MicrobeWorld

Researchers at the University of Georgia in Athens (U.G.A.) have found that rain ups the risk of salmonella in rivers and streams—and, in turn, in products nourished by and washed in tainted runoff waters. The scientists report in Applied and Environmental Microbiology that 79 percent of water samples from rivers and streams in southern Georgia collected and tested over a year contained the rod-shaped bacteria; concentrations were highest in specimens gathered in the summer months and right after it rained.