Welcome to the Microbiology Information

On the morning during August, several students from Northern Lehigh High School showed symptoms of staphylococcus infections or possibly respiratory “walking pneumonia.”

Later in the day, Principal Aileen Yadush wrote a letter to parents and had it posted on the school district’s Web site under a bold red link reading, “Alert!: Staphylococcus Infection Letter.”

The letter mentions the source of the infections was unclear but they narrowed it down to the school’s field house weight room.

The field house was closed and a professional cleaning crew was hired to scrub every surface and every piece of equipment.

The letter explained what type of bacteria it is - staphylococcus aureus, how to look for symptoms and what to do in case something unusual is found on students’ bodies.

The letter also assured parents and students “we will take every possible precaution in maintaining their safety and health.” which is a bold statement.

In a recent environmental survey conducted by University of Arizona researchers, surfaces in teachers’ classrooms came in as the Number 1 workplace for germs which is nearly 20 times higher than those found in lawyers’ offices, and seven times higher than doctors’ offices.

With over 2,000 parents questioned in the survey, 14 percent said they send their children to school despite running a fever higher than 100 degrees.

Educating children on proper hand washing and taking basic sanitation measures could hold down the germ level.

Bethlehem Health Bureau Director Judy Maloney says the bureau and local schools work clean-hand in clean-hand using a program called Germ City: Clean Hands, Healthy People.

The bureau also mailed a letter to principals at elementary and middle schools.

That letter urges schools to contact parents and let them know how important it is to keep sick children home.

Dr. Bonnie Coyle, director of St. Luke’s Hospital’s Community Health Department in Fountain Hill, says direct education programs are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to corral germs.

“If there is a child that has a disease that is a community health threat,” she says, “we get involved.”

In New Jersey, Mary Van Horn, supervisor of the Warren County Board of Health in Washington, says, “My department focuses on flu and pneumonia immunization, but good hand washing is so important.”

Coyle ventures one reason why.

“I think we’re seeing more emerging infectious disease threats,” Coyle says. “As the world becomes smaller through international travel, we’re seeing more drug-resistant tuberculosis. Then there are the things that have always been there (flu, staphylococcus, meningitis and other infectious diseases.)”

Coyle also says that since the 9/11 terrorism attacks, bioterrorism is becoming an issue.

“It’s certainly not a crisis,” she soothes, “but it’s something schools need to keep in mind.”

Source

While America’s food supply is the safest in the world, food poisoning is responsible for approximately 76 million illnesses in the United States each year. In fact, it is estimated that 60% or more of the raw poultry sold today probably has disease-causing bacteria. Anyone eating food contaminated by certain bacteria, parasites, or viruses can get food poisoning. Certain factors such as age and physical condition can make certain people more susceptible to food poisoning than others. Infants, pregnant women, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems are at greatest risk.

For most people in good condition, food poisoning is usually neither long lasting nor life-threatening. However, to less healthy individuals it can become a serious health threat, accounting for approximately 5,000 deaths each year.

The good news is that by taking simple precautionary steps while purchasing, handling, and preparing food you can prevent most cases of food poisoning in the home.

What causes food poisoning? Food poisoning is most commonly caused by bacteria, parasites, or viruses that may be present in the food that you have eaten. You may have heard the names of many of these organisms. They include Escherichia coli (E coli), Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium botulinum, Shigella, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, Trichinella, and Hepatitis A virus, just to name a few. They can be present in a wide range of food including red meat, poultry, milk and other dairy products, eggs, unpasteurized vegetable juices and ciders, spices, chocolate, seafood, and even water.

These organisms may be present on your food when it is bought or can get into the food, including cooked food, if the food comes into contact with raw meat juices on dirty utensils, cutting boards, or countertops used to prepare contaminated food. That’s why it is important not only to thoroughly cook your food, but to wash your hands, utensils, and countertops, before and after you handle raw foods.

