Antibiotic News and Research

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Antibiotics are drugs used to treat infections caused by bacteria and other microorganisms.

Novel lysin therapy shows promise for fighting drug-resistant bacteria

Humans are in a constant arms race with infectious bacteria. To kill these disease microbes, we develop powerful antibiotics; and in turn, the bacteria develop resistance against these drugs.

5 Feb 2019

Researchers identify treatable mechanism in patients with schizophrenia

For reasons that are unclear, schizophrenia patients have fewer connections between the neurons in the brain. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and Massachusetts General Hospital, USA, have now succeeded in creating human cell models that show that there is an excessive degradation of connections in the brain of these patients, and they have been able to link this to a genetic risk variant for the disease.

4 Feb 2019

Amprologix wins £1.2 million contract to tackle antimicrobial-resistant MRSA

Amprologix Limited, a University of Plymouth spinout company, has won a £1.2 million contract from the Department for Health and Social Care to accelerate development and scale up its lead antibiotic candidate to tackle antimicrobial resistant MRSA and related superbugs.

4 Feb 2019

Insect-borne microbes outperform soil bacteria in stopping certain dangerous antibiotic-resistant pathogens

Medicine was transformed in the 20th century by the discovery and development of antibiotics, the vast majority of which came from one source: soil bacteria.

4 Feb 2019

Understanding the defense mechanism of NETs could lead to better antibiotics

Experiencing a bacterial infection? You're generally prescribed antibiotics by your doctor. But how exactly do those antibiotics and your white blood cells work in tandem to improve your infection?

1 Feb 2019

New approach helps clinicians to decide most effective antibiotic treatment courses

A scientific team from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Cleveland Clinic has developed a new way to identify second-line antibiotics that may be effective in killing germs already resistant to a first-line antibiotic - potentially helping overcome antibiotic resistance.

31 Jan 2019

Researchers develop a new treatment for osteomyelitis

A team of researchers led by RCSI (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland), have developed a new treatment for the particularly difficult-to-treat bone infection, osteomyelitis.

31 Jan 2019

Megaphages detected in the intestinal tract of humans who eat high-fiber, low-fat diet

Viruses plague bacteria just as viruses like influenza plague humans. Some of the largest of these so-called bacteriophages have now been found in the human gut, where they periodically devastate bacteria just as seasonal outbreaks of flu lay humans low, according to a new study led by University of California, Berkeley, scientists.

29 Jan 2019

Antibiotic-resistant superbugs have reached the Arctic

An international team of researchers has identified antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs) in an area of the arctic that have spread from urban India.

28 Jan 2019

'Antibiotic-Resistant Genes' found in one of the last pristine places on earth

Antibiotic-Resistant Genes that were first detected in urban India have been found 8,000 miles away in one of the last 'pristine' places on earth, a new study has shown.

28 Jan 2019

UK launches plans to help combat antimicrobial resistance by 2040

The UK government has launched a 5-year action plan outlining how the nation intends to contribute to the containment and control of antimicrobial resistance by the year 2040.

25 Jan 2019

FDA grants clearance to Hologic’s assay for detection of common sexually transmitted infections

Hologic, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted clearance for its Aptima Mycoplasma genitalium assay, the first and only FDA-cleared test to detect this under-recognized but increasingly common sexually transmitted infection (STI).

23 Jan 2019

Providing more information on how doctors prescribe drugs may reduce overprescription

A new study in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy suggests that providing more information about how doctors prescribe drugs could reduce problems associated with overprescription.

23 Jan 2019

Synthetic compound from flaxseed can improve heart function in mice with sepsis

Sepsis is a life-threatening systemic inflammatory condition that develops in response to infection. One of its major complications is cardiovascular dysfunction, in which deterioration of the heart muscle, driven by decreased energy production resulting from reduced oxygen and nutrient supplies, frequently ends in organ failure.

23 Jan 2019

Diversity among rural Africans extends to their gut microbiomes

Our microbiome, the complex community of bacteria, fungi, parasites, and other microorganisms in and on our bodies, reflects the way we live. If we own a pet, we likely share microbes with them. If we eat meat, the microbiome in our intestines may look different from that of a vegan.

22 Jan 2019

Study to investigate new targeted oral treatments for severe asthma

A £2.68 million study to investigate the effective use of antibiotics to treat certain types of severe asthma is being spearheaded by researchers in Leicester.

21 Jan 2019

Computerized method helps better protect pharma patents

Routes to making life-saving medications and other pharmaceutical compounds are among the most carefully protected trade secrets in global industry.

18 Jan 2019

New antibiotic discovery heralds breakthrough in the fight against drug-resistant bacteria

A new antibiotic developed by a Flinders University researcher is being heralded as a breakthrough in the war against a drug resistant superbug.

18 Jan 2019

Rapid resistance gene sequencing technology can hasten identification of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have added to evidence that rapid resistance gene sequencing technology can accurately speed the identification of specific antibiotic-resistant bacteria strains that sicken and kill some patients.

18 Jan 2019

New biodegradable wound dressing material accelerates healing

A team of scientists from the MISiS National University of Science and Technology with colleagues from the Central European Institute of Technology and other Czech universities have developed a biodegradable material with antibacterial action to use as a dressing on damaged skin.

17 Jan 2019