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Scanning electron microscopy image of a chigger. Credit: Loganathan Ponnusamy, NC State University A study in North Carolina has detected the bacterium responsible for scrub typhus, a serious disease, in local chiggers. The findings prompt concerns about the disease’s origins and potential health risks, with further research underway to assess the implications. A bacterium that causes a disease called scrub typhus – a disease not previously reported in the United States – has been detected in North Carolina, according to a new study by researchers at North Carolina State University and UNC-Greensboro. The researchers stress that scrub typhus, which can...

Demodex folliculorum Mite on Skin Image showing Demodex folliculorum mite on skin under Hirox microscope. Credit: University of Reading The secret lives of mites in the skin of our faces. First ever full DNA analysis of mites that live in the hair follicles of all humans reveals explanations for their bizarre mating habits, body features and evolutionary future. Microscopic mites that live in human pores and mate on our faces at night are becoming such simplified organisms due to their unusual lifestyles that they may soon become one with humans, new research has found. Demodex folliculorum Penis Image shows the...

During these hectic weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, many of us think a lot not only about family, but about food. As we gather around tables to talk, so many of our holiday rituals centers around eating: cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving, applesauce for Chanukah latkes, honey-glazed ham for Christmas and — especially in the South — black-eyed peas and greens for good luck on New Year’s Day. Kwanzaa literally translates to “first fruits.” Yet many of these holiday favorites are endangered, because the bees they depend upon are dying by the millions. You may have heard about this...

If the Environmental Protection Agency moves to restrict neonicotinoid pesticides, often called neonics, because of fears that they are causing bee deaths, it will happen in spite of the mounting empirical evidence rather than because of it. Last December, in response to fevered political pressure, the European Commission banned the use of neonics for two years. The moratorium, guided by the precautionary politics that now dominate science-based regulation in Europe, took effect just as a number of new studies shed increasing doubt on the belief that neonics play a key role in bee health. (snip) The “crisis” prompting this handwringing...

An FDA crackdown on the import of the French cheese mimolette has foodies crying foul. “Isigny was alerted by importers that the cheese was being put on “FDA hold,” meaning it could not be moved from its arrival warehouse until further inspection. After that, he said, the cheese received the more damning label of “detained,” meaning it could not be sold in the U.S. The reason given was that the inspectors found cheese mites in the rind, which can cause allergies, and which made the product “adulterated,” and consists of a “decomposed substance otherwise unfit for food.” (Mites, related to...

Scientists may have finally found what sparks the inflamed and reddened skin in people suffering from rosacea: tiny mites that crawl across most of our faces, unseen and unfelt. The new finding may eventually lead to more effective treatments, researchers say. As it turns out, the mites, which spend daytime hours in the glands that produce sweat and sebum, harbor a certain kind of bacteria in their digestive tracts. When the mites die, the bacteria spill out into the glands, according to a new report published in the Journal of Medical Microbiology. That’s not a problem for most of us,...

Untidy beds may keep us healthy House dust mite House dust mites are linked to asthma Failing to make your bed in the morning may actually help keep you healthy, scientists believe. Research suggests that while an unmade bed may look scruffy it is also unappealing to house dust mites thought to cause asthma and other allergies. A Kingston University study discovered the bugs cannot survive in the warm, dry conditions found in an unmade bed. The average bed could be home to up to 1.5 million house dust mites. The bugs, which are less than a millimetre long, feed...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Tiny mites living on the surface of Madagascar hissing cockroaches help decrease the presence of a variety of molds on the cockroaches’ bodies, potentially reducing allergic responses among humans who handle the popular insects, according to new research. Scientists cultured and identified fungi on the cockroaches’ body surfaces with and without mites and discovered that the presence of these mites reduced the molds by at least 50 percent. Many of these same researchers reported a year ago that 14 different types of mold were present on and around this species of cockroach, including several fungi associated with...