What are the symptoms? Symptoms will vary depending on the type and amount of contaminants eaten. Some people may get ill after ingesting only a small amount of harmful bacteria, while others may remain free of symptoms after eating larger quantities. The most common symptoms of food poisoning include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain (cramps), fever, headache, and fatigue. Symptoms may develop as soon as 30 minutes after eating tainted food, but more commonly do not develop for several days or weeks. Symptoms of viral or parasitic food poisoning may not appear for several weeks, while some toxins in fish may take only a few minutes to cause symptoms.

If you have botulism, you probably will not have a fever and the symptoms may include blurred vision, fatigue, dry mouth and throat.

How food poisoning is diagnosed Food poisoning is often suspected when several people become ill after eating the same meal. To diagnose the cause of the illness, your doctor will need to know the symptoms and what was eaten right before the illness occurred. The doctor may need samples of the food, bowel movements, or vomit. These samples can be tested in a laboratory to determine if the food was contaminated and identify the organism causing the illness.

How is it treated? If the symptoms are severe, the victim should see a doctor or get emergency care. Treatment depends on the severity and cause of the food poisoning. Generally, for mild cases of food poisoning, the doctor will recommend for you to rest, drink fluids to prevent dehydration due to vomiting or diarrhea, and to follow a specific diet. It usually only takes about 1 to 5 days to recover from food poisoning.

If you have botulism, your doctor will prescribe an antitoxin. Other types of food poisoning have no antidote. Antibiotics are usually not helpful in treating food poisoning. Medicine to stop vomiting and stomach cramping may be given.

Prevention is the best approach to avoid food poisoning Most cases of food poisoning can be prevented. Below is a list of a few simple Do’s and Don’ts to help you avoid food-borne illness in the home.

● Do wash your hands, utensils, cutting boards, and countertops between different foods ● Do hrefrigerate or freeze perishables right away (Refrigerator temperature should be 41Ëš F and freezer 0ËšF) ● Do thoroughly cook foods. Cook beef, lamb, and pork to an internal temperature of 160ËšF; whole poultry and thighs to 180ËšF; poultry breasts to 170ËšF, ground chicken or turkey to 165ËšF ● Do hrefrigerate leftover foods as soon as possible; leftovers shouldn’t remain unrefrigerated longer than 2 hours. ● While food shopping, do select frozen foods and perishables such as meat, poultry, and fish last- before checking out ● Do use smooth cutting boards made of hard maple or plastic that are free of cracks and crevices ● Do store raw meats in leak-proof containers or on the bottom of the hrefrigerator to prevent juices from dripping on other foods ● Don’t allow uncooked meats, meat juices, or unwashed fruits and vegetables to come in contact with either cooked or washed foods ● Don’t buy frozen seafood if the packages are open, torn, or crushed on the edges ● Don’t buy food in cans that are bulging or dented, or in jars that are cracked ● Don’t ever buy outdated food. Check the “use by” or “sell by” dates ● Don’t buy unpasteurized milk or dairy products ● Do not buy hrefrigerated or frozen products that are not displayed at the proper temperature ● Do not let small children put foods away unsupervised

More information about this important health subject can be obtained from the following sources: Gateway to Government Food Safety Information www.foodsafety.gov U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/wh-food.html Food Safety and Inspection Service United States Department of Agriculture www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/pubs/consumerpubs.htm

Supported as an educational service by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. This information is not intended for use as medical advice. You should discuss this information with your doctor.

Avaraham Henoch, MD 564 West 160th Street New York, NY 10032 Phone: (212) 740-6400

Pinworms are an unusual in nature and can cause infections within the intestine in children. Pinworms are tiny parasitic worms measuring about 5 - 10mm in length. There have been many other names associated with the infection caused by this parasite and they can also be called “threadworm infection, “seatworm infection”, “oxyuriasis” and “enterobiasis.”

Pinworms are one of the most common roundworm infections in the world. They have been known to affect over 200 million people across the world, including over a third of the population in the United States. Although everyone is at risk, schoolchildren are most at risk for pinworm infections.

The symptoms of pinworms are not bad, they just cause itching.

