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TheAssociatedPress HARRISBURG,PA. A Penn- sylvania dairy that supplies raw milk around the coun- try has been linked to two cases of listeriosis, one of them fatal, according to health authorities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said one person in California and one in Florida became infected from raw milk in 2014. The Florida victim died. Officials say the source is believed to be milk from Miller's Organic Farm lo- cated in Bird-in-Hand in Lancaster County. Miller's Organic Farm, which isn't licensed by or inspected by the state agri- culture department, doesn't do retail sales but does busi- ness via mail order to a membership club. Owner Amos Miller told reporters that the company is still selling raw milk and hasn't gotten any com- plaints from members. Health officials said the source of the illnesses wasn't known until Janu- ary, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in- formed the CDC that whole genome sequencing of Lis- teria bacteria from raw chocolate milk produced by the farm in November 2015 was genetically related to samples taken from two affected individuals. State and federal health officials said they were concerned that there might be further contamination of raw milk and raw dairy products dis- tributed by the company. Raw milk can carry dan- gerous bacteria such as Lis- teria, Salmonella, E. coli and Campylobacter. Offi- cials say consumption of unpasteurized dairy prod- ucts poses a risk for food- borne illness, and children younger than 5, the elderly, pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems are at special risk for infection-related com- plications. PENNSYLVANIA Da ir y' s ra w mi lk l in ke d to l is te ri os is d ea th By Lauran Neergaard The Associated Press WASHINGTON Forget mos- quito bites. Volunteers let researchers inject them with the dengue virus in the name of science — and an experimental vaccine protected them. Next up, scientists plan to use this same strategy against den- gue's cousin, the Zika virus. It's called a human challenge, a little-known but increasing type of re- search where healthy peo- ple agree to be deliberately infected in the quest for new or improved vaccines against a variety of health threats, from flu to malaria. Wednesday's dengue study offered more evidence that what sounds bizarre not only can be done safely, it can offer important clues for how well a shot might work. "What we're trying to do is accelerate vaccine re- search," said senior author Dr. Anna Durbin of Johns Hopkins University's school of public health. It may be the best way "to know if you have a stinker before you try to test it in thou- sands or tens of thousands of people." The dengue candidate proved highly promising, researchers reported in the journal Science Transla- tional Medicine. Dengue fever may have slipped from the head- lines as the related Zika virus sweeps through Latin America, but ev- ery year mosquito-borne dengue causes devastat- ing outbreaks throughout the tropics and subtropics. While most people survive dengue with few or even no symptoms, more than 2 million a year suffer se- rious illness and about 25,000 die. Creating a vaccine has been tough. It must work against four separate strains of dengue, and a shot that's only partially protective might back- fire. That's because people who survive one type of dengue can suffer worse symptoms if they're later infected with another strain. Enter an experimental vaccine created at the Na- tional Institutes of Health, made from four live but weakened dengue strains. Initial studies had sug- gested the shots were safe and promising. But, "we really wanted to have an early clue that it was go to work," especially against the hard-to-prevent den- gue serotype 2, said Dr. Stephen Whitehead of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who led the vac- cine development. Researchers at Hopkins and the University of Ver- mont gave 41 healthy peo- ple who'd never been ex- posed to dengue either a single dose of the vac- cine or a dummy shot. Six months later, those volun- teers were challenged — injected with a weakened version of that dengue-2 strain. The results were strik- ing: All 21 people who'd gotten the real vaccine were completely pro- tected — while all 20 who'd gotten a placebo had dengue virus in their bloodstream and either a mild rash or a tempo- rary drop in white blood cell count, researchers re- ported Wednesday. This kind of study mim- ics "the closest that it can be to what may happen in natural infection," said Dr. Nikos Vasilakis, a virologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galves- ton, who wasn't involved in the new work but calls the NIH shot "one of the better vaccine candidates." Based in part on the findings, the Butantan In- stitute in Brazil last month began recruiting 17,000 people, ages 2 to 59, for the final testing needed to prove how well the NIH vaccine works against den- gue in real-world