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Viruses on plastic waste pose new antibiotic resistance risks

Plastic pollution does more than litter landscapes and oceans. According to a new perspective article published in Biocontaminant, viruses living on plastic surfaces may play an underrecognized role in spreading antibiotic resistance, raising concerns for environmental and public health worldwide.

31 Dec 2025

Periodontal bacterial load associated with disease severity in multiple sclerosis

Increasing evidence suggests that the severe gum disease, periodontitis, may contribute to central nervous system disorders through chronic inflammation.

30 Dec 2025

Epigenetic plasticity in germinal center B cells may help explain lymphoma origins

Immune cells called B cells make antibodies that fight off invading bacteria, viruses and other foreign substances. During their preparation for this battle, B cells transiently revert to a more flexible, or plastic, stem-cell-like state in the lymph nodes, according to a new preclinical study from Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

30 Dec 2025

Antimicrobial resistance emerges as a slow-moving global pandemic

Once a medical miracle, antibiotics are now losing their power. Across the world, common infections are becoming harder-and sometimes impossible-to treat.

23 Dec 2025

Robots and click chemistry open a new frontier in antibiotic discovery

Researchers have used a cutting-edge robotic system capable of synthesizing hundreds of metal complexes to develop a possible antibiotic candidate - offering fresh hope in the global fight against drug-resistant infections.

23 Dec 2025

Study demonstrates significant changes in gut bacteria at the onset of IBD

Patients experience significant changes in gut bacteria at the onset of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a new international study has found - offering new hope for earlier diagnosis and future treatments.

23 Dec 2025

Probiotic supplementation restores beneficial gut bacteria in breastfed infants

In recent years, scientists have learned that key beneficial infant gut bacteria Bifidobacterium infantis are disappearing from infants in high-resource areas such as the United States and Europe.

22 Dec 2025

Study charts the escalating spread of resistant bacteria and fungi

The success of modern medicine rests on the ability to control infections. But decades of antibiotic overuse—in hospitals, communities, and farms—have fueled a global surge in resistant microbes.

22 Dec 2025

Genes influence the gut microbiome beyond the individual

The gut microbiome - made up of trillions of microbes in the digestive tract - is vital for digestion and overall health. Diet and medication shape these microbial ecosystems, but the contribution of genetics has been more difficult to ascertain.

19 Dec 2025

Phages use small RNA to hijack bacterial cells and boost replication

As antibiotic-resistant infections rise and are projected to cause up to 10 million deaths per year by 2050, scientists are looking to bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, as an alternative.

18 Dec 2025

Ants show new promise as a source of powerful antibiotics

Has a crucial component to the development of human medicine been hiding under our feet?

18 Dec 2025

Estrogen drives gut pain and explains higher rates of IBS in women

Women are dramatically more likely than men to suffer from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a chronic condition causing abdominal pain, bloating, and digestive discomfort.

18 Dec 2025

Social living allows genetic effects to spread through the gut microbiome

Your "roommate's" genes could be influencing the bacteria living in your gut, and vice versa, according to a study of rats published today in Nature Communications.

18 Dec 2025

High-dose rifampicin does not improve survival in tuberculosis meningitis

Each year, 11 million people worldwide develop tuberculosis, and about 1.4 million die from it. Meningitis occurs in 1–2% of patients and is the most severe complication of tuberculosis, arising when the bacteria reach the brain.

17 Dec 2025

Research reveals how the gut microbiome supports successful pregnancy

Gut microbes may play a key role in training a mother's immune system to adapt to the developing fetus during pregnancy, according to a preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

17 Dec 2025

Early life gut microbiome crucial for immune system development

Antibiotics are powerful treatments that have saved countless lives over the course of decades. New findings from Scripps Research have identified a way to preserve healthy immune development even when infants need antibiotic treatment.

17 Dec 2025

How Traditional Chinese Medicine may reshape the gut microbiome to ease insulin resistance in PCOS

This review synthesizes evidence that gut microbiota dysbiosis contributes to insulin resistance and symptom severity in polycystic ovary syndrome through impaired barrier function, inflammation, and altered microbial metabolites. It evaluates how Traditional Chinese Medicine may modulate these pathways while highlighting major gaps in clinical validation, safety, and standardization.

16 Dec 2025

Salutogenic microbes offer new pathways to better health

Viruses and bacteria get a bad rap around the world but now Flinders University experts are identifying the positive 'upside' of powerful benefits that microbes have on human health.

16 Dec 2025

Specific gut bacterium reduces weight gain and improves metabolic health

The gut microbiome is intimately linked to human health and weight. Differences in the gut microbiome-the bacteria and fungi in the gut-are associated with obesity and weight gain, raising the possibility that changing the microbiome could improve health.

16 Dec 2025

Targeted mRNA vaccines train the immune system to destroy cancer cells

No matter where cancer cells grow in the human body, they are a threat to our health and our lives. But instead of treating them with chemotherapy or radiation - which have undesirable side effects - what if we could train our own immune systems to kill the rogue cells?

16 Dec 2025