Category Archives: E. coli

A Role for Morons? Thoughts on the Extinct Plague

Posted on September 6, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

This isn’t my usual post about morons (or fucking morons). Nope, this is about the Black Death, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis (we’ll get to the morons in a bit). Recent work, published in The Proceedings of the National … Continue reading →

Posted in E. coli, Evolution, Fucking Morons, Microbiology, You're Having a Bad Hair Life | Comments Off on A Role for Morons? Thoughts on the Extinct Plague

STEC Surveillance: UR DOING IT WRONG?

Posted on August 22, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

I CAN HAZ SHIGA TOCKSIN PCR? PLZ? It’s time for food, and specifically STEC, surveillance, to enter the last two decades of the twentieth century.
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Posted in E. coli, Food, Genetics, Microbiology | 5 Comments

Public Data, Publishing, Priority, and Public Health

Posted on July 27, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

While publication is enshrined as the pinnacle of scientific communication, in the case of the E. coli O104:H4 outbreak, it was pretty much irrelevant. It also encouraged bad behavior.
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Posted in E. coli, Genomics, Propaganda, Publishing | 4 Comments

There’s No Such Thing As Perfect Genome Sequence

Posted on July 11, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

No genome sequence, even a finished one, is perfect. But we can still do good science, even as we recognize the flaws in the data.
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Posted in E. coli, Genomics | Comments Off on There’s No Such Thing As Perfect Genome Sequence

Yet Another Way Big Ag Lobbyists Are Trying to Make You Sick

Posted on July 6, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

Killing the only program that tracks non-O157:H7 shiga toxinogenic E. coli. Would you like sprouts with that?
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Posted in Agriculture, E. coli, Propaganda, Public Health | 9 Comments

The E. coli O104:H4 Outbreak Gets More Confusing–and Potentially More Disturbing

Posted on June 27, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

I engage in some speculation, and hope that I’m very, very wrong.
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Posted in Agriculture, E. coli, Ecology, Microbiology, We're Really Fucked | 4 Comments

Some Thoughts About EAEC, Reservoirs, and Pathogenicity

Posted on June 14, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

A pathogen that often isn’t.
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Posted in E. coli, Evolution, Genomics | 2 Comments

Multilocus Sequence Typing and How to Make a Mad Biologist Cranky

Posted on June 13, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

Note that I said cranky, not mad. All these E. coli and no idea what they are…
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Posted in E. coli, Genetics, Public Health | 7 Comments

Some O104:H4 Links

Posted on June 10, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

Here are some O104:H4 links.
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Posted in E. coli, Lotsa Links | 1 Comment

Are Shiga-Toxin Phages E. coli Diseases? (File Under Speculative Hypotheses)

Posted on June 9, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

Or maybe wild-ass speculation.
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Posted in E. coli, Ecology, Evolution, Genetics, Viruses | 4 Comments