MicrobeWorld

One of our long-running goals at HuffPost Arts & Culture is to eliminate the unnecessary divide that has so long plagued the arts and sciences. So we were overjoyed to stumble upon the work of microbiologist-cum-photographer Zachary Copfer, who has turned a traditional artistic practice into a l... Read More

A bacterium that some scientists thought could use arsenic in place of phosphorus in its DNA actually goes to extreme lengths to grab any traces of phosphorus it can find.

The finding clears up a lingering question sparked by a controversial study, published in Science in 2010, which claimed ... Read More

Smart viruses find ways around host defenses. In the case of the influenza viruses A and B, rapid genetic changes and resistance to available therapies make it hard to combat flu epidemics in humans. Mortality rates for influenza B viruses are higher than those reported for seasonal influenza A ... Read More

Earlier this week, health officials reported that there are now 1,590 cases of West Nile virus confirmed in humans across the United States, and 66 deaths -- the most (through late August) since the mosquito-borne disease was first identified in 1999, Reuters reported.

This year's unseasonabl... Read More

There is no evidence for further spread among humans of a novel coronavirus recently isolated from two individuals with severe respiratory illness. This conclusion has been drawn after scrutinizing the travels (figure) and contacts of a Qatari adult who was transferred to intensive care in Londo... Read More

ONE of the crucial transitions of modern health care was from herbal to chemical medicine. Doctors had known for millennia that willow bark and poppy sap relieve pain. But it was not until the late 19th century, when Felix Hoffman synthesised versions of their active ingredients, namely acetylsa... Read More

In a study that's already being greeted with notes of caution, Danish researchers report that children whose mothers had the flu or ran a fever lasting more than a week during pregnancy had an increased risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder.

U.S. health officials stress that the new ... Read More

An experimental vaccine shows promise for protecting people against a nasty stomach virus known for causing outbreaks of diarrhea and vomiting on cruise ships, in nursing homes, and in other close quarters.

The research is very early and much more testing is needed. But the injectable norovir... Read More

We recorded This Week in Virology #202 at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska on 5 October 2012, as part of the 12th Annual Symposium in Virology. Terence Dermody, Shou-Wei Ding, Grant McFadden and I spoke about our research, and then we recorded TWiV with University of Nebraska viro... Read More

For nearly 260 years—since Carl Linnaeus developed his system of naming plants and animals—researchers classified species based on visual attributes like color, shape and size. In the past few decades, researchers found that sequencing DNA can more accurately identify species. A group of single-... Read More

Last week, CBC's Marketplace uncovered antibiotic-resistant bacteria on bathroom sinks, remote controls and bed throws. Warriner's tests found C. difficile, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other such bugs in every one of the 54 hotels tested.

This week, the consumer wat... Read More

Scientists following the evolution of a single strain of bacteria reported that it underwent several steps of mutation, surprising in its complexity, to acquire the ability to use a new food source.

The findings, reported Wednesday in the science magazine Nature, are the result of an experime... Read More

The effort to overcome waste problems in the capital city keeps being conducted by Jakarta Provincial Government. This time, together with a Chinese company, Jakarta Provincial Government is planning to cultivate bacteria that have the ability to decompose wastes or sediments buildup on the rive... Read More

A study in mBio this week shows that contrary to previous findings, new research proves there is no link between chronic fatigue syndrome and the viruses XMRV (xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus) and pMLV (polytropic murine leukemia virus). The authors say research that reported pati... Read More

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, T. Jack Morris, Read More

Flesh Eating Bacteria Can Infect Anyone – What You Should Know

What is it?

Necrotizing fasciitis, commonly known as flesh eating bacteria, infects various layers of the skin. In most cases, an immunocompromised individual, such as a smoker, drug addict, diabetic, or cancer patient is most ... Read More

The human “microbiome”—the trillions of bacteria, yeasts, and other microscopic creatures that live inside a human body—has been one of the major science stories in recent years. It seems that barely a week goes by that we don’t learn something new about the relationship between the human body a... Read More

Nasty bacteria cling to the surfaces of countertops. They also stick to medical devices—like catheters—that are placed inside the human body, where they can become a dangerous source of infection.

Individually, bacteria are fairly easily killed. But if they multiply on a surface, they eventua... Read More

The last few decades have seen dengue, a mosquito-borne viral infection, becoming one of the major public health concerns in the tropical and sub-tropical countries. So much so that over 40 per cent of the world’s population (2.5 billion) is at risk from dengue. According to the World Health Org... Read More

How much money would you need to put your health at risk? Ten thousand dollars? Five hundred? How about one single dollar? For a teenager in New York City, the latter was enough to test his fate in a subway station. In a video that has gone viral, a young unidentified teen was offered a dollar t... Read More