Word: pathogens
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...time the pathogen colloquially known as swine flu had bounced to almost every corner of the world in April, health officials were girding for a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic with the potential to kill millions. H1N1 ripped through the U.S., prompting President Obama to declare a national emergency. But while the virus has been formidable--some 50 million Americans have been sickened since April, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, and about 10,000 have died--it hasn't been the seismic event some feared. At least...
Wastewater treatment is much more energy-intensive than composting, which needs little more than time (about a year) for complete decomposition and pathogen elimination. In Austin, Texas, a sustainably minded nonprofit called the Rhizome Collective succeeded this year in getting the city to approve what may be the first legal composting toilet in the U.S. "The hypocrisy is amazing," says Lauren Ross, 54, a civil engineer involved in Rhizome's four-year battle to get a permit. "The city will buy you a low-flow toilet, but they'll fight you all the way if you want to build...
...about 10 million of these and other microbes per liter of tap water, says Pace. And while it's possible that some people's disease may be specifically related to the bacteria that comes from the shower, the only way to know for sure is to genetically match the pathogen in infected patients with the bugs in their showers. A few such studies have been done in the past, but each time with a tiny sample of one or two patients...
...bill gives the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) broad new powers to regulate produce at the farm level and review corporate records on activities ranging from food-processing to pathogen-testing. Inspections that now occur an average of once every 10 years would take place as often as once every six months for certain items. Foreign governments whose companies send high-risk products to the U.S., like seafood from China, would be required to certify that those exports comply with U.S. health standards. (See pictures of urban farms...
...occasional pathogen will get through even the most vigilant early-warning system. Viruses, after all, are pretty good at what they do. A new flu pandemic is all but inevitable, and while the response to H1N1--the rapid deployment of Tamiflu, the blizzard of advice from the Federal Government--shows we're better prepared for a pandemic than ever before, it doesn't mean we're truly prepared. A virulent flu pandemic--one that spreads throughout the world and sickens 25% to 30% of Americans--would cause our health-care system to crash like an overloaded website. Partly because...