A team of researchers from the University of Turku in Finland say a mix of bacteria in a baby's gut may predict whether that infant will become overweight or obese later in life. The babies with high numbers of bifidobacteria and low numbers of Staphylococcus aureus may not become obese when they grow up, new study shows.

Since bifidobacteria are prevalent in the guts of breast-fed babies, the findings also explain why breast-fed babies are at lower risk for later obesity. The study was published in the March issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Health officials warned Washington state residents to be watchful of their health and to get a flu shot if they have not, after a college student in Whatcom County died due to an MRSA pneumonia.

Chris Feden, 20, an engineering student at Western Washington University, died from MRSA pneumonia, a rare and critical infection that he got after having flu

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) assured members of Congress on Wednesday that drug resistant staph infections should not be a cause for panic.

At House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing, CDC head Dr. Julie Gerberding said, "This isn't something just floating around in the air. It takes close contact, things like sharing towels and razors, or rolling on the wrestling mat or football field with open scrapes, or not bandaging cuts, to become infected with the staph germ called MRSA outside of a hospital. But MRSA is preventable largely by common-sense hygiene

A new study published in Veterinary Microbiology found methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is widely common in Canadian pig farms and pig farmers, signaling to some that animal agriculture as a source of the deadly bacteria. The Veterinary Microbiology study (Khanna et al. 2007) is the first to show that North American pig farms and farmers commonly carry MRSA.

Researchers looked for MRSA in 285 pigs in 20 Ontario farms and found MRSA at 45 percent of farms (9/20) and in nearly one in four pigs (71/285). One in five pig farmers studied (5/25) also were found to carry MRSA, a much higher rate than in the general North American population. The strains of MRSA bacteria found in Ontario pigs and pig farmers included a strain common to human MRSA infections in Canada

Officials in Queensland Elementary School in New York ordered a massive clean-up of its surroundings and classrooms as they confirmed that four siblings, who are students of the institution were diagnosed on Friday with a deadly drug-resistant staph infection.

The names of the students were not disclosed, but school officials sent letters to all parents to take the precautionary measures and to be observant of the health condition of their children