 death. This particular strain of salmonella is difficult to cure with antibiotics. Cargill said all of the recalled packages include the code “Est. P-963.” The turkey was sold under several brand names, including store brands. Some turkey had no label or went to food service companies. All of the recalled turkey was produced at Cargill’s Springdale, Ark., plant from Feb. 20 through Aug. 2. The Associated Press wrote about the recall.

Doctors have some updated advice on how to prevent streptococcus group B infections in newborns. The journal Pediatrics published the new policy statement this week. MedPage Today wrote about it. Many women have group B strep bacteria in their vagina or rectum but have no symptoms. The infection can be passed on to the baby during childbirth. In babies, group B strep can cause dangerous blood infections (sepsis). It also can cause meningitis, a swelling of the coverings around the spinal cord and brain. It is different from the kind of strep that causes throat infections. The new policy statement explains when to test pregnant women and how to treat them if they are infected. It also gives guidance on how to test, observe and treat babies who are infected or might be infected. Previous guidelines led to a drop of 80% in group B strep infections among U.S. newborns.

Doctors in the Midwest have discovered a new type of bacteria linked to the infection ehrlichiosis. Ticks transmit this disease to humans. The new strain is spread by deer ticks. Researchers have named it Ehrlichia species Wisconsin. So far, it’s been found only in the blood of people from Wisconsin and Minnesota. But it could spread. Deer ticks, which also spread Lyme disease, are found across the United States. The new type of bacteria was identified in four patients. All recovered after treatment with antibiotics. But one — a man with a prior lung transplant — required a short hospital stay. Researchers reported about the new bacterium in the New England Journal of Medicine. HealthDay News wrote about it August 4.

Even small amounts of daily exercise help to reduce the risk of heart disease. That’s the conclusion of a new review of research on the topic. Some benefit was seen with as little as 10 to 15 minutes of exercise a day. The review combined the results of 9 previous studies. All of them included information on exercise habits. Researchers looked at people who did moderate-intensity exercise (such as walking) for at least 150 minutes a week. That is the current recommended minimum. People in this group had a 14% lower rate of heart disease than those who did no exercise. Benefits of exercise were strongest among women. The study appeared in the journal Circulation. USA Today wrote about it August 2.

The maker of Tylenol is lowering the top daily dose listed on the label. Johnson & Johnson announced the change August 1. The Associated Press wrote about it. The label change will occur in the fall. New labels on Extra Strength Tylenol will list the top daily dose at 6 pills. That’s 3,000 milligrams of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. The current top dose is 8 pills a day. The purpose of the change is to help prevent accidental overdoses. In excess doses, acetaminophen can cause liver failure. Other Tylenol products will get label changes next year. They also will cap the maximum daily dose at 3,000 milligrams.

Taking DHA supplements during pregnancy may help your baby fend off colds, a new study suggests. DHA stands for docosahexaenoic acid. It’s one of the omega 3 fatty acids found in fish oil and some other foods. The study included more than 1,000 pregnant women. They were randomly assigned to receive either DHA pills or placebo (fake) pills. After the babies were born, they were asked to keep diaries about any symptoms of illness the babies had. They filled out questionnaires about their babies’ health at ages 1, 3 and 6 months. Babies whose mothers took DHA were 24% less likely to have a combination of cold symptoms at 1 month of age than babies from the other group. Their cold symptoms also were shorter at 1 and 3 months of age. At 6 months, they had fever, runny nose and breathing problems for a shorter time than those whose mothers got the placebo.