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We’ve updated you on the AIDS virus and the bird flu virus and both are frightening. But scientists are actually finding GOOD ways to use bacteria and viruses?in toothpaste and cold cuts!

LiveScience.com reports that chewing gum, toothpaste and deodorant might soon contain beneficial bacteria to fight tooth decay and odor. Researchers know which bacteria cause tooth decay, by sticking to the surface of teeth and producing an acid that breaks down tooth enamel.
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Newswise – We recently published a story on thedangers ofanti-bacterial soap and household cleaning supplies. But nowit turns out it may be good for us to take a dose ofbacteria daily. Anne Strieber says that sickness cansometimes be a gift. Read her newDiary and seeif you agree.

The May issue of Harvard Women’s Health Watch reports thatscientific evidence suggests that you can treat and preventsome intestinal illnesses with supplements containingcertain kinds of health-promoting bacteria.
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Scientists have evidence that bacteria dangerous to humanshave begun evolving in insects, for reasons that are not clear.

The October edition of Nature Reviews: Microbiology reportsthat invertebrates such as worms and insects may have begunenabling a rapid evolution for bacteria normally notharmful to humans. Not only are insects capable ofdelivering disease through bites and stings, they now may bethe breeding ground for strains of infectious bacteria neverbefore seen in humans.
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A superbug is bacteria that evolves inside hospitals to beresistant to the latest antibiotics. The danger is not onlyto the patient who has it, but to the other patients in thehospital as well. And if it gets into the outside world, itcould sweep through the population until?and if?a newantibiotic can be created that can destroy it. A newsuperbug has been discovered among wounded soldiers in Iraq.

William Cole writes in the Honolulu Advertiser about ClaudeBoushey, a soldier who had surgery in Germany after ahelicopter crash to insert a titanium rod into his left leg.He found out he tested positive for the superbugAcinetobacter baumanii. Boushey says, “I was kind of alarmed. I was like, what is it? It took me aweek just to pronounce it.”
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