Kate, your faith in the medical profession is quite touching, but very naive: "If people started dropping like flies because they ate unpasturized cheeses,if the children born had problems due to that, I am sure there would be some sort of changes made."<BR><BR>As we all know, medical research discovers new things every day. This of course means that there are many things it till does not know. And medical research can only answer questions that people have thought to ask. For instance, children were born for centuries with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, frequently including mental retardation, but it took doctors until the mid-1970s to put the evidence together -- moms do not often show up for their OB appointments while drinking! Sometimes it takes a long time to ask the right questions and piece together the evidence. <BR><BR>The impact of listeria infection can take two months to become evident, so nobody knows how long this infection was causing problems, nor how many miscarriages might have been caused by it before the problem was identified.<BR><BR>It is especially difficult to identify situations where, as St. Cirq has pointed out, there are usually no ill effects, but rather a relatively small risk.<BR><BR>Now, what's all this about bathtubs??

Just a small point. We got salmonella in eggs here too.<BR><BR>The advice to the pregnant is the same as in the US- no soft or blue cheese; no shellfish and no uncooked eggs.<BR><BR>mmm? Wonder if that's why I have no kids?

Dr. Suzy<BR><BR>Here you go again. You obviously don't think much of the medical profession, I wonder why? Let me suggest the next time you need, say, a cholecystectomy or appendectomy or a meningioma removed from your brain, you get some of your "non medical friends" to perform the surgery. As smart as you are I'm sure you are aware that the average age of survival for a man in the United States 100 years ago was about 45. Today it is around 76. Now one of the big reasons for that is modern medicine eradicated small pox from this planet, stopped the dreaded and disfiguring polio virus in it's tracks, turned Hodgkin's disease into a chronic illness instead of a death sentence, advanced the understanding of cardiovascular disease, cancer and HIV, just to name a few. Those accomplishments have allowed people to live longer and what could be more important than that? For you to sit on this board and belittle medicine because doctors didn't figure out Fetal Alcohol Syndrome ( you seem to be obsessed with this...I wonder why? )in a timely manner according to you is ridiculous. <BR>Let me suggest you go to your search engine ( let me guess - Google ) and find some other articles to reference us to so it looks like you know what you are talking about.

My my my, such human drama all about CHEESE?

Dr Suzy<BR><BR>You said:<BR><BR>"As we all know, medical research discovers new things every day. This of course means that there are many things it till does not know"<BR><BR>I'm sorry to say this but you sound like an absolute moron making statements like that. Save yourself any further embarrassment by turning off your computer. And stay off the booze.

Other foods that often have raw or undercooked eggs: caeser salad dressing, chocolate mousse, the rich heavy sauces (hollandaise, bearnaise, choron). In the US these days, I don't think they make caeser salad or mousse with raw eggs anymore, but traditionally that is how they are prepared.

Why are you sensitive medical types singling out Suzy for ridicule? As a layperson, the silliest notion I see here is StCirq's innuendo that we stupid Americans could build-up immunity to killer bacteria. Last time I checked, citizens of every country, even France, have succumbed to the likes of Ecoli, salmonella, listeria, botulism, etc. and I doubt the overuse of Lever 2000 antibacterial soap had anything to do with the deaths.

Also chocolate truffles are often made with raw egg yolks.

Robyn,<BR><BR>Brie is usually made with raw milk. I never heard about "St Andre" or "Fontina", so I wonder if these products are genuine french cheese. "Fontina" doesn't even sound french, actually. It sounds more like a brand name invented by a marketing department.<BR><BR><BR><BR>

Corrine, I think you'll find that most of the increase in life expectancy is due to decreases in the death rates among infants and young children, much of which had been accomplished through improved hygiene and nutrition long before strides had been made against polio, Hodgkins, cardiovascular disease, etc. and certainly even before HIV/AIDS had any impact on life expectancies. <BR><BR>I am not belittling medicine, nor am I advising nonmedical personnel to perform appendectomies, for heaven's sake. I only wanted to point out that even doctors overlook things (yes, a couple of key diagnoses in my own case) and have things to learn.

Fontina is a very well known Italian cheese.

Dozens of my friends have been pregnant here in France, and I've never seen any of them restrict herself on cheeses, nor am I aware of any GP advising against it. And, as one poster pointed it, as far as food safety/quality is concerned, you will be far better off in Europe than in the States. One last data: last year, France was the number one country in Europe for birth rates (for the first time ahead of Ireland), with 99 % of pregnant women eating all kinds of cheese...

for God's sake, people. it's cheese! CHEESE!<BR><BR>has it ever occurred to anyone that it can't be all that bad as the French have been eating it for ages, and last I checked, they have not died off as a race...<BR><BR>zounds.

Ah, the ultimate food fight. It is all too true that French women have been having babies and eating raw milk cheese. That is as far from the point as you can get. This woman's OB has advised her not too. She asked a question about pasteurized milk cheese, not obstetrics.

While pregnant I was told not to immerse myself in a swimming pool.When my daughter was pregnant she was told not to take baths after the 7th month.<BR>I guess some doctors think the little bacterias will run inside and find the baby?<BR>I understand what Kate meant..just follow the advice of your doctor and try to be smart.<BR>Although shellfish,raw eggs and raw meat are known to be dangerous for anyone to eat,not just pregnant women,I cannot imagine so many people having probs with eating cheese!

For the record, and for those thinking modern medical science is operating on whims, here are some facts:<BR><BR>Listeria monocytogenes is a small rod shaped gram-positive bacterium that is ubiquitous in the environment, in the soil, on<BR>plants and animals. Listeriosis (the state of Listeria infection) is associated with eating of unpasteurized cheese or dairy<BR>products, or consumption of contaminated vegetables. Infection occurs primarily in newborns and infants, elderly or<BR>immunocompromised individuals, or pregnant women (mother is asymptomatic or has influenza-like syndrome, but the<BR>newborn can acquire it during birth, or infection can cause abortion or premature delivery). According to the CDC about 1500<BR>cases are reported in the United States each year, mostly in the aforementioned high risk groups. <BR><BR>Pregnant women are about 20 times more likely than other healthy adults to<BR> get listeriosis. About one-third of listeriosis cases happen during pregnancy.<BR> The incidence of listeriosis in the newborn is 8.6 per 100,000 live births.2 There<BR> is no routine screening test for susceptibility to listeriosis during pregnancy, as<BR> there is for rubella and some other congenital infections. Newborns, rather than<BR> the pregnant women themselves, suffer the serious effects of infection in<BR> pregnancy. <BR><BR>for more info go to http://www.about-listeria.com

Just a small point. We got salmonella in eggs here too.<BR><BR>The advice to the pregnant is the same as in the US- no soft or blue cheese; no shellfish and no uncooked eggs.<BR><BR>mmm? Wonder if that's why I have no kids?

Whatsa matter Sheila, mad because no one paid any attention to your first post 5 hours ago about not having children because---because---because. Pitiful.

Skidoo, you idiot, OBVIOUSLY someone other than Sheila did a cut & paste of her post, as I doubt anyone here's ever seen her post EXAXCTLY the same thing twice. It's a time-honored tradition, instituted by resident troll-types on this board, like your bad little self. Get thee to a neurology clinic, or even better, a psych ward, you pretentious ninny!

While he/she was at it, did you OB also tell you that pregnant women are more likely to have a trombosis when flying? (re: economy class syndrome).<BR><BR>