Leaving the host behind.

• Autores: Charles Choi
• Localización: Scientific American, ISSN 0036-8733, Vol. 290, Nº. 4, 2004, págs. 36-36
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The article discusses research about how the deadly germ that causes anthrax, Bacillus anthracis, can thrive outside a living host. University of Michigan Medical School microbiologist Philip C. Hanna and his colleagues experimented with local stream mud. They filtered out existing microbes and seeded the mud with dormant spores of a noninfectious anthrax strain. Hanna's team detected all stages of the germ's life. This result could explain why herds of cattle and big game experience anthrax outbreaks when hot, dry times follow rainy seasons: germs flourish after rainfall and concentrate in drinking holies after the water dries up. Still, the findings raise the question of whether anthrax trades genes with other soil microbes.