But Hatfill said he worked on viruses, not bacteria, and that he spent his career working to develop ways to combat bioweapons.
That is important, because not all bacteria that live in people are harmful.
However, it is not just bacteria that are being targeted.
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One compound synthesised by Dr Blackwell's team is more effective than the natural signalling chemical at turning on this group behaviour and works even when there are not enough bacteria around to induce the process naturally.
Although ice can become contaminated, researchers ruled it out as the source of contamination after testing revealed that it did not contain coliform bacteria.
But in real-life use, quats in their dry state may not effectively kill bacteria as moisture is needed for their action, he adds, or they could rub off or get covered by dust.
Though the average bacterium has fewer than 5, 000 genes, compared with around 20, 000 protein-coding genes in the average mammal (bacteria do not go in much for RNA-only genes), there are lots of species of bacteria.
Bacteria are not known for their ability to stir the imagination, but there is at least one reliable exception: bacteria from Mars.
It's really the behavior that transmits the bacteria and not the identity of the individual.
"Either bacteria are not involved or we could not discern their effects, " said Dr Strandberg.
One inference is that the bacteria may not merely be living in the plaques, but creating them.
Perhaps, Pei says, exposure to the wrong kind of bacteria, not just acid, is one cause of the disease.
The study concluded that rare steak can be produced safely provided that food poisoning bacteria are not reintroduced by contaminated utensils.
Before now it was not clear whether the bacteria directly conducted an electrical charge themselves or used something else to do it.
Alternately, if you purchase organic meats or those raised without antibiotics, bacteria has not had the exposure to the drugs to develop resistance.
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Bush noted that investigators erred in the early days of the anthrax threat, believing that spores of the potentially deadly bacteria could not escape a sealed envelope.
It usually began with standing water: a tide pool or pond or salty shallow, wet enough to breed bacteria but not so wet as to wash them away.
The agency also stresses the importance of keeping utensils clean while cooking any type of meat, to ensure that bacteria are not spread from raw to cooked foods.
This remoteness also means that these bacteria have not been disturbed, and it is possible to collect samples from areas that have been undisturbed by any kind of activity for millions of years.
Although the bacteria was not at a high enough level to pose a risk to people, the agency said it would affect bathing water classifications for 2013, due to be announced later in the year.
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An attempt by the researchers to classify the bacteria by known groups were unsuccessful, indicating that this is not just a new species of bacteria, but something even beyond that.
The challenge lies in the fact that some cancer cells are resistant to chemotherapy, not unlike the way some bacteria are resistant to antibiotics.
For example, if you take an antibiotic for only a few days instead of the full course the antibiotic may wipe out some, but not all, of the bacteria.
TLRs tend to prompt the immune system to respond to infectious agents like bacteria and viruses - not allergens.
The practice salting of meat helps fight bacteria, but probably not more than other modern antimicrobial techniques, Regenstein said.
Unlike oil, the dye has the same density as the surrounding water, does not coagulate or form slicks, and is not subject to chemical breakdown by bacteria or other forces.
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You can have spores of anthrax, the bacteria, but you may not have full-blown infection.
However, Richard Driscoll, director of the National Association for Crohn's and Colitis, said that the link between the bacteria and the illness was not yet fully proven, despite all the evidence.
This is especially true for very young infants, who are too young to be vaccinated and whose immune systems are not yet strong enough to defeat the bacteria on their own.
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Dr. Fischbach cautioned that "it's going to take a long time" before new drugs might be available, because there remains much to sort out not only the interplay between genetics and bacteria but also the wide variations in the bacteria on different people's bodies.
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