Bacteria

When Ruth Burns had surgery to relieve a pinched nerve in her back, the operation was supposed to be an "in-and-out thing," recalled her daughter, Kacia Warren. But Burns developed pneumonia and was put on a ventilator. Five days later, she was discharged -- only to be rushed by her daughter to the hospital hours later, disoriented and in alarming pain. Seventeen days after the surgery, the 67-year-old nurse was dead.

In the 1890s, a New York surgeon named William Coley tested a radical cancer treatment. He took a hypodermic needle teeming with bacteria and plunged it into the flesh of patients. After suffering through weeks of chills and fevers, many showed significant regression of their tumors, but even Coley himself could not explain the phenomenon. His experiments were sparked by the observation that certain cancer patients improved after contracting infections.

Those beautiful snowflakes drifting out of the sky may have a surprise inside -- bacteria. Atmospheric scientists have long known that under most conditions moisture needs something to cling to in order to condense into snow and rain. A study published Friday in the journal Science shows a large share of those so-called nucleators turn out to be bacteria that can affect plants. "Bacteria are by far the most active ice nuclei in nature," said Brent C.

Before bagged leafy greens wind up on your plate, they are washed, often three times, in a potent chlorine bath. But new research shows the steps that California companies rely on to protect consumers do not kill dangerous bacteria inside the leaves, whereas zapping them with radiation wipes them out. The debate over how to protect consumers from E.

On Aug. 15, 2006, Alicia Cole entered Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center for a routine surgery -- removing noncancerous growths from her uterus. Several days after the procedure, it was clear something was wrong. The actress' abdominal area was red and swollen. She had a temperature of 103 degrees. At one point, the inflamed incision site oozed a brown fluid. A hospital record dated Aug. 21, 2006, said Cole had a postoperative wound infection, according to a state report.

Soft, organic material discovered inside a Tyrannosaurus rex fossil that scientists believed was 70-million-year-old dinosaur tissue may have been nothing more than ordinary slime, scientists said in a study published Wednesday. Researchers reported in the online journal PLoS ONE that bacterial colonies infiltrating tiny cavities in the bones long after the dinosaurs died may have naturally molded into shapes resembling the tissues they replaced.

Could the use of nanosilver products create another problem for medicine -- strains of bacteria that are resistant to silver? Although silver is not used to treat disease, it is used in hospital settings to speed wound-healing, prevent eye infections in newborns and as a coating for catheters, where it can cut infection rates. Here, too, there is much surmise and not much evidence, although researchers do know there are strains of bacteria that have developed resistance to silver.

Germ-conscious consumers are always looking for ways to increase their comfort level. In the 1990s, antibacterial soaps, lotions and potions saturated the marketplace. Now comes another germ-killing innovation -- nanosilver. Silver, the metal, has long been used as an antimicrobial, killing germs by very slowly releasing silver ions that are toxic to bacteria. But now, via nanotechnology, silver can be revamped into minuscule particles a few ten-thousandths the diameter of a human hair.

With patients facing increasing threats from antibiotic-resistant "super bugs," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday signed two measures requiring California hospitals to strengthen their efforts at preventing staph outbreaks and to reveal to the public their rates of infection. The move was a reversal for the governor, who vetoed similar legislation four years ago.

The hike is long and dusty, across two miles of shrub-strewn desert, south of Apple Valley. But Lisa Fernandez, a Web designer and hot springs enthusiast, has often made the trek from the trail head to the pools of steaming water. She believes the payoff is worth it: a day of soaking in undeveloped, natural hot springs in the shade of pine and willow trees at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains.