loves chewing ice???

'Everything is everywhere, the environment selects'... while this is the paradigm of microbial ecology about half a century ago, we now know that this is not always true. However, there are still some cosmopolitan strains such as Escherichia coli. Even then, it's abundance is usually very low. But when it gets to a certain level, it is 'predicted' that the environment is contaminated by human excretes. Why? That's because it is found in human feces and can be used as an indication of contamination. It is also linked to a variety of gastrointestinal diseases, some deadly while some mild. It still amaze me how one species of bacterial can be such a pain in the ass and yet bears the answer to fundamental microbiology. Isn't that interesting? But I'm kinda sick of it...we know so much already. We need new stuff!

Recently, a girl collected ice from fast-food chains and test for presence of E. coli for her science project. She's 12 and already has the mind of a microbiologist. At 12, I don't think I know what a bacteria was...I was still trying to memorize the all the layers found in the skin organ and draw the map of Malaysia (carbon paper sure was something to be treasured at that time!). Guess what her result came out...positive for all the ice she collected. And what's more intriguing, the water from the toilet that she collected were negative or has less E. coli. Can you believe that??? Well, I definitely can. The water that goes into the toilet bowl comes directly from the wastewater treatment and if the toilet bowl is clean, it should be pretty much low in bacteria especially if it is being flushed often. As for the ice, there are tons of hands going in there daily. True, there'll be scoop but how many people can say that they don't touch the ice when scooping it up? Furthermore, if the ice-machine is left open like those at kopi-tiams along New Lane or Macalister Rd, there'll be even more bacteria. I can't even imagine the counts one would get from places like these if there are tons from fast-food chains which are way cleaner than a kopi-tiam at Swatow Lane.

So for those who likes to chew on ice...beware...you might be consuming more bacteria than you should. Definitely not a good idea when immune system is weak...maybe that's why mum always prevent us from eating ice when we're sick.