If you thought drinking reptile blood to gain an athletic edge was icky, you may be surprised how much medical value there actually is in the practice. Alligator blood has some pretty awesome infection-fighting abilities, and drugs made from it can even help treat AIDS and organ transplant patients. More details after the jump.

Ever questioned how safe your drinking water is? Well, the Associated Press did. In the process of their investigation, they were able to uncover some startling facts on drinking water. They found out that there were still various drugs in the water which everybody had access to. Find out the details in the full article.

You can't help but think of the babelfish in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with this story: scientists are hoping to combat hearing loss thanks to new research on the zebrafish. Find out how in the full article.

When we think about improved quality of living, we also think about safety and security from diseases. But as it turns out, the more that  humans depend on modern medicine, the more they become more and more susceptible to diseases. Increased contact with wildlife resulting from increasing population also contributes to deadly outbreaks as well. Read more about it in the full article.

A strain of Staph infection has been reportedly spreading across schools nationwide, coupled with reports of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) type infections diagnosed in recent patients. The infection touched Staunton River High School in Moneta, Virginia and Ashton Bonds, a 17-year old student in that school, died on Monday after being diagnosed with MRSA.

Students at Staunton River High organized a protest over SMS waves and popular social Internet sites, and a day after they took Bedford County district superintendent James Blevins for a tour of the school's state of sanitation. Soon, Staunton River High and all other schools in the county were closed down for thorough sanitation measures. The county officials chose a commercial cleaning company to clean out Staunton High with the 21 other schools will be handled by their janitors.

MSRA is a strain of Staphylococcus bacteria that can be passed simply by skin contact or through passing of material was touched by infected people. It doesn't respond to antibiotics or penicillin but does respond to other drug treatments. Back in 2005 when a major MRSA outbreak occurred, 19,000 people had died from the strain. This may be no eye-eater, but its worse than you would think.

Pet-related death is always sad news to report, and this is no exception: a young girl, only three weeks old, died after catching salmonella from her pet turtle last March 1 - her death joining the 22 other cases of infection from reptiles across the United States since September. This report comes directly from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Febrile and going into septic shock, the infant was taken quickly to a Florida hospital, where she received immediate treatment in the form of antibiotics. Unfortunately, it was far too late.

Cultures of cerebrospinal fluid and blood samples taken afterward revealed a strain of salmonella identical to the one carried by girl's pet turtle, the reptile a gift bought from a flea market.

While certainly shocking news, cases like these involving small turtles doesn't seem at all new - in fact, a law that dates back to 1975 bans the sale of turtles with carapaces no bigger than 10 centimetres, or four inches. The pet turtle in this case only measured about 3.2 centimetres, which is really under the 10 cm limit.

Why the ban? Is there a larger chance of getting infected when turtles are still as small as they are? You'd be surprised to know that not only that is enough reason for the ban, but the fact that they look so much like toys - and can be mishandled by children as such - is reason for the law. Infants do have that tendency of chewing on their toys, and a small squirming turtle would look pretty inviting. Plus, with infants and small children not having fully-developed immune systems at their age, salmonella could prove fatal.

Looking at the case, however, it may not be all the turtle's fault. Proper hygiene and good parenting would have prevented this sort of thing from happening easily, with Mum or Dad washing the kid's hands after every playtime with the turtle. And whatever happened to the hard and fast rule of not giving kids toys small enough for them to put into their mouths? Certainly not a good way to instill good habits to your kids.

So remember, children. Wash your hands after handling your pets.

Now that a possible cause of the widespread bee deaths has been found, maybe we could start getting them to produce more honey. Not for eating (although it tastes great), but for medicinal purposes. According to ABC News, researchers have found that spreading honey on a diabetic ulcer could prevent the need to amputate an infected foot.

"If we can prove that honey promotes healing in diabetic ulcers, we can offer new hopes for many patients, not to mention the cost benefit, and the issue of bacterial resistance," said Jennifer Eddy, a professor at the University of Wisconsin's School of Medicine and Public Health. "The possibilities are tremendous."

A controlled trial to further study and promote the use of honey therapy for diabetics has already been launched. The therapy involves putting "a thick layer of honey onto the wound after dead skin and bacteria have been removed." According to Eddy, the honey kills bacteria due to its acidity and avoids the complication of bacterial resistance found with standard antibiotics.

Honey therapy is already being used in New Zealand for the treatment of bed sores. It is also being used as an alternative form of medicine in Europe. Dr. Eddy hopes to publish the results of her trial by 2008 or 2009.

Some organic farmers and activists claim that the organic label in the U.S. has been reduced into a gimmicky marketing tool designed to cash in on the growing demand for organic food products. They also expressed their concerns over loosening regulations as well as the alleged violations of the USDA organic standard by two hugely popular organic brands, Horizon Organic and Aurora Organic Dairy.

The US Department of Agriculture says that any product that carry the "USDA organic" should have at least 95% of its ingredients farmed without using chemicals, hormones, antibiotics, pesticides or any other methods considered unnatural or harmful to the environment. Organic or sustainable farming techniques that merit the 'USDA organic' label include using ducks and insects for pest and weed control, and water conservation and natural methods of soil replenishment.

Making things more complicated is the label "natural". Food products tagged as "natural" is apparently not synonymous with "organically farmed". "Natural" indicates that a product contains no artificial ingredients or artificial food coloring, but how the ingredients were grown or raised is another story.

"It is sort of a marketing gimmick," said Cindy Moore, director of Nutrition Therapy at the Cleveland Clinic. "If you have a product with limited nutrients, making them with organic products isn't going to make it better."

But as far as many consumers are concerned, "organic" equals "healthy" and there are studies that support the equation. Organic food is better for children because their bodies can't handle pesticide residues very well, and the USDA-certified organic label guarantees these products do not contain some 300 synthetic food additives allowed by the FDA in conventional food products.

For others however, buying organic is their way of supporting environment-friendly establishments. Organic food sales in the US grew from 17% to 20% for the past few years while sales of conventional food grows at only about 2% to 3% annually.