MRSA MRSA MRSA!

Pronounced mar-cia.  "Everytime MRSA turns around, they hand it a blue ribbon or something." There's an awesome collection of microbiology related schwag for sale at Etsy in a collection curated by Wendy Joy.

Some stuff not to miss? The petri dish soap with natural honey scent streaked with E coli, the MRSA MRSA MRSA button and the sweet B. anthracis plush doll.  It's truly a great time to be alive! or at least it's great that it's Friday.

h/t @artologica

 

You can't B. cereus!

There was an exciting piece in the NY Times this weekend about the new “Microbe Hunters”, focusing on the wider availability of rapid whole genome sequencing, and characterization of complex communities of microorganisms (e.g. our microbiome). One part of the article referenced a case of rapidly fatal necrotizing pneumonia in a welder, and the suspicion that it may have been due to B. anthracis—possibly bioterror-related. The article breathlessly described the need for rapid species identification of the microbe:

“A patient had just died from what looked like inhalation anthrax. What should she do?
“I said, ‘I know precisely what to do,’ ” Dr. Musser said. “ ‘We just spent three hours talking about it.’ ”
The questions were: Was it anthrax? If so, was it a genetically engineered bioterrorism strain, or a strain that normally lives in the soil? How dangerous was it?
And the answers, Dr. Musser realized, could come very quickly from newly available technology that would allow investigators to determine the entire genome sequence of the suspect micro-organism.”

But as the case report reveals, it should have been clear that this organism wasn’t B. anthracis pretty quickly, just by looking at the agar plate. B. anthracis is non-hemolytic, and non-motile. B. cereus is both beta-hemolytic and motile. In fact, the lab involved identified it presumptively as B. cereus long before the whole genome sequencing was done. Furthermore, the association between B. cereus and necrotizing pneumonia among welders is well described, as is the presence of B. anthracis toxin genes in pathogenic B. cereus isolates. I’m not discounting the importance of genomic pathology—I’m just sayin’, you can still get a long way with traditional microbiological techniques (like looking at an agar plate).

Image courtesy of the CDC Public Health Image Library

UK anthrax outbreak expands

The anthrax outbreak among IV heroin users in Scotland continues to expand. There have now been 19 cases in Scotland, of whom 9 have died. There have also been two fatal cases outside of Scotland, one in Germany and the other in London. At least 14 of the Scottish cases and the German case have been proven to be caused by the same anthrax strain. Prior to this outbreak the only other reported case of anthrax in an IV drug user occurred in Norway in 2000.

Meanwhile, unrelated to the European outbreak, the woman with gastrointestinal anthrax in New Hampshire, who became infected from a djembe drum, remains hospitalized but continues to improve.

Anthrax update

The death toll from anthrax infections in IV drug users in Scotland has now reached 7, and 7 others have become infected. Meanwhile, in the US, the woman with gastrointestinal anthrax, who was infected from a contaminated djembe drum in New Hampshire, is improving and has been moved from intensive care.

Anthrax in the US

The Associated Press is reporting that a New Hampshire woman is in critical condition due to gastrointestinal anthrax. It is believed that transmission occurred via an African drum. Three other cases of anthrax in the US (2 inhalational, 1 cutaneous) have occurred since 2006 associated with goat hides imported from West Africa for djembe drums. Click here to hear djembe drums.

In the news

Just about every day, I take a look at what's appearing in the mainstream media so that readers of this blog can link to the latest, hottest happenings in the world of infectious diseases and infection prevention. Today's foray yielded a treasure trove:

• First it was Christmas decorations. Then aquariums. Now British hospitals are banning flowers on wards in the name of infection prevention. I suggest they next ban food, water, and air, since none of those are sterile either.
• Two of four patients who received organs from a patient who died at the University of Mississippi Medical Center last month have been diagnosed with infections due to Balamuthia mandrillaris, a free-living amoeba that can cause encephalitis. Both patients are critically ill. Infections with these organisms are rare, and these are the first to be transmitted via transplanted organs.
• Dr. Sidney Wolfe, the well known patient advocate at Public Citizen, has added Tamiflu to his list of worst pills. The title of the press release says it all--"Tamiflu? More like Scamiflu."
• In Scotland, three injection drug users have developed cutaneous anthrax, one of whom has died of the infection.
• Lastly, if you are planning on having plastic surgery anytime soon in Connecticut, be careful! A plastic surgeon there has been cited because inspectors found mouse poop on her surgical instruments. I didn't make this up, really! See the link here.