ZOMG! E. KOLI R EVERYWHERZ!!! Or Something

Researchers from the University of Arizona swabbed shopping cart handles in four states looking for bacterial contamination. Of the 85 carts examined, 72 percent turned out to have a marker for fecal bacteria. The researchers took a closer look at the samples from 36 carts and discovered Escherichia coli, more commonly known as E. coli, on 50 percent of them -- along with a host of other types of bacteria.
"That's more than you find in a supermarket's restroom," said Charles Gerba, the lead researcher on the study and a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona. "That's because they use disinfecting cleaners in the restrooms. Nobody routinely cleans and disinfects shopping carts."

The Bay Citizen commissioned Darleen Franklin, a supervisor at San Francisco State University's biology lab, to analyze the bacterial content of a random BART seat. The results may make you want to stand during your trip. Fecal and skin-borne bacteria resistant to antibiotics were found in a seat on a train headed from Daly City to Dublin/Pleasanton. Further testing on the skin-borne bacteria showed characteristics of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, the drug-resistant bacterium that causes potentially lethal infections, although Ms. Franklin cautioned that the MRSA findings were preliminary.
High concentrations of at least nine bacteria strains and several types of mold were found on the seat. Even after Ms. Franklin cleaned the cushion with an alcohol wipe, potentially harmful bacteria were found growing in the fabric.

In two separate tests, Ms. Franklin identified characteristics of the MRSA bacteria growing in the seat. The first test confirmed the presence of staphylococcus aureus, the skin-borne bacteria. A second confirmed that the bacteria, like MRSA, was resistant to the antibiotics methicillin and penicillin. But a third test intended to isolate the MRSA bacteria was negative.

Look, this is silly. Regarding the MRSA, about 1.5% of healthy people who haven't been in the hospital recently have MRSA, and about 30% of healthy people carry S. aureus:

The numbers are higher for those who have been in the hospital system (including medical workers). If you wash your hands before picking your nose, you'll be alright.
Moving along to E. coli. This is also silly. Do you keep your toothbrush in your bathroom? Do you want to know what's growing on your toothbrush? (Probably not). Too bad, I'm gonna tell you: E. coli (among other things). To put it very crudely, when you wipe your ass, do you glove up or wear a biohazard suit? No. Just wash your hands? (Good).
How's that working for you?
Not dead yet? (Glad to hear it).
MRSA is a problem in the clinical setting, and its increase in the healthy population is worrisome, since healthy people can serve as a reservoir of resistant organisms and resistance genes. Likewise, you don't want to have an E. coli bloodstream infection. But both S. aureus and E. coli are commensal organisms: they live on and in us, and typically don't cause disease--usually, only when they wind up where they don't belong. If you come into contact with them--the aforementioned wiping your ass--you'll be fine unless you're severely immunocompromised or have an open wound.

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Gayle hopeful of speedy national return

Chris Gayle, who was named the 2010 West Indies Players Association (WIPA) Cricketer of the Year as well as Test Player of the Year during the eighth annual First Citizens WIPA Awards in St Ann’s on Thursday night, is hopeful about getting back into the national side “as quickly as possible”.Gayle, who had been omitted from the West Indies limited-overs squad for the Twenty20 and first two ODI games against India, following his ongoing dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) over his controversial radio interview in April, wrote in his column in the Hindustan Times that he wanted the “issue to be sorted out”.”We have a meeting scheduled sometime in the next few days,” Gayle wrote, “[and] I want to be involved in the game. But it is out of my control. The WICB people are the ones in charge. I have to see if we can resolve the issue. As I had stated to the board, they have known that I am fully available.”Gayle, who watched the Twenty20 game between West Indies and India in Trinidad on Saturday from the stands, wrote it was “disappointing to actually be on the sidelines” and “strange not to be involved in the game, not to be walking out to open the batting”.”The atmosphere was great but the stands are not a great place to be. I want to be in the middle.” Gayle had called on his fans to give him “a wake up call to go and watch cricket, wake me at 9-30am T&T plz [sic]” on Twitter the day before the match. After the game he tweeted that he had a “blast at cricket It was really nice to see the support and appreciation by fans thank you all for d [sic] support!!” During the game he had tweeted “WI Fans Don’t worry about a thing,cause every little things gonna [sic] be alright”, suggesting that that there could soon be a reconciliation between him and the board.The WICB was angered by Gayle’s decision to play in the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore but Gayle had said the way he had been treated by the West Indies board (WICB) had left him with little choice but to join Bangalore and miss the home series against Pakistan. Gayle, who ended the IPL as the tournament’s top run scorer, called his stint “memorable.”"The people and fans there showed a lot of warmth,” he wrote. “That was in contrast to how one’s own people fail to recall, tend to forget the things you have done for the team.”From a player’s point of view, that kind of respect is definitely deserved. In your own region you are made to feel like an outsider. It is sad but that is how it is. Yes, here I’m definitely talking about the administration. It is always important that you should feel absolutely relaxed to feel an integral part of an environment.

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