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After the E. coli samples arrive at the ISS, the experiment will examine how microgravity affects the bacteria's ability to thrive while exposed to antibiotics. Since humans started using antibiotics in the mid-20th century, pathogens like E. coli have evolved new genes that make them increasingly resistant to antibiotics. ... The NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer at the International Space Station will send the bacteria on their way, and the experiment will be conducted autonomously inside the cubesat.  Both naturally occurring and mutant strains of E. coli will be exposed to different concentrations of antibiotics. "The overall purpose of this is to...

Cases have increased by 8% in just a week with nearly 2,000 people infected by the deadly airborne strain. Some 143 people have now been killed by the “medieval disease” in Madagascar. There are now warnings the plague could stretch across the sea and reach mainland Africa. Such an outbreak would be catastrophic and there are fears the virus could go global. Nine countries are now on high alert and have been told to brace for the plague.

A video of a woman screaming about a veteran’s service dog being inside a Delaware restaurant has caught the attention of the internet. It happened at Kathy’s Crab House in Delaware City. The unidentified woman was filmed screaming about how disgusting she thought it was that an animal was inside the eatery.

Bacterial cells treated with a common antibiotic have been spotted changing shape to survive while aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The way bacteria act in near-zero gravity environments could pose a serious problem for treating astronauts with infections. ... An experiment on the common E coli bacteria subjected it to different concentrations of the antibiotic gentamicin sulfate, a drug which kills the bug on Earth. However, in comparison to a control group on Earth, the space bacteria showed a 13-fold increase in cell numbers and a 73% reduction in cell column size. "We knew bacteria behave differently in space...

Our veterinarian told us that Leptospirosis (Lepto) is back in the area. He hasn't seen it in decades until a local dog died of it a couple of weeks ago. He gave our two slobber buckets a shot for it this morning and they'll be back for a booster in a month. He's very trustworthy about not prescribing more than is needed and was concerned about it. The bacteria grows in standing water so don't leave buckets or containers outside. We drained the fountain. Years ago, cattle would get it with water sitting in hoof prints on the ground. Hardly...

An image and short film has been encoded in DNA, using the units of inheritance as a medium for storing information. Using a genome editing tool known as Crispr, US scientists inserted a gif - five frames of a horse galloping - into the DNA of bacteria. Then the team sequenced the bacterial DNA to retrieve the gif and the image, verifying that the microbes had indeed incorporated the data as intended. In order to insert this information into the genomes of bacteria, the researchers transferred the image and the movie onto nucleotides (building blocks of DNA), producing a code...

Iced drinks from Starbucks and two other U.K. coffee chains contained "concerning" levels of fecal bacteria, according to a BBC investigation. [Snip] Tony Lewis, head of policy at the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, said that the levels of bacteria found in the drinks were "concerning." He said the types of bacteria identified are "the source of human disease," adding that "These should not be present at any level, never mind the significant numbers found."

Each year, more than 2 million people in the United States get antibiotic-resistant infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 23,000 of them die. Unless breakthroughs are achieved, that toll will keep rising. If a new version of an antibiotic of last resort lives up to its promise, that date with doom may be averted. A study on this bolstered form of vancomycin by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla was released Monday. Researchers led by Dale Boger, co-chair of TSRI's Department of Chemistry, introduced three modifications to vancomycin, all lethal to...

Bacteria are some of the oldest and most diverse organisms on Earth. Apparently, they are also among the toughest; researchers in Mexico’s Cueva de los Cristales have isolated and cultured bacteria that have been trapped within the crystals for up to 50,000 years. These tiny creatures biding their time within a rock for millennia, but they are by no means the oldest bacteria ever isolated. Efforts have been underway for decades to isolate microorganisms from rock or other materials. One early attempt aimed to culture bacteria from within Permian (~289-252 mya) salt deposits. The study was beset by concerns about...

Going into a hospital? It's getting riskier because of drug-resistant infections -- the kind almost no drug can cure. Despite one federal government "action plan" after another, the germs are winning. Government authorities are clueless about how many infections there are, or how many patients are dying. Alarming new research shows that one of the deadliest families of bugs, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, nicknamed CRE, may actually be striking three times more patients than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells us. One lesson from the war against AIDS: Level with the public about the enormity of a problem if you...