A new rapid test that will allow Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 to be detected within 25 minutes is set to revolutionze the industry. The test developed by 4 Lothian scientists are set to make them a huge fortune after the groundbreaking breakthrough.

Unlike normal routine analysis which takes up to 14 days for a confirmation within a laboratory, this new test only takes 25 minutes. It is similar to the pregnancy style test in application and has a sensitivity level of 100 cfu/mL.

At a cost of £45, the device has the potential to rapidly diagnose the cause and allow specific antibiotics to be administered immediately for treatment.

The test kits were invented by the former research scientist Dr Neil Polwart from the Ministry of Defense who worked on chemical and biological weapon detection.

Dr Polwart, from Polmont, near Falkirk, came up with the idea after his wife, who was employed in the water industry, complained that it could take up two weeks to get legionella confirmed to specie levels by the testing laboratory. The revolutionary test is now set to make millions of pounds for the firm he set up with three colleagues in 2003 called Hydrosense.

The firm is now on course to make more than £500,000 in the US alone in its first year, and has just been launched in the UK. The tests can be used in any sources such as swimming pools and spas, as well as in water cooling towers.

According to the business development manager of Hydrosense, Brendan Cairns, he says “There are around two million tests for legionella carried out every year, so that gives an indication of how useful it could be.”

“It could save lives, because it cuts the waiting time to identify and confirm Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 which causes the majority of the infections.”

The advantage of the new test is that it is rapid and provides a clear indirect visual indication of the presence of the bacterium which causes over 90% of Legionnaires’ disease deaths. It is the only kit in the world market designed to be used at the sample point.

Dr Giles Edwards, director of the Scottish Legionella Reference Laboratory, said the new product was a step forward.

“If you are investigating an outbreak, or responsible for maintaining a cooling tower, quicker response times will make the job much easier,” he said.

However, Dr Edwards said the test would still require confirmation.

For more information, you can visit Hydrosense or download the pdf file.

New Zealand with only a population of 6 million people is a nation of food worriers after a 750 people survey found some interesting data on their views of food and food borne pathogens.

Interestingly, scientists believe people may be anxiously worrying over small issues that pose little risk to their health.

In the phone survey conducted for the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA), they found that salmonella was the worst food fear, with 77 per cent being “very concerned” about it.

In addition, an antibiotic in meat was next with 67 per cent and campylobacter with 63 per cent.

But scientist Dr Donald Campbell said people were missing the three biggest threats to life, the amount of salt, fat and sugar in their diet.

Interestingly, people were more concern about eating at local buffets, food halls and ethnic restaurants than food made at home in an unhygienic way.

Campbell, the NZFSA principal adviser of public health, was surprised salmonella was the most feared.

“I would have expected campylobacter to be higher than salmonella,” he said.

Campylobacter had a greater impact on the community than salmonella. There were generally 10 times as many cases of campylobacter in a year than salmonella, said Campbell.

New Zealand had a 15 per cent rise in notified campylobacter cases last year to 15,873, compared with 1335 cases of salmonella.

Both are food-borne illnesses that have been associated with chicken and raw meats, and can cause symptoms of diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea and headache.

Canterbury medical officer of health Alistair Humphrey put campylobacter high on his list of concerns.

But he said many other bugs lurked in food, including norovirus which causes gastroenteritis’s of which there had been outbreaks in Christchurch.

Antibiotics used in animals for therapeutic purposes and to prevent disease may scare consumers towards vegetarianism, but “the evidence is of it being a very low risk,” Campbell said.

Listeria was a rarer food-borne illness (19 cases nationally last year) but could have devastating consequences, he said. At least half of cases occurred in pregnant women and one in four of their babies have died.

Listeria is linked to deli meats, poultry products, smoked seafood’s, soft cheeses and pre-cooked sausages. However stronger regulations have forced many food manufacturers to comply with strict hygiene.

Participants were more spooked about the use of pesticides in food production and additives.

More than 60 per cent of participants were “very concerned” about their potential effects.

Campbell said these were more “perceived risk” than actual risk, as pesticides and additives were covered by regulations.

