Atlanta

Study: Drug-resistant staph infections spread

Dangerous drug-resistant staph infections are showing up at an alarming rate outside hospitals and nursing homes in the United States.

New research found that in one part of the country, as many as one in five infections were picked up out in the community.

Until recently, these hard-to-treat cases were seen only in hospitals and other health-care settings where they can spread to patients with open wounds or tubes and cause serious complications.

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 17 percent of drug-resistant staph infections did not have any apparent links to health-care settings.

Boston

Seven injured in dorm gas explosion

A natural gas explosion sent flames shooting through a Northeastern University dormitory Wednesday, injuring seven people and severely damaging the six-story brick building.

Victims were treated for broken bones, cuts and burns, but no one was seriously hurt, said Richard Serino, Boston’s emergency services director.

A Boston Fire Department spokesman said the explosion probably was caused by a gas leak in the boiler room of Kerr Hall.

KeySpan Corp. was doing work on the gas line Wednesday before the explosion, university spokeswoman Laura Shea said.

Salt Lake City

Government to consider moving nuclear waste

The Energy Department on Wednesday proposed to move a huge pile of radioactive waste away from the banks of the Colorado River, a victory for environmentalists and Western politicians who fear the debris could poison the Southwest’s major source of drinking water.

The 12 million-ton pile — a mostly open-air heap that sits on bare ground and is surrounded only by a chain-link fence — sits on a flood plain 750 feet from a river that supplies drinking water to about 25 million people in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and other cities.

The Energy Department said it would recommend in an environmental impact statement that the waste be moved to a closed storage facility about 30 miles to the north.

Washington, D.C.

Nuclear plants vulnerable, advisers say

Fuel storage pools at nuclear power plants in 31 states may be vulnerable to terrorist attacks that could unleash raging fires and deadly radiation, scientists advised the government Wednesday.

The National Academy of Science Panel recommended undertaking a plant-by-plant examination of fuel storage security as soon as possible.

In the meantime, plant operators should reconfigure used fuel rods in the storage pools to lower decay-heat intensity and install spray devices to reduce the risk of a fire, scientists said.