The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter, but not a recall, after microorganisms were found in water samples and finished toothpaste products.An inspection of a Tom’s of Maine manufacturing facility last spring found “significant violations” including the presence of a “black mold-like substance,” and an internal investigation found bacteria in the water used to make the brand’s popular toothpaste, federal regulators said this month.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter dated Nov. 5 to the parent company Colgate-Palmolive reporting that microorganisms were found in water samples and finished toothpaste products during the inspection at a facility in Sanford, Maine, between May 7 and 22.The letter, which accused the company of failing “to follow appropriate written procedures,” was not a formal recall.Donald W. Schaffner, a professor of food and science at Rutgers University, said in an email that the bacteria found might cause illness, particularly for those who are immunocompromised.“If customers read about this issue and they have concerns,” he said, “I think throwing out their toothpaste is a reasonable choice.”The bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa was recovered in multiple water samples that the company took from June 2021 to October 2022, according to the letter. It can cause infections in the blood, lungs and other parts of the body after surgery, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.That water was used to produce a batch of Tom’s Simply White Clean Mint Paste and to rinse down several pieces of equipment, the letter said.The bacteria Ralstonia insidiosa was also found in its water, according to the F.D.A.An inspection of the Tom’s of Maine manufacturing facility in Sanford, Maine, led to the discovery of water containing bacteria.Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesAnother bacteria, Paracoccus yeei, was found in a batch of the company’s Wicked Cool! Anticavity Toothpaste, which is marketed toward children.Colgate-Palmolive, which has owned Tom’s of Maine since 2006, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.An investigator with the F.D.A. also reported finding a “black mold-like substance” at the base of a hose and behind a water storage tank in the facility, one foot from pails and other equipment used to produce the toothpaste.The F.D.A. asked the company to provide a “comprehensive assessment of the design and control of manufacturing operations, a review of all microbiological hazards, a detailed risk assessment addressing the hazards posed by distributing over-the-counter drug products,” as well as an independent assessment of its cleaning effectiveness “to evaluate the scope of cross-contamination hazards.”The agency said that the company had 15 days to respond and specify any work to prevent the recurrence of the violations.

One person has died and nearly 40 people have been sickened in an E. coli outbreak tied to multiple brands of recalled organic carrots sold by Grimmway Farms, officials said.One person has died and 39 people have become ill in an E. coli outbreak linked to organic carrots, federal regulators said on Sunday.The infections were tied to multiple brands of recalled organic whole bagged carrots and baby carrots sold by Grimmway Farms, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Fifteen people have been hospitalized, according to the agency.Carrots currently on store shelves are unlikely to be affected by the recall but those in consumers’ refrigerators or freezers may be, the authorities said.“If you have any recalled carrots in your home, throw them out or return them to the store,” the C.D.C. said.Grimmway Farms, which is based in Bakersfield, Calif., said in a statement on Saturday that it had recalled multiple sizes and brands of its bagged organic baby and whole carrots.The recalled products include organic whole carrots, which do not have a best-if-used-by date on the bag but were available for purchase at retail stores from Aug. 14 through Oct. 23, 2024. The recall also involved organic baby carrots with best-if-used-by dates from Sept. 11 through Nov. 12, 2024.The carrots were sold under multiple brand names and at several retailers, including Trader Joe’s and Wegmans.The states with the most outbreaks were Minnesota, New York and Washington, according to the Food and Drug Administration.E. coli infections typically start four days after a person consumes a contaminated food. Symptoms include diarrhea and severe stomach cramps. If those symptoms last more than two days or if the patient experiences a fever higher than 102 degrees or dehydration, medical help is required.Some people may also develop serious kidney problems and need to be hospitalized. Most people recover without treatment after five to seven days, the C.D.C. said.The carrots recall comes after an E. coli outbreak last month related to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers resulted in one fatality and more than 100 cases of illness, according to the C.D.C. The agency said that slivered onions were the likely source of that outbreak.

