Bacterial News and Research

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Discovery of cause of Job's syndrome

The rare immunodeficiency disorder known as Job's syndrome is caused by a specific genetic mutation that both overstimulates and understimulates the human immune system, leading to harmful bacterial and fungal infections and the physical features characteristic of the syndrome, according to two independent groups of scientists, one from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the other from the Tokyo Medical and Dental University.

20 Sep 2007

Drug resistance gene has spread from East Coast to Midwest

A resistance gene that allows bacteria to beat an important class of antibiotics has started to appear in microorganisms taken from Midwestern patients, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

20 Sep 2007

Cat scratch disease management in children

Cat scratch disease (CSD) is a bacterial infection that typically causes swelling of the lymph nodes.

20 Sep 2007

Rapid test to screen blood approved by the FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given it's approval for the first rapid test to detect bacterial contamination in blood platelets prior to transfusion.

20 Sep 2007

Review of antimicrobials for acute rhinosinusitis

Acute bacterial rhinosinusitis in adults is a common malady, with between 30 to 35 million cases a year.

18 Sep 2007

GlaxoSmithKline to pursue novel antibacterial research program for DOD

GlaxoSmithKline has announced that it has signed an agreement with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), to identify and develop a new class of antibacterials targeting both Gram negative biothreats and conventional Gram negative hospital pathogens.

18 Sep 2007

FDA clears for marketing rapid test to screen for bacterial contamination in blood platelets

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared for marketing the first rapid test to detect bacterial contamination in blood platelets prior to transfusion.

18 Sep 2007

Alternative methods proposed to detect pesticides and antibiotics in water and natural food

Water or food of natural origins (from plants or animals) that we consume on a daily basis can contain unwanted ‘supplies' for our organism, such as pesticides or antibiotics.

18 Sep 2007

Real time footage reveals DNA-enzyme interaction

For the first time scientists have been able to film, in real time, the nanoscale interaction of an enzyme and a DNA strand from an attacking virus.

18 Sep 2007

Nanoparticle that delivers vaccines more effectively

Good news for public health: Bioengineering researchers from the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, have developed and patented a nanoparticle that can deliver vaccines more effectively, with fewer side effects, and at a fraction of the cost of current vaccine technologies.

18 Sep 2007

Chronic fatigue syndrome linked to enteroviruses

Chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as ME (myalgic encephalitis), is linked to a stomach virus, suggests research published ahead of print in Journal of Clinical Pathology.

13 Sep 2007

Potential vaccine target for chlamydia

Scientists at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC have identified a potential target for the development of a vaccine against Chlamydia trachomatis, the most prevalent sexually transmitted bacterial infection in the world.

13 Sep 2007

Staphylococcus aureus gets from bottom to bedrail in hospital

The presence of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) in patients' stools increases the likelihood that it will make its way onto skin, hospital bed rails and other surfaces, according to research published in the online open access journal, BMC Infectious Diseases.

13 Sep 2007

Customized virus kills brain tumor stem cells that drive lethal cancer

A tailored virus destroys brain tumor stem cells that resist other therapies and cause lethal re-growth of cancer after surgery, a research team led by scientists at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in the Sept. 18 edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

12 Sep 2007

Bad news for disease-causing bacteria!

Scientists have what could be some very bad news for disease-causing bacteria. All three major classes of antibiotics that kill infectious bacteria do so in part by ramping up the production of harmful free radicals, researchers report in the September 7, 2007, issue of Cell, a publication of Cell Press.

10 Sep 2007

A chink in bacteria's armor

Biomedical researchers at Boston University's College of Engineering may have discovered the path toward developing better drugs capable of defeating so-called “superbugs,” bacteria that have developed resistance to common antibiotics. The researchers have discovered a previously unknown chain of events occurring in bacteria that opens to door to new avenues of research.

10 Sep 2007

Quick microchip test for dangerous and drug resistant bacteria in clinical samples

Researchers at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Surrey have developed microchips capable of quickly and cheaply identifying dangerous and drug resistant bacteria in clinical samples, scientists announced (Wednesday 5 September 2007) at the Society for General Microbiology's 161st Meeting at the University of Edinburgh, UK, which runs from 3-6 September 2007.

5 Sep 2007