So, I was doing some research on Serratia marcescens the other day for a presentation I was giving in my bacteriology lab, and I happened upon this little gem: A naturalistic explanation for "blood on the eucharist" and transubstantiation.
http://jb.asm.org/cgi/reprint/31/2/205.pdf
As a little background, Serratia marcescens is a microbe that causes numerous infections, including in the urinary and respiratory tract, is often found in places that are supposedly sanitary (catheters, saline solution bags, etc.), and was once thought to be harmless. Harmless enough in 1950 for the Navy to spray on San Francisco for two days to study the effects of biological warfare, and harmless enough to put on your hands to illustrate the transmission of bacteria.
What made it so useful? Serratia marcescens produces a bright red pigment called prodigiosin, making it easy to see. Because this bateria grows on bread, it has been suggested that it can be a naturalistic explanation for the miraculous "blood on the host" phenomena of the 12th and 13th centuries. It's all right there in the article. Neat.
As a sidenote, we now know that this bacteria is indeed pathogenic. San Francisco experienced a rash of pneumonia, numerous cases of rare and serious UTI, and one death. Who knows what happened to those biology teachers and students who were high fiving each other after dipping their hands in the stuff.
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