Welcome, Health Professionals!

As a health professional, you are probably aware of the constant emergence of new microbes and resistant forms of once-common pathogens in the healthcare environment and in the community. However, the area of clinical microbiology may be a little boring and even confusing at times to you. The nanobugs can provide an effective tool for introducing students in the health professions to microbiology and virology and also help practicing health professionals to identify a variety of microbes and “sort out” which ones are normal flora and which are pathogens.

The nanobugs bacteria and fungi are morphologically-correct and the information on the collectible cards is written for ages 10 to 100 years. The power color and power value were determined based on the virulence, pathogenicity, antimicrobial resistance and treatment. The current nanobugs card collection should pique your interest in the nanobugs you are dealing with in the healthcare environment. Later this year, a set of collectible cards will be available specifically for health professionals, collegiate biology students, and students in the health professions. These cards will utilize more medical and scientific terminology and will have more detailed information on a larger-sized card.

There are many teaching tools available on the nanobugs website that you could utilize for patient and family education – for example the Infection Information Sheets on the Kids page of the website. These sheets can be utilized as content for health promotion components of a variety of programs for children in 4th to 6th grades. One hospital used these sheets as the content resource for a poster contest focused on infection prevention for their health promotion week. There’s an idea for you! -Free resources you could add your institution's logo to (along with the nanobugs logo) and develop a program that will enhance your image in the community.

With so many vaccines available to prevent the childhood communicable diseases that were once widespread throughout the world, children and their parents no longer know about diseases like measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, or chicken pox. Many years have passed without these infections and the parents of today’s children have no past experience with these diseases and their consequences. Consequently, the need for immunization is often trivialized. This is reason enough for children and their parents to learn about these nasty viral diseases that killed children in the past and left some with physical disabilities (polio).

Sexually-transmitted infections continue to plague teens and adults around the world despite our efforts to educate and promote prevention. As you know, there is a lot of controversy related to the methods of teaching prevention of sexually- transmitted infections. It is our belief, that if prevention can occur through education, then the nanobugs can provide a method of instruction that will reduce some of the social pressure in the classroom as the students’ attention is focused on the intriguing cartoon pathogens. It is also our belief that if people are given accurate information about the microbes, the infections they cause, the consequences of these infections, and the modes of transmission, they can and will develop their own strategies for effectively managing the risks of STI’s.

Every effort has been made to preserve the scientific integrity of the nanobugs products. We hope you will consider the nanobugs as you attempt to promote students to learn independently about practical microbiology, health promotion, and infection prevention. We believe that students should take responsibility for their own health and learn the appropriate information and skills to prevent infections. Please contact us through this website if you have suggestions for use of the nanobugs in healthcare settings or in the community with health education. Or if you would like to share your successes related to implementing the nanobugs approach to education and practical microbiology, please contact us:





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Thank you for your contribution to the promotion of health and wellness and the education of people of all ages about the prevention of infection and antibiotic resistance.

December 9, 2009

Bacteria Hiding in Cigarettes

The University of Maryland School of Public Health recently published a study in the journal, Environmental Health Perspectives. The goal of the study was to search for microbes in 4 common brands of American cigarettes. Fifteen different classes of bacteria and a broad range of potential pathogens were detected in all of the cigarette samples. 90% of all samples detected these familiar nanobugs: Acinetobacter, Clostridium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Serratia , Klebsiella, Burkholderia and Bacillus.
November 29, 2009

Unique Educational Toys and Tools to Enhance a Family Health Initiative

All this talk about health insurance reform – it seems that Americans have lost sight of the goal – HEALTH. It seems that everyone has become so focused upon controlling the management and financing of sickness that they have forgotten that they DO have control of their health. Sickness is NOT inevitable. It’s important to teach our children how to manage their health and avoid sickness and infection. Parents will need to expand their knowledge base for health promotion, too. This means learning more about microbiology and infection prevention, anatomy and physiology of the human body, nutrition and food safety, and behaviors that enhance wellness and reduce risk of disease. The Nanobugs can teach the entire family about infection prevention and microbiology while they entertain and engage young and old. Last week we had a request from and Lincoln, NE mother for a DVD that plays the animations of the nanobugs as they appear in the menagerie on the website She wants to use this DVD to entertain and educate her children in the van/SUV. What a great idea –
November 22, 2009

H1N1 Vaccinnation - Done!

On Friday (11/20/09) I found an available dose of H1N1 vaccine and made good on my promise to get both seasonal and H1N1 vaccinations this year. 48 hours later I report- no side effects - not even pain at the injection site. I got plenty of rest over the weekend to give my immune system opportunity to do the job of generating antibodies. Of course, it takes about 10 days to complete the process and completely protect me - but by Thanksgiving I will be almost there. I am certainly thankful that I live in a place and time that makes this all possible. To have protection against a brand-new nanobug so quickly - evens up the score: previously, Nanobugs - 1 and now it's Infection Prevention 2+ and I win!

"Just to let you know that I used the nanobug tatoos with a group of low ability\low motivation year-10 students. They proved a great incentive for answering questions and filling out the worksheet and then initiated a very productive discussion about why you had drawn them the way you had. All in all, a resounding success (apart from Patrick who kept stealing them off other students!) "

Brian in the UK

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