Superbug News and Research

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NIH awards $2.1 million grant to counter antibiotic resistance in Gram-negative bacteria

The National Institutes of Health has awarded Dr. Walter Fast, associate professor of medicinal chemistry at The University of Texas at Austin's College of Pharmacy, a four-year $2.1 million grant to develop small-molecules that counter antibiotic resistance in Gram-negative bacteria. If successful, the research could lead to new drugs for treating bacterial infections that are resistant to most antibiotics.

1 Apr 2015

Phico Therapeutics gets £2.25M Translation Award to develop SASPject PT4 antibiotic for E. coli, K. pneumoniae

Phico Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing a novel platform technology for a new generation of antibiotics aimed at overcoming antibacterial resistance, has been awarded a £2.25M Translation Award by the Wellcome Trust to develop its SASPject PT4 antibiotic, aimed at Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae.

9 Mar 2015

TAU researchers identify novel proteins capable of stymieing growth in antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Antibiotic-resistant infections are on the rise, foiling efforts to reduce death rates in developing countries where uncontrolled use of antibiotics and poor sanitation run amok. The epidemic of "superbugs," bacteria resistant to antibiotics, knows no borders -- presenting a clear and present danger around the globe.

31 Jan 2015

Taking antibiotics for diarrhea may put travelers at increased risk for contracting superbugs

Taking antibiotics for diarrhea may put travelers visiting developing parts of the world at higher risk for contracting superbugs and spreading these daunting drug-resistant bacteria to their home countries, according to a new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and now available online.

23 Jan 2015

Scientists discover potential solution to antibiotic resistance

A newly developed technique for screening microbes has led to the discovery of a powerful new antibiotic that can easily kill severe infections in mice, without causing side effects.

8 Jan 2015

Hospital treatment far from home: an interview with Paul Lindsell, Managing Director at MindMetre Research

This is a generally accepted piece of received wisdom amongst clinicians and care professionals, which MindMetre validated through a series of qualitative interviews that preceded our quantitative study.

21 Dec 2014

Experts to establish global anti-microbial agenda at 2014 BioInfect Conference

Bionow, a not for profit membership organisation for the biomedical / life-sciences industry, is delighted to be hosting the 2014 BioInfect Conference. A major one day conference looking at the critical issues relating to the development of new anti-infectives and the endemic problem of resistance, will take place at the Alderley Park Conference Centre, Cheshire on the 4th November 2014.

16 Oct 2014

Study suggests that college athletes who play contact sports more likely to carry MRSA

Even if they don't show signs of infection, college athletes who play football, soccer and other contact sports are more likely to carry the superbug methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), suggests a study on MRSA and athletes, which is being presented at IDWeek 2014-.

10 Oct 2014

Universal MRSA screening may be too costly for individual hospital to adopt

Numerous experts and policy makers have called for hospitals to screen patients for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections and isolate anyone testing positive to prevent the spread of these so-called "Superbugs" in healthcare settings.

8 Oct 2014

MRSA superbug control policies in hospitals lack evidence, say infectious disease experts

The jury is still out on the effectiveness of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) superbug control policies in hospitals, according to leading infectious disease experts in a Viewpoint published in The Lancet.

22 Aug 2014

Cases of drug-resistant bacteria have increased fivefold in Southeastern US

Cases of the highly contagious, drug-resistant bacteria, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), have increased fivefold in community hospitals in the Southeastern United States, according to a new study published in the August issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

17 Jul 2014

Research roundup: 20M gain insurance, coverage's effect on surgery choices; opioid use by service members

This report aims to help readers understand recently announced enrollment numbers, as well as other numbers that have received less attention, and assess their importance for the future of the ACA and our health care system. .

4 Jul 2014

Covenant and Sartori medical centers deploy TRU-D SmartUVC superbug-slaying robot

Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-Iowa is the latest to deploy TRU-D SmartUVC, a 5-foot-5 germ-killing ultraviolet robot equipped with the only infection prevention data collection and reporting software on the market. TRU-D is now in use at Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo and Sartori Medical Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

30 Jun 2014

Researchers explain how meningitis-causing bacteria evade body's immune system

Every once in a while in the U.S., bacterial meningitis seems to crop up out of nowhere, claiming a young life.

29 May 2014

New toolkit to help prevent and control healthcare-associated infections

Montefiore Medical Center, in partnership with Boston University School of Public Health, today announced the launch of a toolkit to help prevent and control the emergence of a dangerous and highly contagious infection in healthcare settings.

19 May 2014

Researchers identify novel vancomycin-resistant MRSA superbug in Brazil

An international research team led by Cesar A. Arias, M.D., Ph.D., at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston has identified a new superbug that caused a bloodstream infection in a Brazilian patient. The report appeared in the April 17 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

17 Apr 2014

Scientists report new approach to restore penicillin's combat effectiveness against bacterial infections

Penicillin, one of the scientific marvels of the 20th century, is currently losing a lot of battles it once won against bacterial infections. But scientists at the University of South Carolina have just reported a new approach to restoring its combat effectiveness, even against so-called "superbugs."

16 Apr 2014

Research roundup: Health care and prisoners; hospitalized patients' surrogates; suicides in the army

As a group, jail-involved individuals, which we define here as people with a history of arrest and jail admission in the recent past, carry a heavy illness burden, with high rates of infectious and chronic disease as well as mental illness and substance use.

10 Mar 2014

New drug is effective against superbug MRSA

"I routinely call hospitals and request their yearly antibiotic susceptibility testing data," said Washington University in St. Louis' Timothy Wencewicz. "The log might say, for example, that they've treated hundreds of patients for Acinetobacter baumanni, a bacterium brought into U.S. hospitals by soldiers wounded in the Iraq war, with 30 different antibiotics.

6 Mar 2014

MUC5B protein plays key role in many lung-related ailments

An international team of researchers has zeroed in on a protein that plays a key role in many lung-related ailments, from seasonal coughing and hacking to more serious diseases such as MRSA infections and cystic fibrosis.

9 Dec 2013