According to a recent study from Seoul, South Korea by Kim et al, disinfectants in home humidifiers are the cause of 28 cases of lung injuries. Many patients were pregnant or recently had children. 4 patients required lung transplants. The disinfectants were probably used to avoid fungal growth in the machinery, but instead resulted in …
It’s always hard, especially in today’s world, to find the shades of grey in any topic. Everything in media is portrayed as black and white because, frankly, it’s more striking. Similarly, most people are interested in either really beneficial microbes that can be used therapeutically or the pathogens that can kill us. We have studies …
According to various news stories that we’ve blogged about in the last year you should worry about “germs” on your cellphone, doorknobs, toothbrush, dishwasher, houseplants, lemon slices, bouncy houses, laundry, etc. Not to mention avoiding handshakes… or really any contact with other living beings such as your dog or cat. So this got me thinking… …
I guess I would call myself a microbe beginner. I recently joined Dr. Eisen’s lab and I am getting up to speed on studying, sampling, and understanding microbial communities, especially in the built environment. Now I think about microbes ALL OF THE TIME. On every surface, in the air, on every inch of my body. …
Just received word about a newly funded project to standardize metadata collection within the microbiology of the built environment community. This project is being undertaken by Lynn Schriml at the University of Maryland and her description is below: This metadata standards project, led by Lynn Schriml (University of Maryland School of Medicine, Institute for Genome …
Just got this announcement from ASM for anyone who might be interesting in grant opportunities relating to the microbiology of food safety. Dear Colleague: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has requested that ASM bring to the attention of interested members the following Food Safety Challenge Area RFA:
Imagine you have a camera with a special “anti-macro” lens. This lens scrubs from any image all plants and animals and other “macro” organisms. And this lens also highlights the remaining living things – the microorganisms – anywhere in the frame (including those that were in or on the macro organisms removed from the image). …
Just a quick “save the date” note here. The 3rd annual Conference on the Microbiology of the Built Environment will be held at the Boulder Marriott (same as last year) on June 4-6 2014. This conference is typically limited to Sloan grantees, their labs, and various folks from the field invited by the Sloan Foundation. …
I have my share of gripes about the FDA but this seemed like a piece of welcome news. The FDA is going to look more closely at the issue of antibacterial soap (usually dosed with Triclosan which we’ve written about before, e.g. here). They’re talking about a proposed rule that would: “…require manufacturers to provide …
One of our pet peeves are the oft-repeated microbiology stories in the media that consist of “OMG we found bacteria on your chair/house/keyboard/dishwasher/cell phone/toys/books/doorknobs/dusters/vacuum cleaners/”. There are three issues with this kind of story; firstly that bacteria are everywhere so no shockers about finding them on your cell phone. Secondly, most of these stories focus …