WICHITA - You may have noticed them tiptoeing in branches of trees, along high lines or scampering across streets in front of cars: squirrels with receding hairlines. Increasing numbers of balding squirrels. In Wichita. And Salina. And wherever there are large populations of squirrels. The hairlines are the start of the classic symptoms of notoedric mange, said Charlie Cope, wildlife biologist for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks in Wichita. The animal first experiences hair loss over the chest and shoulders, Cope said. The mange then eventually spreads over the entire body, causing the animal to become nearly bald....

There was a warning issued Thursday to homeowners after a Long Island woman's home was infested with "blood-sucking" parasites. It wasn't bed bugs that caused the problem, but bird mites. "I was hysterical crying last night," said Crystal Shea, the daughter of the bird mite victim. "You know, I feel terrible for her. How do you watch your mom come out in a hazmat suit?" The emotional daughter of the bird mite victim shared ominous looking photos of her mother being suited up in bio containment gear by emergency medical technicians responding to her S.O.S. from her Levittown home. They...

Honeybees will die out in Britain within a decade as virulent diseases and parasites spread through the nation's hives, experts have warned. Whole colonies of bees are already being wiped out, with current methods of pest control unable to stop the problem. The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) said that if the crisis continued, honeybees would disappear completely from Britain by 2018, causing "calamitous" economic and environmental problems. It called on the Government to restart shelved research programmes and to fund new ones to try to save the insects. Tim Lovett, the association's president, said: "The situation has become insupportable and...

The mystery nibblers have interrupted a pool party in Bolingbrook and picnics at Ravinia. They've been blamed for itchy splotches from western Kane County to Michigan vacation grounds. They've attacked in Willow Springs, Chicago Heights and La Grange. Nobody knows exactly what's causing the rash of rashes, but authorities think they've got a good idea of what they're dealing with, anyway—and they warn that it's likely something small, invasive and really annoying. Biting mites. "We don't have positive identification on the type of mite that it is. We do know that it is a mite," said Kitty Loewy, spokeswoman for...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US beekeepers have been stung in recent months by the mysterious disappearance of millions of bees threatening honey supplies as well as crops which depend on the insects for pollination. Bee numbers on parts of the east coast and in Texas have fallen by more than 70 percent, while California has seen colonies drop by 30 to 60 percent. According to estimates from the US Department of Agriculture, bees are vanishing across a total of 22 states, and for the time being no one really knows why. "Approximately 40 percent of my 2,000 colonies are currently dead...

Researchers at The University of Manchester funded by the Fungal Research Trust have discovered millions of fungal spores right under our noses - in our pillows. Aspergillus fumigatus, the species most commonly found in the pillows, is most likely to cause disease; and the resulting condition Aspergillosis has become the leading infectious cause of death in leukaemia and bone marrow transplant patients. Fungi also exacerbate asthma in adults. The researchers dissected both feather and synthetic samples and identified several thousand spores of fungus per gram of used pillow - more than a million spores per pillow. Fungal contamination of bedding...

SHALOM!:IF YOU HAVE A HOLLY BIBLE READ, READ WHAT IT SAYES IN GENESIS CH:12:1-3.AN DO WHATCH OUT ABOUT MAKIGN WISE CRACKS ABOUT MY PEOPLE."GOD" PUT US HERE OVER 4000 YEARS AGO.FOR SAFE KEEPING CAUSE WHO WOULD LOOK FOR US OVER HERE.SO UNLESS YOU ARE NOT A BELIVER IN THE "GOD" OF ABRAM WHO BECAME LATTER ON BECAME ABRAHAM. THE FATHER OF THE JEWISH NATION.WE ARE WHAT SOME CALLED THE LOST 10 LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL.WE WERE NOT LOST "GOD" JUST PUT US IN A "VERY VERY" SAFE PLACE. SO IF YOU HAVE A "BIBLE" READ,GENESIS 12:1-3. AND BE CAREFULLY FROM...