Bacteria and Viruses


Book Description

Discusses various types of bacteria and viruses, methods of fighting diseases, and how bacteria and viruses can be used to benefit people and the environment.




Examining Viruses and Bacteria


Book Description

Bacteria and viruses are among the oldest agents on Earth and reveal much about the planet's past and evolution. As scientists and doctors make progress in fighting the harmful effects of bacteria and viruses, they also often make discoveries that can lead to life-saving vaccines and antibiotics, making the fields of microbiology and biochemistry more intriguing and challenging than ever. In this volume, readers will venture into the realm of bacteria and viruses to explore these constantly changing agents and the roles they play in nature, medicine, and disease.




Viruses, Bacteria and Fungi in the Built Environment


Book Description

Viruses, Bacteria and Fungi in the Built Environment: Designing Healthy Indoor Environments opens with a brief introduction to viruses, bacteria and fungi in the built environment and discusses their impact on human health. Sections discuss the microbiology of building materials, the airborne transmission of viruses and bacteria in the built environment, and plumbing-associated microbiome. As the first book on this important area to be written in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, this work will be a valuable reference resource for researchers, civil engineers, architects, postgraduate students, contractors and other professionals working and interested in the field of the built environment. Elements of building design, including choice of materials, ventilation and plumbing can have important implications for the microbiology of a building, and consequently, the health of the building's occupants. This important new reference work explains the microbiology of buildings and disease control in the built environment to those who design and implement new construction and renovate. - Provides an essential guide on the microbiology of buildings, covering bacteria, fungi and viruses on surfaces, in air and in water - Comprehensively examines how humidity influences fungal growth in several building materials - Includes important information about the airborne transmission of infectious agents - Addresses ventilation design to improve human health - Presents the first book on disease control in buildings since the COVID-19 pandemic




Polymicrobial Diseases


Book Description

Polymicrobial diseases, those involving more than one etiologic agent, are more common than is generally realized and include respiratory diseases, gastroenteritis, conjunctivitis, keratitis, hepatitis, periodontal diseases, multiple sclerosis, genital infections, intra -- abdominal infections, and pertussis.




A Planet of Viruses


Book Description

For years, scientists have been warning us that a pandemic was all but inevitable. Now it's here, and the rest of us have a lot to learn. Fortunately, science writer Carl Zimmer is here to guide us. In this compact volume, he tells the story of how the smallest living things known to science can bring an entire planet of people to a halt--and what we can learn from how we've defeated them in the past. Planet of Viruses covers such threats as Ebola, MERS, and chikungunya virus; tells about recent scientific discoveries, such as a hundred-million-year-old virus that infected the common ancestor of armadillos, elephants, and humans; and shares new findings that show why climate change may lead to even deadlier outbreaks. Zimmer’s lucid explanations and fascinating stories demonstrate how deeply humans and viruses are intertwined. Viruses helped give rise to the first life-forms, are responsible for many of our most devastating diseases, and will continue to control our fate for centuries. Thoroughly readable, and, for all its honesty about the threats, as reassuring as it is frightening, A Planet of Viruses is a fascinating tour of a world we all need to better understand.




Essentials of Glycobiology


Book Description

Sugar chains (glycans) are often attached to proteins and lipids and have multiple roles in the organization and function of all organisms. "Essentials of Glycobiology" describes their biogenesis and function and offers a useful gateway to the understanding of glycans.




Detection and Enumeration of Bacteria, Yeast, Viruses, and Protozoan in Foods and Freshwater


Book Description

This volume details methods and procedures used to detect and enumerate bacteria in food. Chapters guide readers through food and beverage matrices, techniques used to enumerate bacteria, mixed bacterial strains (naturally present or inoculated), yeast, viruses, protozoan in distinct food matrices, and freshwater. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Detection and Enumeration of Bacteria, Yeast, Viruses, and Protozoan in Foods and Freshwater aims to provide a basic understanding on detection and enumeration of microorganisms in foods.




A Tale of Two Viruses


Book Description

In 1965, French microbiologist André Lwoff was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on lysogeny—one of the two types of viral life cycles—which resolved a contentious debate among scientists about the nature of viruses. A Tale of Two Viruses is the first study of medical virology to compare the history of two groups of medically important viruses—bacteriophages, which infect bacteria, and sarcoma agents, which cause cancer—and the importance of Lwoff’s discovery to our modern understanding of what a virus is. Although these two groups of viruses may at first glance appear to have little in common, they share uniquely parallel histories. The lysogenic cycle, unlike the lytic, enables viruses to replicate in the host cell without destroying it and to remain dormant in a cell’s genetic material indefinitely, or until induced by UV radiation. But until Lwoff’s discovery of the mechanism of lysogeny, microbiologist Félix d’Herelle and pathologist Peyton Rous, who themselves first discovered and argued for the viral identity of bacteriophages and certain types of cancer, respectively, faced opposition from contemporary researchers who would not accept their findings. By following the research trajectories of the two virus groups, Sankaran takes a novel approach to the history of the development of the field of medical virology, considering both the flux in scientific concepts over time and the broader scientific landscapes or styles that shaped those ideas and practices.