New Zealand Listener

Prickly subject

Hedgehogs are in the headlines. It seems they invented penicillin 200 years ago, long before humans. Unfortunately, through a process of natural selection, they may also be responsible for a severe infection that the World Health Organisation considers to be an important threat to human health.

It’s a story that starts with the microbe , commonly known as “staph”. Millions of these bacteria live harmlessly

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