A team of researches examined the intestinal flora of Yellow-legged gulls in the south of France – life is just rough for some people – and found their guts filled with ever evolving antibiotic resistant bacteria. some wth more resistance than the same bacteria in humans. As the authors point out, this presents the possiblity of the birds transmitting the same bacteris, or strains with even greater resistance, back to the human population.
This is truly frightening, a horror story that really would seem to deserve a little more attention. Perhaps not so much for Marseilles, with its modern hygiene and very few children making their living picking through gull crap at the city dump for something to sell, or eat. But what of Africa?
And what of the possiblities for the same type of reservoirs of resistant bacteria developing in other animal populations that interact at a similar level with humans? Those kids tossing their half-chewed morning toast to the seals in the bay? To say nothing of rats and tree rats pigeons, which surely should be the next species examined.
June 23, 2009 at 12:47 am |
Did you notice, one of our “top searches” is now “lesbians underwater”?
I’m thinking theme park.
June 23, 2009 at 1:41 am |
how about endangered underwater lesbian species who are fracturing their bones?
June 23, 2009 at 1:53 am |
Well perhaps this explains our loneliness here.
June 24, 2009 at 12:56 am |
manatee
someone had to say it!
June 23, 2009 at 12:29 am |
Your pets also want to kill you:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Germs/story?id=7884755&page=1
June 23, 2009 at 12:43 am |
I have long suspected as much in the case of this cat.
As you can see, I am suffering a bout of logorrhea.