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) Cronobacter sakazakii (formerly genus:…
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 a growth medium, looking for organisms that could use this as their food source. A. muciniphila was the result, a Gram-negative…
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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…
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 Biosustainability in Denmark have developed a method for the large-scale production of P450…
Glyphosate linked to microbial dysbiosis and intestinal disease Glyphosate-based herbicides may be to blame for the rise in cases of celiac disease and gluten intolerance. Though the proponents of glyphosate have always maintained that it has no effect on human and animal cells, an ever-increasing amount of research suggests that the herbicide inhibits the healthy…
As the COVID-19 pandemic moves into its third year, new treatment options to combat the coronavirus disease are being authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In December, 2021, the FDA issued emergency use authorization (EUA) for two oral antiviral treatments for COVID-19, Molnupiravir and Paxlovid.(1,2)This comes at a crucial time in the pandemic…
Is there a cranial microbiome? Can it be harmful? Over the decades, scientists have dedicated their entire careers to studying microorganisms on and in our bodies. Although the brain has largely been considered a sterile environment, research has shown evidence of microorganisms living harmlessly in the brain. In what could be considered a serendipitous event,…
Salmonella Infantis Globally, Salmonella causes illness in 93.8 million people and causes approximately 155,000 deaths each year.(1) Within the United States alone, Salmonella is responsible for 1.35 million infections, 26,000 of which are severe enough to warrant hospitalization and over 400 deaths.(2)Infection occurs after ingesting more than 50,000 bacterial cells from contaminated food or water with symptoms appearing from…
Read More “Drug resistance on the rise… A Sinister Salmonella Strain” »
How dangerous are the BA.2 and BA.3 sub-variants compared to the Omicron BA.1 that we already know? South Africa has one of the most robust public health systems in the world, carefully monitoring their SARS-CoV-2 case load, which has been dominated these last few months by the Delta variant. In recent months, however, South Africa’s case…
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Are More Variants Coming?” »
Probiotics found to assist in restoring normal immune function… COVID-19 disrupts normal bowel flora SARS-CoV-2 infection induces an aggressive inflammatory response which is strongly implicated in the cause of multi-organ dysfunction in some patients.(3) As a result, disease severity is likely caused not only by viral infection, but also an extreme host immune reaction. Patients…
Read More “Can our gut microbiome help to overcome Covid-19?” »
