BBC NEWS | Wales | E.coli school testing under way
Posted by GruntDoc on November 6th, 2005
Since their E. coli “virus” gaffe, I’ve been watching BBC Health news to see what was next. The answer: studious avoidance of actually coming out and either admitting a mistake, or calling it a bacteria (bacterium for the stickler in the audience).
As an example, here’s today’s story about E. coli:
BBC NEWS | Wales | E.coli school testing under way: “….So far 159 people, most of them children, have been affected by the spread of the E.coli 0157 bug which first emerged in September.”
So, there you have it. It’s a bug (I do call them bugs when discussing infections with patients, but I’m not a News Organization).
And I’m never going to get tired of that petri dish photo.
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November 7th, 2005 at 12:55 am
I also hope you never get tired of watching them. News organizations as big as the BBC should be more responsible….expecially when it comes to patient education.
I think you’re already making them cautious of their medical terminologies. E.coli has been called a “virus,” and now to play safe — and be bloody clever — they use the term “bug.”
*LOL*
November 7th, 2005 at 1:00 pm
Correct me if I’m wrong: shouldn’t E. coli be in italics…does the BBC not pay any attention to nomenclature?
November 7th, 2005 at 1:34 pm
Yes, and I haven’t followed that convention either. From my school days, either italics or underlined would be the correct way to set off the name.