Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
Doctors Save Severed Hand by Attaching it to Patient's Leg
Chinese doctors say they saved a man's severed hand by attaching it to his leg.
After the man's left hand was cut off in an industrial accident several weeks ago, doctors decided they could not immediately put the hand back in its normal location.
"There were great risks to reattach the hand back directly to the arm, as tissues of the severed [area] were greatly damaged," surgical team leader Dr. Tang Juyu told CNN.
Instead, the doctors grafted the man's hand to his lower right calf and connected it to blood vessels in the area to keep the tissue alive. The procedure was carried out at the Xiangya Hospital in Changsha in central China.
About a month later, the blood vessels and tendons in the patient's left arm healed and the doctors reattached the hand. The man -- identifed as Mr. Zhou -- has slight movement in his fingers and will continue rehab in an effort to regain full use of the hand, CNN reported.
Tang -- who has performed this type of hand-to-leg graft in two other patients -- said it's hard to predict Zhou's long-term outcome.
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Blue Bell Starts Test Production Runs at Alabama Plant
Ice cream production trial runs have started at Blue Bell Creameries' Alabama plant three months after the Texas-based company stopped all sales due to listeria contamination.
Blue Bell said the test runs began Wednesday and that the changes made to production processes at the plant in Sylacauga are being evaluated, the Associated Press reported.
Blue Bell announced a recall April 20 after its products were linked to 10 listeria illnesses in four states, including three deaths in Kansas.
Federal and Alabama health officials were notified earlier this month of Blue Bell's plans for test production at the Alabama plant. The company has not said when sales will resume, the AP reported.
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Sushi Linked to Salmonella Outbreak: CDC
Store-bought sushi made with tuna is the main cause of a salmonella outbreak that's sickened 62 people in 11 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
Investigators linked the outbreak to frozen yellowfin tuna that was processed in Indonesia and sold by the Osamu Corporation. Some of the tuna was bought by the AFC Corporation for use in grocery store sushi, ABC News reported.
"Most ill people in the outbreak reported eating sushi made with raw tuna in the week before becoming sick," according to the CDC.
The tuna was recalled by the Osamu Corporation, and AFC "has removed the product from the marketplace and is destroying any remaining product it has," the Food and Drug Administration said, ABC News reported.
