Word: protozoa
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...form cage of intricately fitted cedar slats, a mysterious baglike structure that seems to inflate with breath--like a Wagnerian soprano, says Puryear, filling her lungs for the big aria. And then there are the purely organic forms, which derive from nests, seedpods, flower stems, birds' bones or marine protozoa. An example is his big red-cedar-and-pine piece, Plenty's Boast, 1994-95. As the title suggests, it could be a cornucopia. But it also evokes a slew of other things: the flaring mouth suggests an old gramophone horn, or perhaps a flower, or a weird sucking worm...
Underlying all these outbreaks is the same Darwinian mechanism: unusual weather such as dry spells in wet areas or torrential rains in normally dry spots tends to favor so-called opportunistic pests--rodents, insects, bacteria, protozoa, viruses--while making life more difficult for the predators that usually control them. Episodes of extreme weather are routinely followed by outbreaks of plagues, both old and new. Among the most recent examples...
...microbe that is responsible--Cyclospora cayetanensis--doesn't come from the relatively familiar world of viruses and bacteria. Instead, it hails from the strange realm of protozoa--single-celled organisms that have complex, multistep life cycles and are big enough to be seen under an ordinary microscope. Protozoa are usually found in ponds and moist, humid places like garden soil. There are many different types of protozoa, but this particular strain was not identified until the early 1990s...
Until they can figure out what's going on, health officials are advising consumers to wash fresh fruit and vegetables especially thoroughly before eating them. That should help dislodge the protozoa, although it's no guarantee it will. People with weakened immune systems--AIDS patients and anyone undergoing chemotherapy--are advised to avoid strawberries altogether. Children and the elderly suffering intense diarrhea should be watched with particular care; they can quickly become dangerously dehydrated...
PATHOGENS: These include bacteria, viruses and protozoa such as the cryptosporidium that struck Milwaukee. These sicken 900,000 people a year, says the N.R.D.C. report, and kill perhaps 900, usually those with weak immune systems (the very young and very old, AIDS sufferers and organ-transplant patients...