As of last night, the news has been full of Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple, taking another medical leave-of-absence from the company. This comes about a year and a half after his liver transplant and earlier absence. Apparently he has only been coming in a couple of days a week recently anyway, and it seems that even this got to be too much.
I am not surprised at the news. Why? For one thing, because of what I know about food safety. People such as Steve Jobs are in a very high risk group for food poisoning, because their immune systems are not functioning properly. The medication given after organ transplants is a major factor in this (some other prescription and over-the-counter medicines can have similar effects).
This means that a very few pathogenic Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes or other bacteria, or of a comparatively mild virus such as Norovirus, which would not affect a healthy adult, can be deadly for them. They have to be very, very, careful about what they eat.
A lot of other people fall into that very high risk group as well. In fact, anyone with a weak immune system is more at risk for contaminated food. Food safety is not just about what you eat, but about who you are.
To your good health,
TSF
UPDATE: Like many people all over the world, I was saddened last night to hear about Steve Job's death. He was a brilliant man, who lived his dream, and changed the world in the process.