The former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases had been hospitalized and was expected to make a full recovery, a spokeswoman said.Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former government scientist who was both lauded and criticized for his work on Covid-19, was recently hospitalized with a case of West Nile virus and is recovering at home, according to a spokeswoman for the doctor.“A full recovery is expected,” the spokeswoman, Jenn Kuzmuk, said in a statement on Sunday on behalf of Dr. Fauci, 83, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.She did not elaborate on where he was hospitalized or for how long.Dr. Jonathan LaPook, the chief medical correspondent for CBS News, shared on social media that Dr. Fauci had told him that he had fever, chills and severe fatigue and that he was hospitalized this month. Dr. Fauci said he was most likely infected by a mosquito bite that he got in his backyard, Dr. LaPook said.West Nile virus is most commonly spread through the bite of an infected mosquito and is the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the continental United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.People become infected with the virus after mosquitoes feed on infected birds and then bite people, according to the C.D.C.“People are considered dead-end hosts because, unlike birds, they do not develop high enough levels of virus in their bloodstream and cannot pass the virus on to other biting mosquitoes,” the agency says on its website.West Nile cases primarily occur during mosquito season, which starts in the summer and continues through the fall. Symptoms may include fever, headache, body aches, vomiting, diarrhea or rash.At least 216 cases of West Nile virus have been detected in 33 states this year, according to the C.D.C. There are no vaccines to prevent or medicines to treat West Nile virus in people. The best prevention against the virus is to avoid mosquito bites.Lauded as the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Fauci, President Biden’s former chief medical adviser, retired in December 2022 as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, after 38 years.As the public face of American science for decades, Dr. Fauci advised seven presidents and guided the country’s response to infectious disease outbreaks from the AIDS epidemic to Covid-19.Dr. Fauci joined the faculty at Georgetown University last year as a distinguished university professor at its medical school.In June, testifying before a House panel investigating Covid’s origins, he denied Republican allegations that he had helped fund research that led to the pandemic or that he had covered up the possibility of its origins in a laboratory.

The outbreak linked to shelled organic walnuts distributed by Gibson Farms has sickened 12 people and hospitalized seven in California and Washington State, federal officials said.A California company is recalling organic walnuts that were sold at natural food stores and coop retailers in 19 states because of an E. coli outbreak that has sickened 12 people and hospitalized seven, federal officials said.Gibson Farms, the company based in Hollister, Calif., is voluntarily recalling its shelled walnuts branded as Organic Light Halves and Pieces after discovering that the nuts could carry the E. coli strain 0157: H7 that “causes a diarrheal illness often with bloody stools,” the Food and Drug Administration said in a notice on Tuesday.The recall came after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notified the company of 12 recorded illnesses that were linked to the walnuts. They were distributed at more than 300 food retailers, including Whole Foods Market, New Seasons Market and Rosauers Supermarkets, the F.D.A. said.An investigation is underway to determine the potential source of the contamination, the F.D.A. said. The company did not immediately respond to inquiries on Wednesday.E. coli symptoms can vary from person to person and may include cramping, diarrhea or gastrointestinal distress. Other common symptoms include vomiting and fever. People begin to feel symptoms three to four days after ingesting food or drinks containing the E. coli bacteria, according to the C.D.C.A Whole Foods spokesman said the recalled walnuts were shipped to 10 of their Whole Foods Market stores across Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas and used only as an ingredient in a salad offered on salad bars in those stores. The salad item was removed from the salad bars and the recalled walnuts were destroyed immediately, the spokesman said.This particular strain of E. coli is associated with a toxin called Shiga that can cause bloody diarrhea and “for a small number of people, can cause severe disease,” Dr. Richard Ellison, an epidemiologist at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Mass., said on Wednesday.Although most healthy adults would fully recover within a week, some people may develop a form of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome, which is most likely to occur in young children and older adults, the F.D.A. said in its notice.Dr. Ellison said that about 90 percent of people will get better on their own without requiring antibiotics, and about 10 percent will develop the illness that can cause anemia and kidney damage.“Generally, we recommend providing supportive care and keeping people well hydrated,” he added.Consumers who have symptoms should contact their health care providers to receive care, the F.D.A. said.So far, the people who were sickened in the outbreak have been in California and Washington State. No deaths have been reported.The Organic Light Halves and Pieces were sold in bulk bins of 25-pound quantities, according to the F.D.A. The expiration dates for the affected product are between May 21, 2025, and June 7, 2025, the agency said.A list of store locations where the walnuts were sold can be found on the F.D.A.’s website.Consumers who bought the walnuts from bulk containers should check their pantries, refrigerators and freezers, and “not eat or use them,” the F.D.A. said. They should also “clean and sanitize surfaces” touched by the product, the agency said.Retailers that received the recalled products should discard the walnuts and sanitize bins before refilling them, the F.D.A. said.

