I know – I know – it is all the rage right now to lament how we are not getting exposed to enough microbes and how that is damaging our immune system and such. And certainly, that is partly true. And we are definitely overusing antimicrobials in all sorts of situations (e.g., see my posts …
The NY Times is reporting that an outbreak of Shigellosis in Flint may be connected to the water crisis there (in that people’s changes in their hand cleaning and other washing behaviors due to the water may have contributed to the outbreak). See the story (linked below) for more details. If true this is yet …
Studying the 5 second rule, antibiotic resistance genes in indoor dust and sewers, Legionella in the air, and water treatment. Microbes on the floor Longer Contact Times Increase Cross-Contamination of Enterobacter aerogenes from Surfaces to Food — Robyn C. Miranda — Applied and Environmental Microbiology ($25 for 1 day) Bacterial cross-contamination from surfaces to food can …
There is a review out in Water Environment Research that may be of interested. Title: Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment Water Environment Research, 2016 Literature Review, pp. 1951-1967(17) Authors: Williams, Maggie R.; Stedtfeld, Robert D.; Guo, Xueping; Hashsham, Syed A. Abstract. This review summarizes important publications from 2015 pertaining to the occurrence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the …
Microbes found in ambulances Not surprisingly, bacteria could be detected after swabbing surfaces in ambulances. Detection and characterization of surface microbial contamination in emergency ambulances – Aketza Varona-Barquin – American Journal of Infection Control ($35.95) A cross-sectional study was performed in 10 emergency basic life support ambulances operating in Bilbao, Spain, to assess surface bacterial …
Just a short post about a news story recently where they have traced Pseudomonas found in NICU infants to the pipes in the building. It’s still in the early stages of the investigation… but it makes me wonder why routine surveillance isn’t more common. I feel like we often hear stories about finding Legionella, Pseudomonas, …
The Flint Water Crisis garnered national and international media coverage of elevated levels of lead in the water delivered to consumers’ taps. When the city of Flint began using the Flint River as its drinking water source without the addition of a corrosion inhibitor beginning in April 2014, the corrosive new water began to leach …
Rob Dunn is one of the true pioneers of Citizen Science and in Citizen Science projects involving microbes. And here is another fascinating project from Dunn and colleagues. The Wild Life of Showerheads Photo by Lea Shell- Rob Dunn Lab When Anton Von Leeuwenhoek, the first microbiologist, began to study microscopic life, he did so …
Got pointed to this by Ameet Pinto on Twitter and it seems likely of interest @microBEnet folks – this seems very relevant. cc @phylogenomics @davidacoil https://t.co/XWsIrRMOUi – Ameet Pinto (@watermicrobe) July 15, 2016 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js From the site: The Microbiome and the Environment Microorganisms are Earth’s oldest life forms and have come to inhabit virtually every …
Microbes and the built environment sensu stricto This short review in Trends in Microbiology is open access, very relevant for this blog, and received quite some press. Review: Buildings, Beneficial Microbes, and Health – Jordan Peccia, Sarah E. Kwan – Trends in Microbiology (OA) Bacteria and fungi in buildings exert an influence on the human …