A big question many scientists have been seeking to answer is if norovirus, a common cause of gastroenteritis, is aerosolized. This could possibly occur when an infected host vomits. A new paper in PLoS one tests just that, using a vomiting machine with a clay face on it and a bacteriophage surrogate for norovirus to simulate the …
Just a quick post here to highlight an article I was reading over the break, “Inactivation of Norovirus on Dry Copper Alloy Surfaces”. We’ve posted a number of times in the past about the use of copper in the built environment as an antimicrobial (e.g. here, here, here, here, and here). It’s a somewhat charged …
Well, the news just does not get any better / different for cruise ships and microbes. Despite major efforts (or so they claim) by the cruise industry – people keep spreading Norovirus and other such illnesses aboard cruise ships. For example, see: Illnesses Aboard California Cruise Ship Nearly Double. Not sure just what is going …
Well, Jane Brody in “The Well” in the New York Times has a story that is a good example of microbiology of the built environment: A Viral Misery That Loves Company. In it she details her own experiences with Norovirus. And she also discusses how this virus spreads readily in the built environment – day care …
Over the last few months we’ve acquired a few “draft” blog posts on various news items that never seemed to develop into full-fledged blog posts. Rather than let them suffer in silence, I thought I’d post them as a compilation: A story about finding low levels of MRSA in Chicago-area ambulances. Instead of the usual …