Bacteria

High temperatures and pollution have made conditions ripe for potentially dangerous bacteria carried in Chesapeake Bay waters, leading state and local health officials to warn swimmers, fishermen and shellfish eaters to take precautions. The naturally occurring bacteria, vibrio, can cause gastrointestinal illness as well as nasty skin infections — and sometimes can kill. So far this year, 24 Maryland cases of vibrio have been recorded, close to the average annual count of 30, but the season is far from over and officials say many cases likely go unreported.

On March 13th you published a letter written by reader Lois Raimondi Munchel titled "Stop the spread of deadly bacteria in nursing homes. " The letter was timely. It should send alarm bells ringing not only through the hallways of our nursing homes but also through our hospitals and our operating rooms. Not too long ago, at the NIH hospital, deadly Klebseilla bacteria resistant to all antibiotics, were found. Fifty percent of patients with this bacterial infection will die. These lethal, resistant bacteria have appeared in hospitals up and down the East Coast.

WASHINGTON -- Scientists have found harmless bacteria that they say can remove radioactive contaminants from wastewater.The phenomenon may open the way for biological filtration of water-borne nuclear waste that would be cheaper and more effective than chemical methods now in use, said Dr. Brendlyn D. Faison, one of the researchers at Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Laboratory that made the discovery.While it does not resolve the crucial problem of nuclear-waste disposal, the microbial "scrubbing" of wastewater offers a natural way to remove harmful metals and radioactive contaminants in water that drains from facilities like radiology rooms, nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons factories, Dr. Faison said in a telephone interview.

In 2011, I spent six months in hospitals and nursing homes recovering from a bacterial infection called C-Difficile that I caught after surgery ("Nightmare bacteria," March 8). It is easily passed from patient to patient. While in the nursing homes I noticed a lack of the kind of proper care that would have prevented this potentially fatal illness. When I was admitted, not only was I placed in a semi-private room, exposing the other patient, I was given a remote control that had dried feces and blood on it. I reported it, but I'm sure this kind of thing happens constantly.

Patty Zeitz's father nicknamed her "buffalo breath." Her brother warned visitors: "Don't go into Patty's room. There's a green cloud over her bed."Along with an estimated 25 million Americans, Ms. Zeitz was the victim of chronic halitosis, or bad breath. "It was hell," says the 24-year-old Philadelphia resident. "The first time my date kissed me was usually the last time."These days, Ms. Zeitz breathes easily. The nation's first halitosis clinic, opened in Philadelphia in 1993, cured her bad breath, she says.

The story of a 24-year-old Georgia graduate student fighting a flesh-eating disease has prompted a microbiologist with the Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System to speak out about the infection. Aimee Copeland lost most of her left leg after the flesh-eating bacteria necrotizing faciitis is believed to have entered a cut on her leg, according to the Associated Press, which reports she may also have to have her fingers amputated. The waterborne bacteria Aeromonas hydrophila is believed to have caused the infection.

Health inspectors found no traces of the bacteria that cause Legionnaires' disease at Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse, the city's health commissioner said yesterday. Dr. Peter L. Beilenson said that inspectors took samples throughout the building after the disease was diagnosed in a court employee two weeks ago, and that all test results were negative. "It should help to reassure staff members," Beilenson said. He said he was surprised that the courthouse tests were clean. Most institutions have traces of the bacteria somewhere, he said.

Human Genome Sciences Inc. announced yesterday that it has determined the genomic code of a bacteria that is the third leading cause of infection in hospitals.The Rockville genomics company said it hopes to strike research collaborations with other companies to develop antibiotics or other treatments to fight the bacteria, Enterococcus faecalis.The organism is normally found in the intestines, but increasingly is causing urinary tract, surgical wound and abdominal infections during hospitalization.

Everyone has one: a drain that never stays clear for long. Ours is the bathtub, and when the plumber came last time he talked us into a product called Bio-Clean, sold only through plumbers. Believe it or not, this is a jar of bacteria, grown in incubators, dried and mixed with "enzymes and other helpers." You put a tablespoon in a pint of water and pour it down the drain every night for five nights. The bacteria sit in your pipes, eat waste matter (here comes the important part if you have a teen-age daughter)

Anyone who's ever driven behind a truck hauling chickens knows to expect a powerful odor and even a few feathers in its wake. But poultry carriers also apparently trail an airborne plume of potentially harmful bacteria, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers. The results suggest that motorists and those who live along roads traveled by chicken trucks may be exposed to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the researchers say. They urged further study and possibly changing transport methods in areas of intense poultry production such as the Delmarva Peninsula.

