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University of Montana researchers discovered that when grown in co-culture, two different species of the fungus Penicillium – the same genus that produces the antibiotic penicillin – cooperate to synthesize an antibiotic that neither species produces when grown alone.

Consumer Reports says conventional meat is causing more antibiotic resistance. Here is why they should stick to reviewing toasters.

Hospital-acquired infections are a major public health concern the risk of getting an infection while in the hospital is roughly 1 in 20. They are also an especially substantial burden because they are often difficult to treat due to their antibiotic resistance (therefore being dubbed superbugs). Just a few of these bacteria include MRSA, VRE, and CRE, which the CDC refers to as nightmare bacteria.

Phosphorous was selected by Mother Nature to be the element responsible for holding together all genetic material. As its phosphate form, it is the basis for life. But a small modification of phosphate will take that life away quite efficiently - Sarin. Oh, yes - it's time for The Dreaded Chemistry Lesson From Hell!

Many in mainstream media recently reported on the possibility of COVID-19 being transmitted during the flush of a toilet. While the physics involved appeared to be well modeled, the biologic implications are fuzzy at best. Here's how this scenario plays out.

In order to accurately capture the nuance of an article, especially those about scientific and medical matters, headline writers and editors should read the piece before composing a headline.

For many of us, COVID vaccination reduced the severity of illness, but not our becoming infected. We have a hybrid immunity now, tempered by that injectable mRNA of the spike protein and our exposure to real-world COVID. A new study suggests that we, of the hybrid immunity, have a reshaped and more enhanced immune response.

Macaque monkeys are starting to overrun parts of Florida. Like humans, macaques have their own version of herpes. It doesn't bother the monkeys but is very deadly to humans. Here's why.

This method uses revolutionary “dipstick” technology. The protocol involves a tissue sample that's ground up and the dipstick, made of wax-coated filter paper, is inserted, almost immediately capturing the DNA and RNA.

For anyone who has followed the AIDS epidemic from the beginning, Anthony Fauci is a very familiar name. Dr. Fauci, an accomplished immunologist, became the director of National Institute of Allergy

It was another busy month for us, as we dove into topics ranging from COVID-19 vaccines and their relative effectiveness (as compared to viral infection), to pain medication, to questions related to toxicology. Here are some of the media outlets in the U.S., on Wall Street, and even in Europe that recently featured, interviewed or referenced ACSH during the month of March.

It s time to face the music: the golden age of antibiotics is over.

The FDA approved Optimer Pharmaceuticals’ antibiotic Dificid on Friday, marking the first new medicine in 25 years approved to treat diarrhea caused by the bacterium Clostridium dificile. This is welcome news, since “C-diff” is likely even more of a problem in hospital settings than the antibiotic-resistant Staph, MRSA. C.

We already offer pre-natal maternal vitamins. Should we offer pre-natal paternal ones? A study looks at the transmission of "health" from father to sons, making use of data from the U.S. Civil War and providing interesting support for sperm's acquisition of epigenetic information. Who knew they were so busy?

Those are the words of Pliny the Elder (except for the COVID part). Coincidentally, he died while trying to save friends during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. As it turns out, today's home is also where COVID-19 comes to visit, brought in by household members.

Is President Trump, Rudy Giuliani, or any other individual infected with COVID-19 susceptible to reinfection? While there are a few scattered reports, the real question is how much of our immune response persists. A new study provides updated information.

A team at MIT and Harvard has developed a new method for testing if a person is infected with Zika virus that is more sensitive, faster, cheaper, specific, easy to read, and can even distinguish between different strains of Zika virus. This new device may be a lynchpin in the battle against Zika and future outbreaks.

The American Council on Science and Health was founded by well-learned individuals. Our writing staff and Board of Scientific Advisors are equally well educated. This month we added a new team member to our full-time writing staff, Dr. Henry I. Miller, our first Glenn Swogger Distinguished Fellow.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, is threatening to surge again. In the past few weeks alone, a recent version, XBB.1.5, the most infectious subvariant yet discovered, has quickly spread in the United States. As of the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control, this variant makes up about three-quarters of all cases in the Northeast and 27.6% nationwide. There is reason to be concerned.

To handshake or not to handshake, that is the question. As COVID-19 has moved from a pandemic to an endemic disease, should we greet each other with a shake of hands, fist bump, or just eye contact and walk quickly away?  Handshaking has devolved into a cultural debate rather than the scientific issue of disease transmission. Is handshaking, a form of surface transmission, something to fear?

A virion is “the complete, infective form of a virus outside a host cell, with a core of RNA or DNA and a capsid.” It is the infectious form of the virus as it moves between cells and hosts. A year plus into the COVID-19 pandemic, and we still do not know the number of virions necessary and sufficient to cause an infection – a new study, at least, puts us into the ballpark.

A blood test for dementia would be great but there are limitations as to what they can tell us about our brains.

One of the judgments made by scientists is how to aggregate or segregate data – especially when it comes to changing a continuous variable like age – into separate bins (10 to 18, 19 to 34, etc.). Race/ethnicity as a category has come in for some well-deserved criticism. Leave aside the argument that it is a social construct, race/ethnicity contains too many confounding features. A study in Nature points to a new way to break the category into meaningful segments.

ACSH staffers were disappointed with the science writing in a Los Angeles Times article claiming that the treatment of livestock with antibiotics threatens both animal and human health. Melissa Healy reported yesterday that the FDA found that U.S.-livestock consumed 29 million pounds of antibiotics last year.

At the beginning of the year, the CDC and FDA noted “a preliminary safety signal for ischemic stroke among persons aged ≥65 years” who had received the COVID bi-valent vaccine, as well as a similar but "higher" signal in individuals receiving the influenza vaccine at the same time. Now, a study has confirmed that safety signal.