Word: bacterium
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...same allergens, which can play a role in triggering asthma attacks, and they tend to have similar diets, which can affect blood pressure and cholesterol levels. And certainly if one partner is depressed, it's a bummer for the other. But ulcers? Doctors know they are caused by a bacterium that's not contagious. "For some of these, there's simply no good explanation," says Julia Hippisley-Cox, senior author of the study. What we do know: if your spouse becomes ill with something, you should get a checkup...
What's tricky about listeria is that unlike most food-borne pathogens, it can multiply in the refrigerator. Pasteurization and cooking will kill the listeria bacterium, but contamination often occurs later in processing. So you might bring home some ready-to-eat deli meats, hot dogs or soft cheeses that have a trace of listeria contamination on them, put them in the fridge and a week or so later, while they still look fresh, find yourself eating a listeria-packed meal. Not that you would know right away. The symptoms of listeriosis can take anywhere from a few days...
...company already has several extremophile-derived products on the market and plans to launch five more this year. One is an enzyme from a deep-ocean-vent bacterium that improves the synthesis of high-fructose corn syrup (used as a sweetener in soft drinks). Another will be used in genetic research. Yet another will make animal feed more nutritious...
Even this two-stage counterattack isn't always sufficient, however. When that's the case, it's time for the heavy artillery--the even more specialized cells of the acquired immune response. These cells learn from experience. Once they have been exposed to a virus or bacterium, they will recognize it if it shows up a second time. That's why, for example, you can get chickenpox once but rarely twice...
...Qaeda is amorphous and we don't know quite where it is based, how big it is, how much money it's got and who its personnel are, in a way it's more difficult than defeating Nazi Germany. If fighting Hitler was like trying to destroy a powerful bacterium, fighting al-Qaeda is like trying to destroy a stealthy virus...