The authority commissions the surveys every few years to gauge public feeling and tailor its food safety messages. “We eat at least three times a day, so it matters to us all,” Campbell said.

Genetically modified food greatly concerned 56 per cent of respondents, about the same as in two previous years, whereas a new category, food from cloned animals, worried 54 per cent.

“There is such a small use of genetically modified food. I would not put them as high on the list,” said Campbell.

Food allergies and irradiated food brought up the rear, with 47 per cent and 41 per cent respectively.

A team of scientist have developed a specially tailored viruses could eradicate chronic bacterial infections. When certain bacteria multiply, they produce exo-polysaccharides which lead to biofilms which are nearly impossible to eradicate using conventional antibiotics. Biofilms can be found on medical devices such as catheters.

Boston University biomedical engineers have designed a new, highly effective means of dispersing and killing the bacteria living in biofilms. Led by synthetic biologist James Collins, the team has engineered viruses that attack biofilms on two fronts: by killing the bacteria that live in them, and by dissolving the carbohydrates that hold them together. If such bacteria attacking viruses are proved safe for industrial and clinical use, says Collins, researchers could develop stocks of different kinds of viruses, each tailored to attack a different kind of biofilm.

Collins has designed a virus that can disperse more than 99 percent of the E. coli in a model biofilm. Helen Blackwell a chemist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, believes that this is an “enormous” achievement: “I haven’t seen anything as effective as this approach.” Collins’s engineered virus is described online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Bacteria living communally in biofilms are one thousand times more resistant to antibiotics than free-swimming bacteria are, says Collins. They are protected by a sticky carbohydrate scaffold called a matrix. The matrix blocks antibiotics and cells from the human immune system, and even provides something like a primitive circulatory system for the bacteria.

In a few cases, including some chronic ear infections in children and chronic lung infections in cystic-fibrosis patients, the tissue harboring a biofilm must simply be cut out. Large doses of antibiotics can usually eradicate these infections, says Blackwell.

But she notes that there is some worry that drug-resistant biofilm infections are becoming more common, and that the use of antibiotics seems to induce biofilm formation.

“One thing I like about Collins’s approach is that it is two-pronged, says Philip Stewart, director of the Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University. “The viruses kill the bacteria, but they also target the biofilm matrix.” Collins’s approach is to select a virus that already targets the bacteria of interest, such as E. coli or Staphylococcus. Then he introduces into the virus a gene for an enzyme that dissolves the main carbohydrate component of the biofilm matrix protecting the bacteria.

There are viruses specialized to infect every bacterial species. These viruses replicate inside bacterial cells, then burst them open, killing the bacteria, and spread to other bacterial cells. But they do not harm animal cells or bacteria other than the kind to which they are targeted.

Naturally occurring viruses can attack biofilms. But Collins showed that giving a virus a gene for dissolving the matrix increased the virus’s effectiveness by 4.5 orders of magnitude.

Collins’s proof-of-concept virus is tailored to a particular type of E. coli biofilm. “There are many species and strains of bacteria out there,” he says, and a single biofilm might support multiple bacterial species and strains. To a lesser degree, there is also some diversity in the components of the biofilm matrix. However, Collins says that because of the increasing speed and falling price of DNA-sequencing and synthesis technologies, it would not be difficult to develop a virus tailored to each kind of biofilm.

Collins’s viral technique appears to overcome some of the problems with chemical techniques. Blackwell, who is designing small molecules to disrupt the bacterial signaling pathways that maintain biofilms, says that delivery of biofilm-disrupting chemicals such as enzymes has been a major hurdle.

The risks of such viruses are unclear, but there is some concern that they might provoke a dangerous immune response. One reason they might not have been widely studied for their potential to treat infection, says Collins, is that antibiotics have been sufficient so far. But with the emergence of multi-drug resistant bacterial strains in hospitals, “a number of companies are looking to viruses,” he says.

For industrial applications where you’re not putting them in someone’s body, these viruses could have a huge impact”. Finding and farming bacteria could change the way we live.