Smoking out microbes

From Washington, D.C., at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology

Nicotine, the compound that so satisfies smokers, is also a potent killer of bacteria. In test-tube studies, it can destroy more than a dozen types of bacteria, including ones that cause diseases, Saleh A. Naser of the University of Central Florida in Orlando reports.

He and his colleagues observed that nicotine, at concentrations much less than those in the saliva of people who smoke regularly, readily destroys a wide range of bacteria.