GMO Mosquitos Set for Release in California

A previous article detailed the principles in which several species of mosquitos were genetically...

Saving lives during WWII

Howard Walter Florey was a famed pathologist and pharmacologist from Australia known for being one of the first researchers to manufacture penicillin. Before his success with penicillin, Florey was on the hunt for a naturally occurring antibacterial...

Emerging hand in hand with the Pandemic...

A new 2022 special report from the CDC is sounding the alarm that antimicrobial resistance to some of the most concerning bacteria and fungi significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic (1) One such highly drug resistant yeast noted in the report is Candida...

Coffee drinkers beware...

Does coffee lead to increased risk of dementia and stroke?

Moderation is best!

Coffee, with over 22 billion pounds consumed annually, is without a doubt one...

Another Emerging Virus With a Very High Mortality Rate

Originates from bats

The Nipah virus (NiV) is a zoonotic virus of the genus Henipavirus, family Paramyxoviridae, and has been identified as a...

Effective vaccinations for COVID-19 have been readily available in the United States for well over a year and a new vaccine has just been added to the arsenal. Novavax (NVX-CoV2373), created by a company of the same name, was granted emergency use authorization in early July and has now been endorsed by the CDC.(2) Novavax is approved for adults who are 18 years and older and currently is limited to...

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is the most common bacterial cause of pharyngitis, often referred to as strep throat. GAS can also cause severe invasive infections. People who are elderly, have skin breakdown (when the skin is deprived of blood flow, the skin can become damaged or develop ulcers), or have chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes, are at increased risk. Each year in the United States...

Another respiratory virus of concern. Common, yet underdiagnosed...

Every year we anticipate the rounds of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza, and now Covid-19; but there is a lesser-known culprit of seasonal respiratory infections.

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Many parents in the United States are reeling from the effects of an outbreak of Cronobacter sakazakii in powdered infant formula. Between September 2021 and January 2022, four cases of Cronobacter infections in infants were reported to the FDA. In each case, the infants were fed powdered formula from Abbott Nutrition.(1)

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Miracle in the Mucin... Discovered in 2004, Akkermansia muciniphila is a relative newcomer to microbiology. Akkermansia was named for the microbial ecologist Antoon Akkermans, and muciniphila meaning preferring mucin. This organism in the phylum Verrucomicrobia was the result of a study that used purified mucin as...

Lyme disease is one of the most common types of tick-borne diseases (TBDs), yet many questions remain surrounding long-term treatment of this disease. Borrelia burgdorferi, the spirochete causing the disease, is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected Ixodes tick. (1) The first symptoms will often include a bullseye rash forming around the tick bite, as seen in the photo...

In December 2021, Canada reported the first case of the 2021-2022 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in North America. Subsequently, HPAI H5N1 viruses have been confirmed in wild birds, backyard flocks, and commercial poultry facilities in both Canada and the United States. (1) According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), as of April 26, 2022, there have been almost 37...

Genetic engineering can help preserve endangered species

Since 1978, Escherichia coli has been used in the development of synthetic “human” insulin (1). More recently, E. coli has become an essential part in the development of cancer drugs (2). Researchers at The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for...