Empathy is a commonly used, but poorly understood, concept. It is often confused with related concepts such as sympathy, pity, identification, and self-transposal. The purposes of this article are to clearly distinguish empathy from related terms and to suggest that the act of empathizing cannot be taught. According to Edith Stein, a German phenomenologist, empathy can be facilitated. It also can be interrupted and blocked, but it cannot be forced to occur. What makes empathy unique, according to Stein, is that it happens to us; it is indirectly given to us, "nonprimordially." When empathy occurs, we find ourselves experiencing it, rather than directly causing it to happen. This is the characteristic that makes the act of empathy unteachable. Instead, promoting attitudes and behaviors such as self-awareness, nonjudgmental positive regard for others, good listening skills, and self-confidence are suggested as important in the development of clinicians who will demonstrate an empathic willingness.

Summary From December 2005 through January 2006, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) identified four human clinical isolates of Salmonella Typhimurium that were indistinguishable by pulsed‐field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). During routine interviews, three of the cases reported attending the same junior high school and two handled snakes in the science classroom. MDH collected environmental samples from the school’s science classroom for Salmonella culturing; these included environmental samples and frozen vacuum‐packed mice purchased over the internet to feed the classroom snakes. Through PulseNet, a national molecular subtyping surveillance network for enteric bacteria, 21 human S. Typhimurium isolates with indistinguishable PFGE patterns were identified in the United States since December 2005. Each state determined whether these human cases had recent exposure to snakes fed vacuum‐packed rodents. Texas state officials conducted tracebacks of the vacuum‐packed mice and collected samples at the breeding facility. Nineteen of 21 cases were interviewed, and seven reported contact with frozen vacuum‐packed rodents from the same internet‐based supplier in Texas. In Minnesota, the outbreak PFGE subtype of S. Typhimurium was isolated from the snakes, frozen feed rodents, and the classroom environment. Three human cases were identified in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming. The outbreak PFGE subtype of S. Typhimurium was isolated from the Pennsylvania case’s frozen rodents and the Michigan case’s pet snake. The outbreak PFGE subtype of S. Typhimurium was also isolated from the supplier’s rodent facility. This was a S. Typhimurium outbreak associated with frozen rodents. Human transmission likely occurred through direct contact with snakes and contaminated environmental surfaces. This report represents the second recent multi‐state salmonellosis outbreak associated with commercially distributed rodents. Stronger oversight of the commercial rodent industry is warranted.

No abstract

No abstract