Antibiotic News and Research

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

Antibiotic use common at the end of life

More than one-quarter of hospice patients receive antibiotics in their last week of life, despite the absence of documented infection in most cases, US researchers report.

25 Jan 2013

Gastrointestinal, liver effects common after doxycycline in cats

Doxycycline, an antibiotic derivative of tetracycline, commonly results in adverse gastrointestinal side effects and increased liver enzyme activity in cats, report German researchers.

25 Jan 2013

Skin care tips for winter season

Our bodies have a natural layer of oil that helps protect the skin, but the dry air of winter (along with poor skin care) can override this natural protection and leave a lot of people with itchy, scaly winter skin.

25 Jan 2013

CDC recognizes Mayo Clinic as Regional TB Training and Medical Consultation Center

Mayo Clinic has been designated a Regional Tuberculosis Training and Medical Consultation Center by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As such, it will be responsible for developing new and enhanced training and technical support for medical and public health professionals in an 11-state area.

25 Jan 2013

Study highlights the need for more targeted antibiotic therapy in cancer patients

What cancerous conditions lead to what kinds of bacterial infections? If doctors knew, they could predict which patients would likely benefit from pre-treatment with certain kinds of antibiotics.

25 Jan 2013

Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, IBM reveal new antimicrobial hydrogel

Researchers from IBM and the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology revealed today an antimicrobial hydrogel that can break through diseased biofilms and completely eradicate drug-resistant bacteria upon contact.

24 Jan 2013

Boosting estrogen levels may help reduce urinary infections in menopausal women

Estrogen levels drop dramatically in menopause, a time when the risk of urinary tract infections increases significantly.

24 Jan 2013

Enterococcal cytolysin synthetase helps form distinctly different, 3-D protein ring structures

While working out the structure of a cell-killing protein produced by some strains of the bacterium Enterococcus faecalis, researchers stumbled on a bit of unusual biochemistry. They found that a single enzyme helps form distinctly different, three-dimensional ring structures in the protein, one of which had never been observed before.

23 Jan 2013

Biophysical Society Annual Meeting to highlight innovations in medicine, physics, and more

Honeybee silk-inspired materials; a deconstruction of the Ebola virus; how microbes evolve resistance to antibiotics; and a possible connection between Alzheimer's disease and type II diabetes are just some of the intriguing topics that will be presented at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society (BPS).

22 Jan 2013

FDA approves Allergan’s BOTOX to treat overactive bladder

Allergan, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved BOTOX (onabotulinumtoxinA) for the treatment of overactive bladder (OAB) with symptoms of urge urinary incontinence, urgency and frequency in adults who have had an inadequate response to or are intolerant of an anticholinergic medication.

19 Jan 2013

Donor feces more effective than antibiotic for C. difficile infection

Treatment of recurrent Clostridium difficile infection with donor feces infusion is significantly more effective than conventional vancomycin therapy, show results published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

17 Jan 2013

Underestimating cough duration may skew antibiotic perceptions

US researchers suggest that one reason patients request antibiotics for respiratory infections is that they greatly underestimate how long it usually takes for acute cough illness to resolve.

17 Jan 2013

Carob extract could fight the microbe responsible for listeriosis

The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') award-winning Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series reports that an antibacterial extract from the leaves of the carob tree (the source of a popular chocolate substitute) could fight the microbe responsible for the serious form of food poisoning called listeriosis.

17 Jan 2013

WHO reports unprecedented progress against 17 neglected tropical diseases

WHO reports unprecedented progress against 17 neglected tropical diseases, thanks to a new global strategy, a regular supply of quality assured, cost-effective medicines and support from global partners.

17 Jan 2013

CHOP to study antibiotic delivery to children after hospitalization for serious bacterial infection

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) was awarded nearly $2M in research funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to study antibiotic delivery to children returning home after hospitalization for a severe bacterial infection.

16 Jan 2013

Dental diversion plan eases burden in busy EDs

Hospital emergency departments may benefit from having a diversion plan in place to deal with dental patients, say US researchers writing in the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

14 Jan 2013

Little to choose between catheter types for intermittent self-catheterization

Patients undertaking intermittent self catheterization for urinary retention should be offered the choice of clean noncoated, hydrophilic, or gel reservoir catheters, say researchers who found none offers a strong advantage in avoiding urinary tract infection.

14 Jan 2013

Graft recommendation bursts onto eardrum repair scene

Researchers say that a 0.2-mm partial thickness graft is optimal for reconstruction of subtotal tympanic membrane perforation.

14 Jan 2013

Complications of suppurative otitis media characterized

Researchers emphasize the importance of an early and accurate diagnosis of chronic suppurative otitis media followed by surgical therapy to prevent complications.

14 Jan 2013

True solution to cholera is improving access to safe water, sanitation

"Even when it is not covered in the news or noticed by the public, cholera occurs regularly in the developing world, and the annual number of cases reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) has increased over the past few years to more than half a million cases and 7,816 related deaths reported from all regions in 2011," Ronald Waldman of George Washington University, Eric Mintz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Heather Papowitz of the U.N. Children's Fund write in a New England Journal of Medicine perspective piece.

11 Jan 2013