Meat contaminated with Listeria will not show signs of spoilage, such as sliminess or odor. You can't smell a food and tell it it is safe Listeria monocytogenes bacteria can cause a potentially fatal disease in people with vulnerable immune systems. Listeria infection is the third leading cause of death from food poisoning in the United States. About 1,600 people get sick from Listeria each year and about 260 die. 1 A number of food borne outbreaks in recent years have been attributed to Listeria. In 2016, a total of 358 frozen food products were recalled amid a Listeria outbreak...

A new prediction says 2017 and 2018 will see major Lyme disease outbreaks in new areas. This could lead to lifelong health consequences, so where's the vaccine? Thanks to a changing climate it could be one of the worst on record: the ticks that carry the disease have been found in places where it has never before been a problem – and where most people don’t know how to respond. The danger zone isn’t confined to the US: similar signs are flagging potential outbreaks in Europe. Polish researchers predict a major outbreak there in 2018. In theory, Ostfeld’s early warning...

What happens when bacteria evolves to the point where antibiotics are no longer effective? One Israeli company is working hard... Embedded video. No You Tube link at present

Scientists have extracted long-dormant microbes from inside the famous giant crystals of the Naica mountain caves in Mexico - and revived them. The organisms were likely to have been encased in the striking shafts of gypsum at least 10,000 years ago, and possibly up to 50,000 years ago. It is another demonstration of the ability of life to adapt and cope in the most hostile of environments. "Other people have made longer-term claims for the antiquity of organisms that were still alive, but in this case these organisms are all very extraordinary - they are not very closely related to...

The food supply has already shown itself to be alarmingly adept at vectoring superbugs into the human body, but a new report suggests maybe China really wants to see if it can push this to the next level. While the rest of the world finally understands antibiotics in meat are causing an epidemic of multidrug-resistant bacteria, China’s aquaculture industry apparently remains a place that, to quote Bloomberg’s story, “exposes the fish to almost the same doses of medicine the livestock get,” plus whatever drug cocktail gets tossed into the water to fight aquatic disease. This industry currently accounts for about...

A whole new way to fight antibiotic resistance.Scientists have discovered that Tasmanian devil milk contains an arsenal of antimicrobial compounds that can kill some of the most deadly bacterial and fungal infections known to science - including golden staph. Tasmanian devils were found to produce six different types of these antimicrobial compounds - humans produce just one - and scientists were able to successfully synthesise them in the lab to test their effectiveness against a number of drug-resistant bacterial and fungal pathogens. When tested against 25 different bacterial and six fungal strains, the six varieties of antimicrobial compounds were found...

Scientists have discovered a new way to attack Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. The team, from Imperial College London, have revealed how the bacteria regulates its salt levels. The bacteria are a common source of food poisoning and are resistant to heat and high salt concentrations, which are used for food preparation and storage. The team hope to use this knowledge to develop a treatment that prevents food poisoning by ensuring all bacteria in food are killed. They are also investigating whether these findings could aid the development of a treatment for patients that would work alongside conventional antibiotics. Staphylococcus aureus bacterium...

Antibiotic made by nose microbes kills MRSA, say researchers, amid hopes that more weapons in the fight against drug resistance might be found in the body Nose-dwelling microbes produce an antibiotic which kills the hospital superbug MRSA, scientists have discovered. The finding suggests that the human body might harbour a rich variety of bacteria that could be harnessed in the fight against antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance is a growing cause for concern, with experts warning of an impending “apocalyptic” situation in which patients die following routine surgery because of infections that can no longer be treated. Among the superbugs of...

Scientists have found dangerous drug-resistant "super bacteria" off beaches in Rio de Janeiro that will host Olympic swimming events and in a lagoon where rowing and canoe athletes will compete when the Games start on Aug. 5. The findings from two unpublished academic studies seen by Reuters concern Rio's most popular spots for tourists and greatly increase the areas known to be infected by the microbes normally found only in hospitals. ... A study published in late 2014 had shown the presence of the super bacteria - classified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an...

For the first time, researchers have found a person in the United States carrying bacteria resistant to antibiotics of last resort, an alarming development that the top U.S. public health official says could mean "the end of the road" for antibiotics. The antibiotic-resistant strain was found last month in the urine of a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman. Defense Department researchers determined that she carried a strain of E. coli resistant to the antibiotic colistin, according to a study published Thursday in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology. The authors wrote that the discovery "heralds the...