The gamer, Tyler Blevins, said a mole removed from his foot during a recent checkup with a dermatologist was found to be a melanoma.Tyler Blevins, the video game superstar known as Ninja, revealed this week that he had been diagnosed with melanoma, a form of skin cancer.Mr. Blevins, 32, said on social media on Tuesday that a mole was removed from his foot during an annual checkup with a dermatologist a few weeks ago.“It came back as melanoma, but they are optimistic that we caught it in the early stages,” he said.In the post, Mr. Blevins said a second dark spot was found on his foot that had also been removed and was being checked, “with the hopes that under the microscope they will see clear non-melanoma edges and we will know we got it.”Mr. Blevins is the closest video gaming has come to producing a mainstream star. He became the multimillionaire face of the popular battle royale video game Fortnite, and has about 19 million followers on Twitch, the Amazon-owned platform that has dominated the video game livestreaming industry. He also has more than 12 million followers on Instagram, and 6 million followers on X.His huge online following led to a crossover appearance in 2019, in disguise as a character called the “Ice Cream,” on the Fox competition show “The Masked Singer.” In 2018, he played Fortnite with Ellen DeGeneres on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”Skin cancer is common, and often survivable. Basal and squamous cell carcinomas, which are the most common types of skin cancer, can cause disfigurement but are rarely fatal.Melanoma accounts for just about 1 percent of all diagnosed skin cancers, but causes a vast majority of skin cancer deaths. The American Cancer Society estimated that doctors would diagnose about 100,640 new melanomas — about 59,170 in men and 41,470 in women — in the United States this year, and that about 8,290 people would die as a result.The risk increases with age, and lighter skin color is also a major risk factor for melanoma. Early detection can lead to effective treatment.The average age of those receiving a diagnosis is 66. But melanoma is among the most common cancers in young adults, especially young women, between the ages of 20 and 39, according to the American Cancer Society.William Dahut, the American Cancer Society’s chief scientific officer, said on Wednesday that a melanoma found on the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet or beneath the fingernails “is a rare type.” He suggested that people use sunscreen and frequently check their skin, and consult a dermatologist if anything suspicious is found.“It’s good to have a partner to look over your back and the soles of your feet in a well-lit room, or with a hand light,” he said.Mr. Blevins said he would use his diagnosis to raise awareness about skin cancer.“I’m grateful to have hope in finding this early,” he said in his post, “but please take this as a PSA to get skin checkups.”

