E. Coli: Rise of the Superbacteria

Posted on June 5, 2011May 17, 2020 by admin

Newsweek, June 5, 2011

When Philip Tarr heard the first reports of a massive outbreak of E. coli in Europe recently, they had a sickeningly familiar ring. Tarr, a microbiologist at Washington University, is an expert on the strains of E. coli that have periodically wreaked havoc in the United States. In 2006, for example, E. coli on contaminated spinach infected 199 people in the United States, causing kidney failure in a number of cases. The European outbreak seemed to fit the pattern: people were infected with E. coli apparently after eating contaminated vegetables.

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Arsenic life creates a new blogger: Please welcome Steven Benner!

Posted on June 3, 2011August 22, 2021 by Matt Kristoffersen

During the whole arsenic life kerfuffle, chemist Steven Benner expressed his skepticism early and often. He wrote one of the eight critiques that Science posted last week, six months after the initial paper.

Last night Benner sent me an email:

Carl:

I have now blogged on this, since the cycle of publication at Science is rather slow.

Steve

To which I can only say: Heh. And, Read it!

The chronic fatigue virus: de-discovered?

Posted on May 31, 2011August 22, 2021 by Matt Kristoffersen

One of the most important things that virus-hunters do is “de-discover” links between viruses and diseases. In other words, they follow up on studies that indicate a link and see if it can really hold up. Last year, a team of scientists published a paper in Science in which they reported that 67% of people they studied who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome carried a virus in their system known as XMRV. Only 3.7% of healthy people did. That association then morphed into the idea that XMRV actually causes chronic fatigue (a condition that afflicts an estimated 60 million people worldwide). Some people with chronic fatigue have sought anti-viral medicines based on the finding, declaring that they’ve felt better as a result. But when a lot of other scientists tried to find XMRV, they failed to do so.

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Viral Outbreaks in Dogs Yield Clues on Origins of Hepatitis C

Posted on May 30, 2011May 28, 2020 by Lori Jia

The New York Times, May 30, 2011

Link

Hepatitis C is, in some ways, a high-profile disease. Worldwide, an estimated 200 million people are infected with the virus. Some of them will suffer cirrhosis, liver cancer and even death. Celebrities like Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and “American Idol” have spoken publicly of their infections.

But mysteries still shroud the disease. Typically spread through drug injections, blood transfusions and sexual contact, hepatitis C can quietly cause liver damage for 20 years or more before victims become aware that they are ill. “Worldwide, it’s causing devastation,” said Brian Edlin, an epidemiologist at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn.

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Lisa Randall to judge this year’s 3 Quarks Daily science prize. Send in your nomination!

Posted on May 28, 2011August 21, 2021 by Matt Kristoffersen

The blog 3 Quarks Daily awards an annual prize for the best science blog post of the year. This year, Harvard physicist Lisa Randall is judging the entries. The deadline is May 31 11:59 pm EST. If there’s a blog post that has really stood out in your memory from the past year (since May 22, 2010 to be precise), go here to nominate it.