bacteria

A new paint manufactured by Sherwin-Williams may help stop the spread of “superbugs” in hospitals and other places that are notorious for the spread of drug-resistant bacteria.

More than 40 Chipotle restaurants across Oregon and Washington were shut down on Friday after 22 cases of E. coli were traced to the establishments.
An investigation is now underway into the source of the outbreak, which began October 14, according to the Oregon Health Authority. Three people in the Portland area and 19 people in Washington have been sickened by the food-borne pathogen. Eight of the affected individuals had to be hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.

Many people jump at the chance to wear contact lenses, sometimes to improve appearance. Not having to hunt for the spot where they put down their glasses is appealing, but contact lens wearers who fail to take proper care of their contact lenses are putting their eyesight at risk. [1]
A report released this year by the CDC reveals some of the most common – and dangerous – mistakes of contact lens wearers:

Former employees of Blue Bell Ice Cream’s Brenham, Texas, plant are speaking out about the mismanagement and apathy that led to a deadly listeria outbreak and massive ice cream recall.

They might be called kissing bugs, but you don’t want a kiss from the triatomine bug. The ugly, winged creatures carry Chagas disease, and it’s spreading so quickly through the southern U.S. that researchers are calling it the new AIDS in the Americas. [1]

The next time you’re thirsty, you might want to consider buying a bottle of water instead of sipping from a water fountain. It seems that these public drinking fountains do sometimes harbor unwanted germs and pathogens. [1]

Antibiotics have always been a double-edged sword. Yes, they kill what would otherwise be a harmful and sometimes deadly bacteria, but they also kill off the good bacteria in the gut, which allows harmful gut bacteria to proliferate. Now, scientists say they’ve found a way to disarm those dangerous gut bacteria without killing the helpful kind in the process, at least when targeting one type of bacteria.

More than 150 cases of Shigellosis have been reported in Kansas City, many of them in young children.
Health officials in Kansas City say there are normally about 10 cases of Shigellosis a year there, but the number has spiked dramatically to 150, and the illness has struck mostly children in daycare and elementary schools. The outbreak is 15 times the yearly average. [1]
In some cases Shigellosis can cause seizures, doctors say.

Cold weather will soon be here, kids are bringing home colds from school, and flu season is right around the corner – so parents are beginning to focus even more on antibacterial soaps and hand sanitizers. But scientists in Korea have found that antibacterial soaps are a waste of money and don’t work any better than regular soaps. What’s more, the use of antibacterial soaps and hand sanitizers is contributing to the development of bacterial superbugs.
Not only that, but many antibacterial soaps are bad for you, too.

Several brands of soft cheeses have been recalled by a California company in the wake of a Listeria outbreak that has sickened at least 24 people in 9 states and killed one, the Centers for Disease Control reported.