Federal health officials warned this week that the nation's hospitals and nursing homes are increasingly at risk from deadly new strains of drug-resistant bacteria that can't be treated with even the strongest antibiotics. So far, the infections have been confined to a small number of the sickest patients in hospital wards, but authorities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say there is only a "limited window of opportunity" to halt the spread of these "nightmare bacteria" into the wider population.

They use words most likely to be heard at a Scripps National Spelling Bee: chryseobacterium, aquaticum or trypticase. They envision careers in medicine, they enjoy math and science, and - between juggling schedules that include school, music and sports - they recently collaborated on a project that's headed for the International Space Station. One can only imagine what accomplishments are in store for Greg Nelson, Josh Choi, Sophia Novacic and Ryan Olsen when they reach high school.

Even as epidemiologists worry about a shrinking arsenal of antibiotics to fight potentially deadly drug-resistant bacteria, researchers at Johns Hopkins Hospital are betting on another weapon to prevent infections: robots. It sounds more futuristic than it looks: The hospital uses "robot" devices resembling portable air-conditioning units to saturate the air in sealed rooms with hydrogen peroxide, disinfecting all surfaces before converting the potent mist into water vapor. The technology has been used at the hospital more than 4,000 times over the past five years, with promising results.

The Massachusetts pharmacy at the heart of a probe into a deadly meningitis outbreak may have violated federal health laws, U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigators said Friday, saying mold and bacteria were found in areas where drugs were mixed. Cases of fungal meningitis have reached 28 states, including Maryland, where 19 people have been sickened and one has died. The report came as Maryland health officials criticized the oversight of "compounding" facilities like the one in Massachusetts, which make specialized drugs.

Much of Johns Hopkins epidemiologist Jason Farley's recent research has focused on an evolving medical crisis: How to stop the spread of bacteria that have adapted immunity to most antibiotics. To stop it the medical community needs to track it. He's found that men recently arrested in Baltimore as well as Hopkins psychiatric patients were far more likely than the general population to be carriers of MRSA, the increasingly common bacteria resistant to many drugs. Now, he's launching a study exploring eradication of MRSA in HIV-positive patients, who, like others with compromised immune systems, are more likely to contract drug-resistant bacterial infections.

The answer to why some obese people develop diabetes and other health problems may be found not in just a love for junk food, but in the bacteria that thrive deep in the human gut. Scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have identified 26 species of intestinal bacteria linked to insulin resistance and the high blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar levels suffered by the obese. These preventable conditions often lead to potentially fatal health problems including stroke, heart disease and diabetes.

A case of Legionnaire's disease diagnosed Monday night at Union Memorial Hospital prompted officials to purge the hospital's water system yesterday and search for the source of the bacteria.The patient, who officials would not identify, was being treated in the hospital's intensive care unit yesterday. The person apparently picked up the bacterial infection while being treated at the hospital, according to Wayne Campbell, chief of infectious diseases at the North Baltimore institution.Campbell said that physicians found no evidence that anyone else in the hospital has been affected.

The source of the sewer smell many noticed in Baltimore harbor this week remains a mystery, as city officials say an extensive search has found no evidence of a sewage spill or overflow, despite high bacteria levels in water samples taken by an environmental group. Tina Meyers, the Harbor Waterkeeper , said that water samples taken Tuesday by Blue Water Baltimore , the local watershed watchdog of which she is a part, found elevated bacteria levels in two places in the harbor - in front of Pier 6 and in the deep shipping channel by the Domino sugar refinery.

The story of a 24-year-old Georgia graduate student fighting a flesh-eating disease has prompted a microbiologist with the Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System to speak out about the infection. Aimee Copeland lost most of her left leg after the flesh-eating bacteria necrotizing faciitis is believed to have entered a cut on her leg, according to the Associated Press, which reports she may also have to have her fingers amputated. The waterborne bacteria Aeromonas hydrophila is believed to have caused the infection.