Mr. Blevins, known as Ninja, said a mole removed from his foot during a recent checkup with a dermatologist was found to be a melanoma.Tyler Blevins, the video game superstar known as Ninja, revealed this week that he had been diagnosed with melanoma, a form of skin cancer.Mr. Blevins, 32, said on social media on Tuesday that a mole was removed from his foot during an annual checkup with a dermatologist a few weeks ago.“It came back as melanoma, but they are optimistic that we caught it in the early stages,” he said.In the post, Mr. Blevins said a second dark spot was found on his foot that had also been removed and was being checked, “with the hopes that under the microscope they will see clear non-melanoma edges and we will know we got it.”Mr. Blevins is the closest video gaming has come to producing a mainstream star. He became the multimillionaire face of the popular battle royale video game Fortnite, and has about 19 million followers on Twitch, the Amazon-owned platform that has dominated the video game livestreaming industry. He also has more than 12 million followers on Instagram, and 6 million followers on X.His huge online following led to a crossover appearance in 2019, in disguise as a character called the “Ice Cream,” on the Fox competition show “The Masked Singer.” In 2018, he played Fortnite with Ellen DeGeneres on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”Skin cancer is common, and often survivable. Basal and squamous cell carcinomas, which are the most common types of skin cancer, can cause disfigurement but are rarely fatal.Melanoma accounts for just about 1 percent of all diagnosed skin cancers, but causes a vast majority of skin cancer deaths. The American Cancer Society estimated that doctors would diagnose about 100,640 new melanomas — about 59,170 in men and 41,470 in women — in the United States this year, and that about 8,290 people would die as a result.The risk increases with age, and lighter skin color is also a major risk factor for melanoma. Early detection can lead to effective treatment.The average age of those receiving a diagnosis is 66. But melanoma is among the most common cancers in young adults, especially young women, between the ages of 20 and 39, according to the American Cancer Society.William Dahut, the American Cancer Society’s chief scientific officer, said on Wednesday that a melanoma found on the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet or beneath the fingernails “is a rare type.” He suggested that people use sunscreen and frequently check their skin, and consult a dermatologist if anything suspicious is found.“It’s good to have a partner to look over your back and the soles of your feet in a well-lit room, or with a hand light,” he said.Mr. Blevins said he would use his diagnosis to raise awareness about skin cancer.“I’m grateful to have hope in finding this early,” he said in his post, “but please take this as a PSA to get skin checkups.”

Federal regulators said that the Jool Baby swings should not have been marketed as sleep products because they have an incline angle that is not safe.Jool Baby, a brand of children’s products, has recalled about 63,000 infant swings that were sold at Walmart stores and online because they posed a suffocation risk, federal safety regulators said.The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Thursday that the Jool Baby Nova Baby Infant Swing that was marketed, intended or designed for infant sleep posed a suffocation risk because it had an incline angle greater than 10 degrees.The product was in violation of the commission’s Infant Sleep Products Regulation and the Safe Sleep for Babies Act, the agency said.A study cited in the federal regulation of infant sleep products found that infants who slept in products with a 20-degree incline were exposed to increased demand on the abdominal muscles, which could lead to fatigue and suffocation. The same study determined that an incline of 10 degrees or below does not significantly affect infant motion or muscle activity.The recall notice affects infant swings that were manufactured from June 2022 through September 2023.Those swings are gray and measure about 28 inches long, 19 inches wide and 24 inches high. They have a round aluminum base with music buttons on the front, a metal seat frame, a cloth seat with restraints and a headrest, and a canopy with hanging toys, such as moons, clouds and stars.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

The Minnesota woman said the dental work, performed in one day in July 2020, caused her “pain and suffering, embarrassment, emotional distress and disfigurement.”A Minnesota woman who said that she received four root canals, eight dental crowns and 20 fillings in a single visit to a dentist’s office has sued him for negligence, claiming that he caused her disfigurement.The patient, Kathleen Wilson, of Hennepin County, Minn., filed the lawsuit on Dec. 21 in District Court against Dr. Kevin Molldrem of Molldrem Family Dentistry in Eden Prairie, Minn., over the July 2020 visit that she said caused her significant injuries.Ms. Wilson said in the legal complaint that she lost income because of the dental work and that she had endured “pain and suffering, embarrassment, emotional distress and disfigurement” as a result. It is not clear from the lawsuit what Ms. Wilson’s occupation is.A lawyer for Ms. Wilson did not respond to an inquiry for further comment. Dr. Molldrem, who is listed as representing himself in the case, according to the complaint, did not respond to a request for comment.On his website, Dr. Molldrem said he opened his practice in Eden Prairie, Minn., “to provide the type of dental care for others as I would want for my own family.”According to the suit, Ms. Wilson received dental care from Dr. Molldrem from July 7 to July 21, 2020.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? 

