November 30, 2011
Pinworms—small worms that infect the intestines—are the most common worm infection in the United States. Although all people are over 99.9% genetically identical, the small amount of diversity that does exist between individuals tends to track with ethnicity. This is probably pretty obvious—an [...]
December 16, 2009
Leprosy is a chronic, disabling disease caused by a bacterium (Mycobacterium leprae) that infects only humans and armadillos. The disease affects the skin and peripheral nerves, leading to sores, numbness in the limbs, muscle weakness, and, in severe cases, disfiguring nodules on the skin. Known since [...]
February 27, 2009
Each of us is made up of about 50 trillion cells, which is pretty mind-blowing until you consider the number of microbial cells living on or in each of us. It’s estimated that a healthy adult is lugging around 10 times more bugs, most of them bacteria, than human cells. Just as the tiny differences we [...]
January 22, 2009
Not all bacteria are bad. Sure, there are plenty of nasty bugs that can make life pretty unpleasant; the ones that cause leprosy, anthrax, and cholera immediately come to mind. But there are also plenty of beneficial bacteria living inside of us that we may not even know about. Some of them help us [...]
