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A New Victim

A seventh patient has died due to infection with an antibiotic-resistant strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae at the US National Institutes of Health's Clinical Center, reports the Washington Post. NIH researchers recently outlined in Science Translational Medicine their use of whole-genome sequencing to track the outbreak that began there in June of last year. The outbreak seemingly ended in January until this patient, a boy suffering from complications due to a bone marrow transplant, became ill in July. The Post says that the strain infecting the boy genetically matches the one circulating last year, despite the hospital's efforts to isolate and prevent the spread of the bacteria. "This kid probably got this infection because a patient who was a carrier [of the superbug] was on the same unit," says John Gallin, the director of the NIH hospital, to the Post. "There was undoubtedly some intrahospital transmission despite our best efforts."

The Scan

Harvard Team Report One-Time Base Editing Treatment for Motor Neuron Disease in Mice

A base-editing approach restored SMN levels and improved motor function in a mouse model of spinal muscular atrophy, a new Science paper reports.

International Team Examines History of North American Horses

Genetic and other analyses presented in Science find that horses spread to the northern Rockies and Great Plains by the first half of the 17th century.

New Study Examines Genetic Dominance Within UK Biobank

Researchers analyze instances of genetic dominance within UK Biobank data, as they report in Science.

Cell Signaling Pathway Identified as Metastasis Suppressor

A new study in Nature homes in on the STING pathway as a suppressor of metastasis in a mouse model of lung cancer.