Originally Posted By: Dan_McI
I cannot tell if the organisms were really "bacteria" and not archaea or some prokaryotic eukaryota. I'd guess not because although many people would call all such things bacteria, scientists shouldn't.

The paper only refers to bacteria, from the phyla: Proteobacteria (87%), Actinobacteria (7%), and Bacteroidetes (6%).

Interesting, these buggers aren't just antibiotic-resistant, they actually feed on the antibiotics! Normally, I wouldn't be too worried about soil bacteria infecting people, but I also just saw something on TV this weekend on the mysterious Morgellons Syndrome and some scientists traced it to people being infected with a strain of soil bacteria. Not lethal, but still, these people are suffering with it and apparently there's no cure for it.

Some people have bad dreams about masked guys with chainsaws. I have scary dreams about bacteria. wink