Word: bacterium
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...government's ability to cope with medical emergencies. "The World Health Organization says this outbreak is the worst in modern history," reports TIME's Frank Gibney from Tokyo. "The culprit is a particularly virulent strain of e.Coli bacteria that originates in animal intestines. Although it is seldom fatal, the bacterium is one of the world's most agile and potent bacilli, almost impossible to stop once it is loose in the human food chain." Symptoms of 0157 E.coli infection include dehydration, stomach pains and bloody diarrhea. A severe case of the infection can lead to kidney failure and brain damage...
Today Cuba is one of the world's largest producers of a recombinant vaccine against hepatitis B. It is the only producer of a vaccine against the bacterium that causes meningitis B, a particularly nasty form of the disease. It also makes a diverse line of pharmaceuticals: interferon for cancer treatment, epidermal growth factor for wound healing, streptokinase for heart attacks and monoclonal antibodies capable of diagnosing everything from pregnancy to infection with the AIDS virus...
...simple breath test--mostly blowing air into a bag--can allow patients to know if their ULCER is caused by the bacterium H. pylori. Breath that contains a chemical metabolized by H. pylori signals a positive result. The treatment: antibiotics...
...chicken really foul? A consumer group charges that 25% of RAW CHICKENS harbor Salmonella and 90% are contaminated with Campylobacter, an equally stomach-sickening and potentially deadly bacterium. The study blames the practice of immersing carcasses in hot water to loosen feathers; the report, disputed by the poultry industry, says the water is not hot enough to kill the bacteria and encourages them to spread...
These issues cut right across traditional religious dogma. Many people cling to the belief that the origin of life required a unique divine act. But if life on Earth is not unique, the case for a miraculous origin would be undermined. The discovery of even a humble bacterium on Mars, if it could be shown to have arisen independently from Earth life, would support the view that life emerges naturally...