Tyson said it had received complaints from consumers about finding small metal pieces in the product. Federal regulators said one “minor oral injury” had been reported.Tyson Foods is recalling nearly 30,000 pounds of its dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets after some consumers said they found small metal pieces in them, federal officials said.The recall, which was announced on Saturday, involves 29-ounce plastic bags of the product, which is called “Fully Cooked Fun Nuggets Breaded Shaped Chicken Patties,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said in a statement.The recall affects approximately 29,819 pounds of the dinosaur-shaped nuggets, which were produced on Sept. 5 by the Arkansas-based food processing company.The bags affected have a “best if used by” date of Sept. 4, 2024, and lot codes 2483BRV0207, 2483BRV0208, 2483BRV0209 and 2483BRV0210, the statement said. The packaging features cartoon dinosaurs, one green and one red, looking over a plate of the breaded nuggets.On its website, the company said it was voluntarily recalling the product “out of an abundance of caution.” It added that no other products were affected.The products were shipped to distributors in Alabama, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin, according to the Food Safety and Inspection Service statement.Tyson said the problem was discovered after it received complaints from consumers who said they found small metal pieces in the product, the federal agency said.There was one report of a “minor oral injury” associated with the consumption of the product but no additional reports of injury or illness, officials said.“Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a health care provider,” the federal statement said.The Food Safety and Inspection Service urged consumers not to eat the nuggets and advised that any product left in the freezer “should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.”This is not the first recall involving Tyson chicken products. In 2019, the company recalled 69,093 pounds of frozen chicken strips after two people reported finding pieces of metal in the product, the Department of Agriculture said at the time.

The fashion photographer disclosed her health challenges in an interview with The Wall Street Journal Magazine.Linda Evangelista, the supermodel made famous in the 1990s, revealed in an interview that she survived breast cancer twice in five years.The fashion photographer described her diagnoses and multiple health challenges in an interview with The Wall Street Journal Magazine that was published on Tuesday.Ms. Evangelista, 58, said she was first diagnosed in 2018 after an annual mammogram. The magazine noted that it was the first time she had spoken publicly about her cancer.Ms. Evangelista did not immediately respond for comment on Tuesday.In response to her diagnosis, she said, she chose to undergo a bilateral mastectomy, “thinking I was good and set for life. Breast cancer was not going to kill me.”However, four years later, in 2022, she learned that the cancer had returned, this time in her pectoral muscle.She recalled telling her surgeon, “Dig a hole in my chest.”“I don’t want it to look pretty. I want you to excavate. I want to see a hole in my chest when you’re done,” she had said to her doctors. “Do you understand me? I’m not dying from this.”After a second surgical procedure, Ms. Evangelista in the interview described her current prognosis as “good,” as told by her post-cancer care oncologist.However, she said, her doctor had given her a “horrible oncotype score,” a number that represents the risk of cancer recurrence.Still, she said, the uncertainty has made her days more valuable.“I know I have one foot in the grave, but I’m totally in celebration mode,” she said.Breast cancer diagnoses have not been the only health issues for Ms. Evangelista in recent years.Two years ago in an Instagram post, she revealed that side effects from CoolSculpting, a “fat-freezing” procedure, had left her “permanently deformed” and “brutally disfigured” as she had developed paradoxical adipose hyperplasia, an effect in which firm tissue masses develop in the treatment areas.The condition, she said, caused her to become depressed and reclusive after “not looking like myself any longer.”She subsequently sued Zeltiq Aesthetics, the company behind the procedure, for $50 million and settled in July 2022 for an undisclosed amount. Ms. Evangelista was one of the top five supermodels in the world in the 1990s, and she has continued to work and has stepped back into the spotlight since her CoolSculpting procedures and side effects.In 2022, she appeared on the cover of British Vogue, and beginning on Sept. 20, she will appear in a new Apple TV+ documentary, “The Super Models.” The project will reunite her with other 90s-era supermodels including Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford. In 1990, the four women famously appeared lip-syncing the lyrics in the George Michael video, “Freedom 90.”