Penicillin News and Research

RSS

Penicillin (sometimes abbreviated PCN or pen) is a group of antibiotics derived from ''Penicillium'' fungi. Penicillin antibiotics are historically significant because they are the first drugs that were effective against many previously serious diseases such as syphilis and Staphylococcus infections.

Diphtheria is evolving to become antibiotic-resistant and could lead to vaccine escape

Diphtheria - a relatively easily-preventable infection - is evolving to become resistant to a number of classes of antibiotics and in future could lead to vaccine escape, warn an international team of researchers from the UK and India.

8 Mar 2021

Scientists optimize wastewater disinfection process to minimize spread of antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have become a global threat today, owing in part to the efficiency with which resistance spreads among them. Some of this spread happens in waterbodies—and our wastewater systems are no exception.

8 Mar 2021

Researchers develop new weapon to fight against resistant bacteria

Every day, people die from simple infections even though they have been treated with antibiotics. This is because more and more bacteria have become resistant to the types of antibiotics that doctors can prescribe.

10 Feb 2021

Study shows how bacteriophage lysis genes could be key to developing new antibiotics

A study from the Center for Phage Technology, part of Texas A&M's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Texas A&M AgriLife Research, shows how the "hidden" genes in bacteriophages -- types of viruses that infect and destroy bacteria -- may be key to the development of a new class of antibiotics for human health.

7 Feb 2021

Comparing Google AI and human intelligence for the forecasting of COVID-19

Junko Kurita et al. from Japan have compared Google AI forecasting with a statistical model by human intelligence and recently presented it in a preprint medRxiv* paper.

22 Dec 2020

Antifungal agent Itraconazole inhibits SARS CoV-2 in vitro

Itraconazole is a broad-spectrum antifungal agent that has been shown to have some in vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2 by a team of Belgian and German researchers.

16 Nov 2020

A detailed review of plant natural products to combat antibiotic-resistant pathogens

Scientists have compiled the first comprehensive review of plant natural products that play a role in antibacterial activity, to serve as a guide in the search for new drugs to combat antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

12 Nov 2020

Antibiotic use patterns and patient transfers in hospitals may drive the emergence of drug resistance

Understanding the role of antibiotic use patterns and patient transfers in the emergence of drug-resistant microbes is essential to crafting effective prevention strategies, suggests a study published today in eLife.

27 Oct 2020

Study links COVID-19 to multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in April, a 14-year-old boy was admitted to the emergency department at Nemours Children's Health System in Delaware with mysterious symptoms in what would later be identified as one of the first cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) in the U.S.

10 Sep 2020

Scientists identify genetic risk factors underlying penicillin allergy

Penicillin, a life-saving medicine, is the most common cause of drug allergy, with clinical manifestations ranging from temporary skin reactions to life-threatening systemic syndromes.

3 Sep 2020

New approach involves "antivitamins" to develop new classes of antibiotics

Antibiotics are among the most important discoveries of modern medicine and have saved millions of lives since the discovery of penicillin almost 100 years ago.

25 Aug 2020

Rice engineers use gene editing to facilitate drug discovery based on natural fungus

Rice University scientists have won federal support for their pursuit of novel drugs to treat human disease.

10 Aug 2020

Meningitis case at Children's National Hospital raises concerns about antibiotic resistance

A recent meningitis case at Children's National Hospital raises serious concerns about antibiotic resistance in the common bacterium that caused it, researchers from the hospital write in a case report.

3 Aug 2020

Exercise equipment in communal gyms have high levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Research presented at ASM Microbe Online found that 43% of Staphylococcus bacteria found on exercise equipment in university gyms were ampicillin-resistant, with 73% of those isolates being resistant to multiple additional drugs.

24 Jul 2020

Scientists identify compounds that block replication of COVID-19 virus

As the death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic mounts, scientists worldwide continue their push to develop effective treatments and a vaccine for the highly contagious respiratory virus.

7 Jul 2020

Alternative antibiotics for unverified penicillin allergies likely unnecessary

Hospitalized patients who report an allergy to penicillin are often prescribed alternative antibiotics for infection that can be harmful, even though diagnostic testing or evaluations would show that the vast majority of these reported allergies could be disproven, according to researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital.

30 Jun 2020

Temple researchers receive $1.77M grant to explore therapy for cocaine addiction

Cocaine is a highly addictive drug - some people are unable to walk away from it after just one use. And once addicted, users can lose control of their lives.

15 Jun 2020

Efforts to curb congenital syphilis falter in COVID’s shadow

U.S. public health officials are closer to identifying a road map for curbing the rising rates of syphilis infections in newborn babies, but with so many resources diverted to stopping the spread of COVID-19, many fear the rate of deadly infections will only get worse.

4 Jun 2020

WHO's new data reveals high levels of antibiotic resistance worldwide

WHO's first release of surveillance data on antibiotic resistance reveals high levels of resistance to a number of serious bacterial infections in both high- and low-income countries.