Disease, Bacteria | featured news

A foundation devoted to education about and treatment of flesh-eating bacteria cites government figures estimating 500 to 1,500 cases occur in the United States each year. But media coverage of these cases is rare, so the story of a Georgia grad student fighting the disease may help raise awareness, the foundation's co-founder says.

Fifteen people have now died after consuming cantaloupe contaminated with the listeria monocytogenes bacteria, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. At least 84 people in 19 states have become ill with the bacteria, the agency said. And the number of illnesses could still grow, added the CDC, citing reporting lags and how the disease can develop slowly in some people.

Investigators can now take precautions against diseases starting to emerge, like flu or food-borne bugs and antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.

An infectious-disease nightmare is unfolding: Bacteria that have been made resistant to nearly all antibiotics by an alarming new gene have sickened people in three states and are popping up all over the world, health officials reported Monday.