Bacteria Present In Abundance In Public Restrooms

 

Figure 4. Results of SourceTracker analysis showing the average contributions of different sources to the surface-associated bacterial communities in twelve public restrooms.

The “unknown” source is not shown but would bring the total of each sample up to 100%.

From the 27 November 2011 Medical News Today article

Everyone wonders what bugs might be lurking in public bathrooms. Now researchers are using novel genetic sequencing methods to answer this question, revealing a plethora of bacteria all around, from the doors and the floors to the faucet handles and toilet seats, with potential public health implications, as reported in the online journal PLoS ONE.

Led by Gilberto Flores and Noah Fierer of the University of Colorado, Boulder, the researchers investigated 12 public restrooms, 6 male and 6 female, in Colorado. Using a high-throughput genetic sequencing technique, they identified various bacteria on all the surfaces they tested. The floor had the most diverse bacterial community, and human skin was the primary source of bacteria on all surfaces. Interestingly, there were a few differences between the bacteria found in the male versus female bathrooms.

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A Cure For The Common Cold? New Drug Could Cure Nearly Any Viral Infection

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From a 10 August 2011 Medical News Today article

Most bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics such as penicillin, discovered decades ago. However, such drugs are useless against viral infections, including influenza, the common cold, and deadly hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola. Now, in a development that could transform how viral infections are treated, a team of researchers at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory has designed a drug that can identify cells that have been infected by any type of virus, then kill those cells to terminate the infection…

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(This drug has not even reached clinical trials yet, so it will be awhile before it gets to being approved, and then, if approved, being available to the general public)

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• Viral and Bacterial Infections: What’s the Difference? (everydayhealth.com)
• New Drug Can Treat Almost Any Viral Infection By Killing the Body’s Infected Cells By Rebecca Boyle (imullins89.wordpress.com)
• MIT develops new method to cure broad range of viruses (bostinnovation.com)
• Viral? Take precautions, say doctors (news.bioscholar.com)
• Major breakthrough on how viruses infect plants (eurekalert.org)