Ask AP: Swine flu and food, reality show pay

Walk up and down a supermarket’s produce aisle and you’re likely to see a lot of fruits and vegetables labeled “Grown in Mexico.” What if, say, you pick up some peppers from Mexico and toss them in a salad — are you at risk of getting swine flu?

Curiosity about swine flu’s ability to survive on produce inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

On “Dancing With The Stars,” are the celebrity contestants and professional dancers paid by the season or the number of shows they remain on?

Bill Hart

Canton, Ohio

Networks generally don’t disclose what they pay on-air talent, including the professionals on “Dancing With the Stars.”

But the contract of the dancing competition’s youngest celebrity, made public because she’s under 18, shows us that at least the contestants are compensated for sticking around.

In order to participate in this season’s competition, Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson had to have a judge approve a minor’s contract. That agreement spelled out that Johnson receives $125,000 for appearing on the show and the finale, and makes significantly more per week the longer she lasts. For weeks three and four, Johnson will receive $10,000 per week; for the final two weeks, she would receive $50,000 a week.

There are no such public records filed in Los Angeles that indicate how the pro dancers are paid.

Anthony McCartney

AP Entertainment Writer

Los Angeles

How long do swine flu germs live on produce? I bought peppers from Mexico yesterday, as I do most weeks. I had a very bad flu (102 fever) five weeks ago.

If a worker was sick and did not know it, could coughing or handling the produce, without enough hand-washing, make this a source of contagion?

(And I mean no disrespect to the workers — it is hard to maintain perfect sanitary behavior all the time, while under pressure to get lots of work done.)

E. Bresler

Rhode Island

Imported produce is not an influenza threat. Flu viruses can live on hard surfaces like doorknobs for only a few hours. And flu specialists say there’s no evidence that any strain of flu has ever been transmitted by any kind of food.

Lauran Neergaard

AP Medical Writer

Washington

Each year, the flu vaccine is made up of a mixture of “expected” viruses, such as H3N4 plus H5N2. Why don’t they just include everything each year from H1N1 to H5N5?

Fred Clark

Albuquerque, N.M.

That would be unworkable.

First, there are 16 known versions of hemagglutinin (the H) and nine neuraminidases (the N). But these basic surface proteins aren’t the whole story. There are numerous subtypes of each — with new ones mutating all the time — and the fall vaccine attempts to match the three most-circulating subtypes.

This fall’s vaccine, for instance, includes a version of H3N2 called Brisbane/10.

Lauran Neergaard

AP Medical Writer

Washington

Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.