Recent Transmission of Tuberculosis - United States, 2011-2014.

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that may result from recent transmission or from an infection acquired many years in the past; there is no diagnostic test to distinguish the two causes. Cases resulting from recent transmission are particularly concerning from a public health standpoint. To describe recent tuberculosis transmission in the United States, we used a field-validated plausible source-case method to estimate cases likely resulting from recent transmission during January 2011-September 2014.

Hydrocarbon-Degrading Bacteria Exhibit a Species-Specific Response to Dispersed Oil while Moderating Ecotoxicity.

The Deepwater Horizon blowout in April 2010 represented the largest accidental marine oil spill and the largest release of chemical dispersants into the environment to date. While dispersant application may provide numerous benefits to oil spill response efforts, the impacts of dispersants and potential synergistic effects with crude oil on individual hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria are poorly understood. In this study, two environmentally relevant species of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria were utilized to quantify the response to Macondo crude oil and Corexit 9500A-dispersed oil in terms of bacterial growth and oil degradation potential.

Sedimentation Pulse in the NE Gulf of Mexico following the 2010 DWH Blowout.

The objective of this study was to investigate the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil discharge at the seafloor as recorded in bottom sediments of the DeSoto Canyon region in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. Through a close coupling of sedimentological, geochemical, and biological approaches, multiple independent lines of evidence from 11 sites sampled in November/December 2010 revealed that the upper ~1 cm depth interval is distinct from underlying sediments and results indicate that particles originated at the sea surface. Consistent dissimilarities in grain size over the surficial ~1 cm of sediments correspond to excess (234)Th depths, which indicates a lack of vertical mixing (bioturbation), suggesting the entire layer was deposited within a 4-5 month period.

Draft genome sequences for oil-degrading bacterial strains from beach sands impacted by the deepwater horizon oil spill.

We report the draft genome sequences of 10 proteobacterial strains isolated from beach sands contaminated with crude oil discharged from the Deepwater Horizon spill, which were cultivated under aerobic and anaerobic conditions with crude oil as the sole carbon source. All strains contain multiple putative genes belonging to hydrocarbon degradation pathways.