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Urinary tract infections from the catheter - most common hospital-acquired infection

One in four Americans in the hospital right now has a urinary catheter. One percent of them will get a urinary tract infection from that catheter.

4 Jan 2008

Polyphenols in wine may help prevent cavities

A class of chemicals in red wine grapes may significantly reduce the ability of bacteria to cause cavities, according to a study published recently in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

3 Jan 2008

Researchers seek to make cavity-causing bacteria self-destruct

Bacteria that eat sugar and release cavity-causing acid onto teeth may soon be made dramatically more vulnerable to their own acid.

3 Jan 2008

New understanding of hydrogen peroxide's role in cell health

Hydrogen peroxide, the same mild acid that many people use to disinfectant their kitchens or treat cuts and abrasions, is also produced by the body to keep cells healthy.

3 Jan 2008

FDA clears first rapid blood test for MRSA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced it has cleared for marketing the first rapid blood test for the drug-resistant staph bacterium known as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which can cause potentially deadly infections.

3 Jan 2008

U.S. health officials search for air travellers exposed to drug-resistant TB

Health officials in the United States are again trying to track down dozens of airline passengers who may have been inadvertently exposed to tuberculosis (TB).

2 Jan 2008

New drug targets may fight tuberculosis and other bacterial infections in novel way

Over the course of the 20th Century, doctors waged war against infectious bacterial illness with the best new weapon they had: antibiotics.

28 Dec 2007

Paradigm shift in TB: virulence factors, not antibiotics

Over the course of the 20th Century, doctors waged war against infectious bacterial illness with the best new weapon they had: antibiotics.

27 Dec 2007

Research could turn the tables on superbugs

Scientists in Australia and America believe they have found a way to deal with the increasing antibiotic resistance of deadly superbugs such as MRSA.

27 Dec 2007

Australian researchers tackle antibiotic resistance

The development of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria that are problematic and expensive to treat is a major healthcare problem around the world. The "selective pressure" of antibiotic usage inevitably results in the emergence and proliferation of resistant bacteria.

20 Dec 2007

Simple measures to control spread of XDR TB

By using a combination of inexpensive infection control measures, hospitals around the world could prevent half the new cases of extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB), according to a new study in The Lancet by researchers at Yale School of Medicine.

20 Dec 2007

Anthrax vaccine will add to America's arsenal against bioterrorism

A company, based in Rockville, Maryland in the USA, with the help of government funding, has used the human genome to develop a vaccine that may give protection from anthrax.

19 Dec 2007

Contaminated syringes make 40 people sick

An investigation is being carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) into blood infections linked to medical syringes which were contaminated with bacteria.

19 Dec 2007

Poultry workers at greater risk of carrying antibiotic-resistant E. coli

Poultry workers in the United States are 32 times more likely to carry E. coli bacteria resistant to the commonly used antibiotic, gentamicin, than others outside the poultry industry, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

18 Dec 2007

Intracellular bacterial communities in cystitis; rifapentine cures TB in mouse model; and more

A study published this week in the open access journal PLoS Medicine presents convincing evidence that intracellular bacterial communities (IBCs) commonly exist in women with bladder infections and may contribute to the recurrence of these infections.

18 Dec 2007