Antibiotic News and Research

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

Discovery may lead to development of more effective antibiotics

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the John Innes Centre in the United Kingdom have uncovered a mechanism with which disease-causing bacteria may thwart the body's natural defense responses. The findings, which could ultimately lead to the development of more effective antibiotics, appear in the September 29, 2005 issue of the journal Nature.

28 Sep 2005

100 year old technology to fight MRSA

A technique that has been around for more than one hundred years is being used in new research as a way of killing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) using light. The research to be reported today at the British Pharmaceutical Conference in Manchester, is being undertaken by researchers from Queen's University Belfast.

28 Sep 2005

Tuberculosis infection prevention by quick testing

With a new DNA test, tuberculosis infection can be revealed so quickly that a patient doesn’t have time to infect others. This can be an important key to effective control of the disease.

28 Sep 2005

Wound dressing to stop antibiotic-resistant bacteria from spreading

University of Florida researchers have led the development of a new type of wound dressing that could keep dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria from spreading in hospitals, a problem that leads to thousands of deaths in the United States each year.

27 Sep 2005

Antibody in humans that quickly fights the smallpox virus

Researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology (LIAI) have made a major advancement toward protecting society against a smallpox outbreak by identifying an antibody in humans that quickly fights the smallpox virus.

26 Sep 2005

Increasingly virulent Staph infections

In a "Brief Report" in the 22 September 2005 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at the University of Chicago describe three cases of rapidly progressive and ultimately fatal Staphylococcus aureus infections in small children.

26 Sep 2005

New way to create a permanent chemical bond between antibiotics and titanium

Infections associated with inserting a medical device can be devastating, painful, and cause prolonged disability, costing tens of thousands of dollars.

26 Sep 2005

Antibiotic resistance has put humans in an escalating 'arms race' with infectious bacteria

...as scientists try to develop new antibiotics faster than the bacteria can evolve new resistance strategies. But now, researchers have a new strategy that may give them a leg up in the race -- reproducing in the lab the natural evolution of the bacterial enzymes that confer resistance.

21 Sep 2005

Vaccine against group B streptococcus

Common bacteria that live harmlessly in the gastrointestinal tract and vagina of 25 percent of women can become lethal if a newborn gets exposed to them during birth.

20 Sep 2005

Use of antibiotics for acne may increase risk of upper respiratory tract infection

Individuals treated with antibiotics for acne for more than six weeks were more than twice as likely to develop an upper respiratory tract infection within one year as individuals with acne who were not treated with antibiotics, according to an article in the September issue of Archives of Dermatology.

19 Sep 2005

Carbon nanotubes as transport agents for antimycotics (antifungal agents)

Putting pharmaceutical agents into the body isn't hard, but getting them into targeted areas can be problematic. If drugs aren't taken up by a large enough proportion of cells, a suitable "transport agent" must be used.

19 Sep 2005

Clioquinol appears to block the genetic action of Huntington's disease

Clioquinol, an antibiotic that was banned for internal use in the United States in 1971 but is still used in topical applications, appears to block the genetic action of Huntington's disease in mice and in cell culture, according to a study reported by San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) researchers.

12 Sep 2005

Safe, non-surgical method of identifying brain infections such as brain abscess

Researchers at Westmead Millennium Institute have discovered a safe, non-surgical method of identifying brain infections such as brain abscess, and an accurate and rapid way of diagnosing meningitis.

10 Sep 2005

Researchers uncover how the inhaled form of anthrax disarms bacteria-fighting white blood cells before they can fend off the disease

The lethal toxin in anthrax paralyzes neutrophils, the white blood cells that act as the body's first defense against infection, by impairing how they build tiny filaments that allow them to crawl throughout the body and eat invading bacteria.

6 Sep 2005

Fewer antibiotic prescriptions leads to fewer superbugs

That's the take-home message behind a new study in the Oct. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online. The study found that reducing antibiotic use for pediatric respiratory tract infections resulted in lower rates of carriage of drug-resistant bacteria.

6 Sep 2005

Single molecular anchor holds the key to treating many types of bacterial meningitis

By blocking the molecule's anchoring ability, researchers may be able to find a way to stave off the most common serious infection of the central nervous system and a major cause of childhood death and disability. The researchers' findings appear in the September 2005 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

5 Sep 2005

One week after Katrina and many still without clean water as disease spreads

According to health officials, people still stranded by Hurricane Katrina face a serious risk of dysentery and other diseases from contaminated water, and there have already been reports of an outbreak of dysentery in Biloxi, Mississippi.

5 Sep 2005

New drug will help fight against superbugs

In the fight against the infections invading hospitals both sides of the globe, scientists have developed a drug that destroys the defences of superbugs, raising hopes it could help quell the rampant and often lethal outbreaks that continue to strike hospitals.

4 Sep 2005

New strategies to fight the most dangerous infectious disease

It has been identified by the World Health Organization as the most dangerous infectious disease, causing more deaths -- more than 2 million a year -- than any other single infection. Approximately one-third of the world's population is already infected.

31 Aug 2005

Significant advance in understanding how enzyme can prevent certain bacteria from becoming virulent

A team of biomedical researchers from Brandeis University and the University of Texas at Austin has determined the first 3-dimensional structure of an enzyme that may be pivotal in preventing certain bacterial infections in plants, animals and humans, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

30 Aug 2005