News & Insights
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July 01, 2024Posted: July 01, 2024Read MoreWe’re all familiar with this ever-present dichotomy. Antibiotics are life-saving, until they’re not; until the delicate balance shifts, causing the oh-so-inevitable resistance. While antibiotic stewardship programs are becoming more and more prevalent, what does one do when working with a patient with a chronic condition in which daily, long-term antimicrobial treatment is the norm? How do we address antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in patients with whom bacterial infections are typically never fully eradicated, despite the employment of a multitude of drug therapies?
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June 19, 2024Posted: June 19, 2024Read MoreThe Massachusetts man at the center of an infamously deadly 2012 national meningitis outbreak, Barry Cadden, pleaded no contest to 11 counts of involuntary manslaughter in Michigan and was sentenced last month to at least ten years in prison for his part in the deaths of 11 Michigan residents.
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May 21, 2024Posted: May 21, 2024Read MoreThe CDC attributes the rise in C. auris cases during the height of the pandemic as a result of inadequate staffing, supply shortages, the increased number of seriously ill patients, and changes in infection prevention and control practices. The CDC encourages all U.S. laboratories that identify C. auris to notify their state or local public health authorities.
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March 07, 2024Posted: March 07, 2024Read MoreThroughout history, women have played a crucial and indispensable role in advancing the field of microbiology. Their unwavering dedication and pioneering discoveries have paved the way for countless scientific breakthroughs that continue to shape and impact our lives in profound ways. Join us as we celebrate five of these exceptional women: Fanny Hesse, Ruth Ella Moore, Jessie Isabelle Price, Rebecca Lancefield, and Abigail Salyers.
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December 13, 2023Read More...As 2023 draws to a close, many people begin to think about new goals and intentions for the New Year ahead. The most common New Year’s resolution is to improve health, which often involves better food alternatives and eating healthier. One of the most popular plant-based sweetener alternatives used in the food and beverage industry is Stevia. Stevia is a no-calorie sugar substitute made from highly r
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October 09, 2023Posted: October 09, 2023Read More... -
May 05, 2023Posted: May 05, 2023Read More...Case history of a brain destroying amoeba...
A 56-year old man presented with transient coma, nausea, and vomiting when he visited the local hospital. There were no visible abnormalities observed in the MRI and his CSF pressure on the second day of illness
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April 19, 2023Posted: April 19, 2023Read More...Rising Legionella Infections and Its Prevention in Industrial Cooling Towers
Although Legionella is found naturally in freshwater environments, it becomes a health concern to the population w
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December 06, 2022Posted: December 06, 2022Read More...With more than 1,000 potential microbes known to cause human disease, the differential diagnosis of pathogens can be complex and challenging.
Traditional microbial culture-based methods are the most common and readily available tests for identification, but the turnaround time can be long when organisms are difficult to culture or arduous
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February 24, 2022Posted: February 24, 2022Categories: Food Safety, Health & Wellness, Industry Insights, Outbreak Alerts, Microbiology, News & InsightsRead MoreSalmonella Infantis
Globally, Salmonella causes illness in 93.8 million people and causes approximately 155,000 deaths each year.(1) Within the United States alone, Salmonella is responsible for 1.35 million infections, 26,000 of which...
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January 11, 2022Posted: January 11, 2022Read More...How can you be sure the bacteria and parasites are dead?
In the United States, 62% of the population has tried sushi at least once. (1) However, recent studies from Norway and Brazil indicate that consumers should be checking that their sushi and sashimi were recently prepared and stored properly. To define our terms, many non-Japanese
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November 08, 2021Posted: November 08, 2021Read More...Plastic is invaluable to the scientific community from Petri plates to syringes and almost everything in between. Scientific research alone accounts for approximately 1.8% of global plastic production.(1) With the COVID-19 pandemic the need of the scientific community is increasing due to the increased need for plastic used for PPE, plastic tubes, pipets, etc.(2) While plastic use is vital for many
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September 13, 2021Posted: September 13, 2021Read MoreHans Christian Gram, credited as the inventor of the Gram staining technique, was a pioneering biologist who devised the system of classification which led to as many as 30,000 formally named species of bacteria being investigated. Gram, working with German pathologist and microbiologist Karl Friedländer, devised the technique in Berlin in the early 1880s.
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June 16, 2021Posted: June 16, 2021Read MoreMedieval doctors didn’t always prescribe what was best for an ailing patient (leeches were a popular therapy). However, a medical manuscript from the 10th Century called Bald’s Leechbook recently found in the British Library details a concoction of wine, oxbile, and two species of Allium (garlic, onion, or leek) used to treat styes, now known as an infection caused by Staphylococcus aur...
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January 16, 2020Posted: January 16, 2020Read MoreAntibiotic resistance has been an emerging critical threat that, according to the CDC, results in more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections in the U.S each year, of which 35,000 are fatal (1).
To date, most every antibiotic at our disposal has been discovered in the dirt; these compounds exist as natural products that...
