"...and a dog with lepto in its pee."

I saw this video over at the Worms & Germs blog.  It's a new take on a popular Christmas carol.  Enjoy!

Lyrics
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me,
Twelve tubs of Purell,
Eleven raccoon roundworms,
Ten cats-a-scratching
Nine hungry hookworms,
Eight dogs-a-biting,
Seven cats with ringworm,
Six big fat dog ticks,
Five cats with fleas.
Four rats with cowpox.
Three tapeworms,
Two toxic turtles,
And a dog with lepto in its pee.

100 (micro)meter dash

A fun read in the current issue of Nature Reviews Microbiology is an essay entitled "The Microbial Olympics, " just in time for the Summer Olympics.  You will find stories about microbes competing in boxing, javelin, pathogen relay, diving, and other Olympic events.  Flagellated bacteria compete in the 100 micrometer dash, which you can watch below.  (Note that some of the contestants were genetically modified.)

 Source

Lane assignments:

1. E. coli chimera (has sodium-driven flagellar motors instead of its normal proton-driven motors)
2. E. coli (proton-driven flagellar motors)
3. Vibrio alginolyticus, puller (clockwise-locked flagellum "pulls" cell body from front)
4. Vibrio alginolyticus, pusher (counterclockwise-locked flagellum "pushes" cell body from back)
5. Pseudomonas aeruginosa
6. Rhodobacter sphaeroides
7. Rhodospirillum rubrum
8. Yersinia enterocolitica

Reference

Youle M, Rohwer F, Stacy A, Whiteley M, Steel BC, Delalez NJ, Nord AL, Berry RM, Armitage JP, Kamoun S, Hogenhout S, Diggle SP, Gurney J, Pollitt EJG, Boetius A, and Cary SC (August 2012).  Nature Reviews Microbiology 10(8):583-588.  DOI: 10.1038/nrmicro2837