Word: bacterias
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...pipes are currently depositing sewage into the Charles River, resulting in fecal coliform bacteria levels 200 times the proper level for boating...
...plate, Fleming noticed that the colonies of staphylococci around the edge of the gloppy mold had been destroyed. This observation set the scientist off on a series of experiments in which he demonstrated that the mysterious mold was able to kill off an entire range of disease-producing bacteria. Because this particular fungus was a member of the Penicillium group, he named it penicillin after its presumed active ingredient...
...awaited magic bullet in the war against cancer. Their great hope bears the impressive name of monoclonal antibodies, which are proteins that bind to--and attack--a particular target, usually another protein known as an antigen. But while natural antibodies go after antigens on the surface of viruses and bacteria, the artificial monoclonal antibodies are constructed to attack antigens that the immune system does not ordinarily recognize as dangerous, such as those displayed by tumor cells. Moreover, these antibodies (dubbed monoclonal because they are identical) can be made even more deadly by loading them with radioactive iodine and other toxins...
Here again, much of the blame can be laid to human activity. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria, for example, are largely a human creation. Miracle drugs such as penicillin and tetracycline have been so overprescribed and then misused by patients that they have encouraged the bugs to develop immunities. The result is infections that are nearly impossible to treat. One deadly microbe, a type of staph that often causes postsurgical infections in hospitals, can now be attacked with only one antibiotic, vancomycin...
Often packed into the bodies of ticks, below, no bigger than the head of a pin are bacteria that cause flu-like symptoms in 100,000 Americans each year. The best-known illness is Lyme disease, which, left untreated, can lead to arthritis, paralysis of facial nerves and meningitis. Antibiotics are the standard treatment. Another tick-borne disease, human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, caused by a particularly aggressive bacterium identified in 1994, can result in death if tetracycline treatment does not start early enough. Trials of a preliminary vaccine for Lyme disease began in 1992, and will end later this year...