Five people are confirmed dead in the Tampa Bay area due to a rare type of flesh-eating bacteria, Vibrio vulnificus, said the Florida Department of Health in a recent update. Those deaths occurred in Pasco, Polk, Sarasota, and Hillsborough counties since January of this year, the agency said. There have been 26 reported cases across […]
At least three people have died in Connecticut and New York after contracting a rare flesh-eating bacteria that can be found in warm, brackish waters, or raw shellfish, officials confirmed Wednesday. Two people in Connecticut became infected with Vibrio vulnificus and died after swimming in two separate locations on Long Island Sound, according to Christopher […]
A recent research paper showing that certain subterranean microbes produce surprising amounts of oxygen—even in the absence of light—may trigger a thorough overhaul of established scientific notions about underground life. Published last month in Nature Communications, the study analyzed groundwater samples from 95 monitoring wells located 820 feet (250 meters) or more below ground level […]
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a health advisory to warn the public of an increase of a drug-resistant bacteria called Shigella. There are limited antimicrobial treatments available for these particular drug-resistant strains of Shigella and it’s also easily transmissible, warned the CDC in the Friday advisory. It’s also able […]
Nutrition product maker Reckitt is voluntarily recalling 145,000 cans of baby formula “out of an abundance of caution” due to possible cross-contamination with the potentially deadly bacteria, Cronobacter sakazakii. In a notice on Feb. 19, the British consumer goods company said it is recalling select batches of ProSobee 12.9 oz. Simply Plant-Based Infant Formula as a precautionary measure after […]
Florida has experienced a rise in the number of cases of deadly flesh-eating bacteria following Hurricane Ian and chronic flooding, officials have said. According to the Florida Department of Health, there have been 65 cases of Vibrio vulnificus infection and 11 deaths in the state this year as of Oct. 19. Throughout the entirety of 2021, there […]
NEW YORK—A germ that causes a rare and sometimes deadly disease—long thought to be confined to tropical climates—has been found in soil and water in the continental United States, U.S. health officials said Wednesday. The bacteria was found on the property of a Mississippi man who had come down with the disease, melioidosis. Officials don’t […]
WASHINGTON—The largest-known bacterium—a vermicelli-shaped organism that was discovered in shallow mangrove swamps in the Caribbean and is big enough to be seen with the naked eye—is redefining what is possible for bacteria, Earth’s most ancient life form. Scientists said on Thursday the bacterium, called Thiomargarita magnifica, is noteworthy not merely for its size—colossal for a […]
Every driver knows about gas prices right now. The gas tax is about to go up, and state lawmakers have decided that pausing it is off the table. Now they’re switching their focus. The governor ordered 400,000 doses of COVID-19 jabs. He says he hopes they’ll be used on children under 5. Some doctors and […]
Some types of Jergens moisturizer have been recalled because of possible bacterial contamination. The Food and Drug Administration announced that Jergen’s manufacturer, Kao USA, wants customers to check if they have 3-ounce or 10-ounce products of Jergens Ultra Healing Moisturizer, because they could contain pluralibacter gergoviae. Although the bacterium typically poses little medical risk to […]
NEW YORK—U.S. health officials are warning the public not to eat certain brands of packaged salads, which they say are linked to two small, long-running listeria outbreaks in which three people died. One outbreak is linked to packaged salads produced by Fresh Express and another has been tied to packaged salads produced by Dole. The […]
NEW YORK—U.S. health officials are investigating the latest fatal case of a rare tropical disease typically found in South Asia. The unidentified person, who died last month in Georgia, was the fourth U.S. case this year of melioidosis caused by a bacteria that lives in soil and water, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention […]
When scientists find microbial life thriving in some of the most extreme environments on Earth, it gives them hope that they may be able to find life on other planets. Now, researchers have discovered billions of bacteria living in tiny cracks in volcanic rocks beneath the ocean floor, more than nine miles below the surface […]
The parents of a newborn who died in a Pennsylvania Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, have filed a lawsuit, claiming that hospital officials failed to protect their son from lethal bacterial infection, that had already killed two other premature babies.
A Pennsylvania hospital is racing to determine the source of a waterborne germ that appears to have infected at least eight infants in the neonatal intensive care unit, three of whom have died, officials said Monday.
