Bacterial boomerang

Do common household disinfectants spark antibiotic resistance in bacteria? That's the question Merri Moken, of Morristown, N. J., began asking four years ago. Merri, 17, was too busy to talk to The Why Files, but her mother, Carol, explained that she'd exposed bacteria to disinfectants like hydrogen peroxide and chlorine bleach.

The bacteria, faced with a deadly assault (would you want to slurp bleach?), nevertheless figured out a survival strategy. "She was seeing selective mutations that were 100 percent resistant," says Carol Moken. Merri then used electrophoresis (defined) to see what parts of the bacteria were changed during that mutation process. Finally, she identified the genes she thinks are responsible for the resistance.

This year, Merri was named a finalist in the 56th Westinghouse Science Talent Search -- the Nobel of science prizes for young people -- for her efforts.

The possibility that common disinfectants could spark resistance in bacteria could have broad ramifications in an era of increased usage of disinfectants. Bug-resistant steering wheels, bug-resistant toys, bug-resistant toothbrushes -- it's as if we'd lost our innate ability to fight disease. Are we going bats over bugs?

Carol says Merri's work is being taken seriously by the Food and Drug Administration, researchers at Tufts University, and now The Why Files.