He said this was a "first step" towards "eventually using these bacteria as prevention or treatment of obesity and Type-2 diabetes" and that some form of bacteria-based therapy would be used "in the near future".

BBC: 'Weight loss gut bacterium' found

The Centers for Disease Control says five people have died from infection with Vibrio vulnificus, a form of the bacteria that causes cholera.

CNN

The CDC said that five people who survived Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans died after becoming infected with Vibrio vulnificus, caused by a form of the bacteria that also causes cholera.

CNN: Officials: Chemicals bigger concern than cholera

Fortunately, the testing did not reveal strains of E. coli 0157, a particularly virulent form of the bacteria that was responsible for several outbreaks, and deaths, from serious foodborne illnesses.

CNN: Yuck! What's in your pool water

This is the theory that life is not merely a surface scum which clings to the outside of planet Earth, but that living things, in the form of so-called extremophile bacteria which can tolerate infernal heat, penetrate several kilometres into the planet's interior.

ECONOMIST: Obituary

The disease is a potentially fatal form of pneumonia caused by the legionella bacteria.

BBC: Legionella bacteria

The surviving bacteria are often gathered in the form of what is known as a biofilm.

ECONOMIST: Using a plasma torch to clean your teeth

But this form of staph is actually starting to look like the flesh-eating bacteria.

NPR: Tracking a New Strain of Drug-Resistant Staph