Antibiotic News and Research

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

Sputum color guides antibiotic treatment in COPD

Withholding antibiotic treatment from hospitalized chronic obstructive lung disease patients with nonpurulent sputum does not negatively affect outcomes, a pilot study shows.

4 Dec 2012

Project shows simple steps reduce hospital infections

Seven health care institutions participated in a quality-improvement project advanced by the Joint Commission and the American College of Surgeons to reduce colorectal surgical-site infection rates. During a two and a half year period, those facilities saved more than $3.7 million by avoiding 135 infections.

30 Nov 2012

Study shows how anaplasma phagocytophilum subverts natural processes

Bacteria that cause the tick-borne disease anaplasmosis in humans create their own food supply by hijacking a process in host cells that normally should help kill the pathogenic bugs, scientists have found.

30 Nov 2012

California researchers develop new strategy to find novel antibiotics for bacterial infections

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have developed a new strategy for finding novel antibiotic compounds, using a diagnostic panel of bacterial strains for screening chemical extracts from natural sources.

27 Nov 2012

Procalcitonin levels help distinguish between pneumonia types

Serum procalcitonin is a useful marker for distinguishing between acute exacerbation of interstitial pneumonia and bacterial pneumonia, say researchers.

26 Nov 2012

Chronic suppurative lung disease: an interview with Dr Robyn Marsh

Chronic suppurative lung disease, or CSLD, is used to describe a range of lung diseases characterised by a chronic wet cough and progressive lung damage. We are interested in the non-cystic fibrosis forms of the disease with a focus on bronchiectasis – the severe form of CSLD.

26 Nov 2012

Antibiotic prescribing rates raise concerns over e-visits

E-visits offer a comparable standard of care to traditional physician office visits but antibiotic prescribing rates are higher, particularly for urinary tract infections, say US investigators.

23 Nov 2012

Microbiologists discover how the spread of antibiotic resistance works in pneumococcus

Antibiotic resistance results from bacteria's uncanny ability to morph and adapt, outwitting pharmaceuticals that are supposed to kill them. But exactly how the bacteria acquire and spread that resistance inside individuals carrying them is not well-established for most bacterial organisms.

22 Nov 2012

UBC microbiologist receives Prix Galien 2012 Research Award

UBC microbiologist Robert E.W. Hancock has received the Prix Galien 2012 Research Award, widely considered the most prestigious honour in Canadian pharmaceutical research and innovation. Hancock is being recognized for pioneering work unravelling the complex interactions between antibiotics and bacteria.

20 Nov 2012

Aradigm’s Lipoquin provides full protection in murine models of pneumonic plague

Scientists from the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) report, in a preliminary study, that they have demonstrated that a single dose of Aradigm Corporation's liposomal ciprofloxacin formulation Lipoquin administered 24 hours after exposure to a lethal dose of the bacterium Yersinia pestis provided full protection in a murine model of pneumonic plague.

20 Nov 2012

Research roundup: Talking to patients about end-of-life care

Each week, KHN reporter Alvin Tran compiles a selection of recently released health policy studies and briefs.

17 Nov 2012

Study reveals significant regional variation and trends in antibiotic use between 1999-2010

Research revealed during "Get Smart Week" shows that California joined Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington as the five states with the lowest antibiotic use in the nation in 2010.

17 Nov 2012

Researchers discover unlikely recipe to kill antibiotic resistant bacteria

Washington State University researchers have found an unlikely recipe for antibiotic resistant bacteria: Mix cow dung and soil, and add urine infused with metabolized antibiotic. The urine will kill off normal E. coli in the dung-soil mixture. But antibiotic-resistant E. coli will survive in the soil to recolonize in a cow's gut through pasture, forage or bedding.

16 Nov 2012

Is it safe to drink alcohol when taking antibiotics?

In the lead up to summer party season, NPS MedicineWise is reminding Australians that while alcohol might not interact with many antibiotics, it’s still important to follow certain rules for taking antibiotics correctly.

15 Nov 2012

Flu virus suppresses body's ability to defend against bacteria

When infected with influenza, the body becomes an easy target for bacteria. The flu virus alters the host's immune system and compromises its capacity to effectively fight off bacterial infections. Now, a team of immunologists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and cooperation partners has discovered that an immune system molecule called TLR7 is partly to blame. The molecule recognizes the viral genome - and then signals scavenger cells of the immune system to ingest fewer bacteria.

15 Nov 2012

LA Times investigates doctors' connection to prescription drug abuse

Prescription overdoses kill more people than heroin and cocaine. An L.A. Times review of coroners' records finds that drugs prescribed by a small number of doctors caused or contributed to a disproportionate number of deaths.

14 Nov 2012

Certain UTI-causing bacteria become more difficult to treat with current antibiotics

Certain types of bacteria responsible for causing urinary tract infections (UTIs), the second-most-common infection in the United States, are becoming more difficult to treat with current antibiotics, according to new research from Extending the Cure (ETC), a project of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy.

14 Nov 2012

Calcium-related hormone could help identify pneumonia

Serum procalcitonin measurements could improve the accuracy of pneumonia diagnoses when chest radiographs give indeterminate results, indicate US study findings.

12 Nov 2012

New vaccines and drug treatments urgently needed for bacterial meningitis

New vaccines and drug treatments are urgently needed for bacterial meningitis, a devastating disease which kills or maims around a fifth of people who contract it, according to medical experts writing in a new Series on bacterial meningitis, published in The Lancet.

9 Nov 2012