condi- tions, when it is spread by mosquitoes. A competing vaccine, made by Sanofi Pasteur, recently was ap- proved by Brazilian regu- lators for ages 9 to 45. What about Zika, the dengue relative that's been linked to babies born with unusually small heads? Already, researchers are planning similar chal- lenge studies that could start even before there's a vaccine candidate, Durbin said. "We see a Zika challenge model as really beneficial for not only vaccine devel- opment but also to learn more about Zika itself," she explained. "We know very little about Zika right now," in- cluding how long it stays in blood and other parts of the body. Key to these challenge studies: Scientists must modify a virus strain in the laboratory so that it doesn't make volunteers openly ill but still is strong enough to spark a mild infection, what Whitehead called "that per- fect in-between." Plus, that mimics what happens with both den- gue and Zika, where most people who become in- fected never report symp- toms. Before deliberately in- fecting someone, "you have to know that it's a com- pletely controllable situ- ation, that it's a mild and controlled infection," said Dr. Beth Kirkpatrick, who directs the University of Vermont Vaccine Testing Center that tested the den- gue model. DENGUE, ZIKA Vo lu nt ee ri ng f or i nf ec ti on i n hu nt f or v ac ci ne s By Matthias Gafni mgafni@bayareanewsgroup. com Does the restaurant you love have a history of rat and roach infestations? Does your favorite grocery store deli have employees who have handled food while ill? Starting April 15, Contra Costa County businesses that sell food must post color-coded signs alert- ing the public to any ma- jor health code violations found during their latest inspection. County supervisors unanimously authorized the ordinance Tuesday, al- lowing for green, yellow and red placards to go up in businesses next month. "This is an impor- tant step to help the pub- lic make informed deci- sions when dining or shop- ping in our county," Board Chairwoman Candace An- dersen said. "Placards make it easy for anyone to know a business's food safety re- cord, just by looking in the window." Similar programs al- ready exist in Alameda, Sacramento, San Francisco and other Bay Area counties and have led to a decrease in foodborne illness, said Contra Costa Environmen- tal Health Director Marilyn Underwood. "Making inspection re- sults highly visible appears to have an impact on mak- ing businesses that sell food operate more safely," she said. A green placard means zero or one major violation, yellow signals two or more, and red placards are posted when a store has been shut down because of an immi- nent health hazard. The environmental health department reg- ulates about 4,000 re- tail food permit holders in Contra Costa. Inspec- tors visit restaurants two to three times a year, and owners will receive their first placard following in- spections performed after April 15. Some supermarkets with different food departments will have multiple placards. Serious health code viola- tions include unclean or im- properly sanitized kitchen equipment, food measured at unsafe temperatures, or workers handling food while ill or with unwashed hands. Operators with retail food permits are already re- quired to immediately cor- rect health violations while inspectors are on site, or they must shut down. CONTRA COSTA County businesses must start warning of health code violations ASSOCIATEDPRESSPHOTOS Patients suffering Zika, dengue or chikungunya symptoms are treated at the emergency hospital in Monteiro, Brazil. An Aedes aegypti mosquito is seen through a microscope at the Fiocruz institute in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Forget mosquito bites. Volunteers let researchers inject them with the dengue virus in the name of science, and an experimental vaccine protected them. Next up, scientists plan to use this same strategy against dengue's cousin, the Zika virus. A municipal health worker sprays insecticide to kill Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which spreads the Zika virus, in Campina Grande, Brazil. "What we're trying to do is accelerate vaccine research." — Dr. Anna Durbin of Johns Hopkins University's school of public health redbluff.mercy.org HIRE (Head Injury Recreational Entity) 10:00am-2:00pm 3/28 Mondays Wright Rusty Brown 529-2059 Living Well with Better Nutrition 1:00pm-3:00pm 3/30 Last Wed Odd Mos Columba 888-628-1948 Living well with Diabetes 3:00pm-5:00pm 3/30 Last Wed Odd Mos Columba 888-628-1948 5 th Annual Red Bluff Round-Up Blood Drive April13,2016 11:00-6:00 Tehama County Fairgrounds Auditorium Sponsored by the Emblem Club and the Red Bluff Round-Up Association All participants will receive a free Red Bluff Round-Up Ticket! RANDAL S. ELLOWAY DDS IMPLANT DENTISTRY 2426 SO. MAIN ST., RED BLUFF 530-527-6777 Askyourselfthefollowingquestions: Are you missing one or more of your natural teeth? 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