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TWiM 9 Letters

Alicia writes,

Hi there,

long time listener, first time writer. I was just wondering, am I missing something really crucial? I've been reading in the news about Europe's "E.coli virus" everywhere. I have to assume that people are just mis-speaking and they mean illness not virus, but maybe there is a virus of E.coli that is released from the bacteria and are causing some sort of double whammy illness in folks.

Do you happen to know any more about this than I do?



D writes:

Those of us who teach (undergraduate) diagnostic microbiology are sometimes caught in a dilemma.

On one hand, we need to teach students to process cultures (urines, throats, sputums, blood, stool, etc) and identify organisms that are commonly associated with those specimens..and we all know there are some potential pathogens in the mix.

On the other, we don't want to any kind of exposure incidences.

What recommendations can you guys make about how to handle this situation. We want to keep it "real."  We feel the student will work with the organisms on an internship and then once they graduate so we want to make sure they are  well prepared.  We all wear PPE (gowns, gloves), practice good hand hygiene, and have a Class IIA safety cabinet.  I haven't  had (knock, knock, knock) any incidences, but I still worry.


Casey writes:

I wanted to ask about a comment made by Cliff regarding Salmonella and potato salads.  Working from memory, which I apologize if I am wrong, he talked about performing a fun experiment with Salmonella and potato salad.  From my understanding, food poisoning from potato salad is not Salmonella sp. at all.  Instead, food poisoning from potato salad is typically Staphylococcus aureus exotoxin B.  So saying that Salmonella is not typically found in potato salad is true, but it can be misleading because you can still get food poisoning from potato salad with S. aureus.  I guess that is not really a question, but truly more of a comment.


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