Bacillus nocturne, a normally passive estuarine bacteria, is genetically modified and released into the water at beach resorts by a rogue scientist in Nocturne, Opus 1: Sea Foam. What did the scientist design it to do, and how fast will it spread through the world's waterways? These are the questions that our heroine Dr. Kate Connors must answer as she and her husband Dr. Jake Connors track down the killer.
Medical personnel have an arsenal of antibiotics to use against bacterial infections, but some of those bacteria have become resistant to the well known antibiotics in use today. Research to discover new antibiotics is an ongoing process, and some say it is a race against time.
Are there other ways to stop a bacterial infection if all the antibiotics fail? Would it be a good idea to know about these methods and tuck them in the back of our minds, just in case some day an antibiotic is needed and none are available? The characters in Nocturne think so.
Through the use of fact-based fiction, the characters in Nocturne re-examine the techniques used by physicians and native healers that can slow down the replication rate of bacteria and boost the body's immune system to fight against an infection.
When I saw the headline "Honey Helps Heal Wounds," I wanted to share this timely article with you. Katherine Harmon transcribed a podcast about the antibacterial effects of honey on wound healing for the 60-Second Health Segment of Scientific American's webpage (www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=honey-helps-heal-wounds-12-01-31). Her article follows:
"Honey soothes a sore throat. Now research suggests that it could also help fight serious skin infections.
People have used honey's antibacterial properties for centuries. Now, scientists are discovering just how it works—and that it might be even better than antibiotics.
After surgery or a skin injury, many otherwise harmless bacteria that live on the skin can infect the wound site. One type of strep is particularly common and can lead to stubborn wounds that refuse to heal. But researchers found that honey—in particular that made from bees foraging on manuka flowers—stopped this strep in its tracks. The study is in the journal Microbiology [Sarah Maddocks et al, Manuka Honey Inhibits the Development of Streptococcus pyogenesBiofilms and Causes Reduced Expression of Two Fibronectin Binding Proteins].
In lab tests, just a bit of the honey killed off the majority of bacterial cells—and cut down dramatically on the stubborn biofilms they formed.
It could also be used to prevent wounds from becoming infected in the first place. Hospital-borne infections are all too common, with more and more strains developing resistance to standard antibiotic treatments. So if the honey works in clinical trials, too, this sweet news will be all the buzz."
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