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MRSA in the community: A new threat to children's health?

Although hospital superbugs like MRSA - methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus - are now a widespread and recognised problem, new MRSA strains that have emerged and are spreading amongst the wider public in the USA may pose a bigger threat, according to Exeter researchers speaking (Wednesday 28 November 2007) at the Federation of Infection Societies Conference 2007 at the University of Cardiff, UK, which runs from 28-30 November 2007.

27 Nov 2007

Superbug strains have spread to nursing homes and into the community

Hospital superbugs that can break down antibiotics are so widespread throughout Europe that doctors increasingly have to use the few remaining drugs that they reserve for emergencies.

27 Nov 2007

Fast way of spotting multidrug resistant bacteria could help stop outbreaks in hospitals

A type of bacterium widely found on our skin and in the environment has now become a major threat in hospitals where it can cause serious infections, such as pneumonia in severely ill patients.

27 Nov 2007

Health officials should consider mass vaccination in their efforts to control endemic cholera

A vaccine used to protect travelers from cholera, an infection characterized by diarrhea and severe dehydration, could also be used effectively among those living in cholera-prone (endemic) areas, according to a research study by Ira Longini and colleagues published in PLoS Medicine.

27 Nov 2007

Dirty ambulances may be a culprit in spread of superbugs

The debate in the UK over the spread of so-called superbugs such as MRSA has taken a nasty turn with the national union for ambulance staff saying dirty ambulances are the culprits.

27 Nov 2007

Scientists examine eons-old water for microorganisms

Researchers from the University of Delaware and the University of California at Riverside have thawed ice estimated to be at least a million years old from above Lake Vostok, an ancient lake that lies hidden more than two miles beneath the frozen surface of Antarctica.

27 Nov 2007

Flip-flopping gene expression can be advantageous

One gene for pea pod color generates green pods while a variant of that gene gives rise to the yellow-pod phenotype, a feature that helped Gregor Mendel, the 19th century Austrian priest and scientist, first describe genetic inheritance.

27 Nov 2007

New drug called nitrosyl-cobinamide could potentially be used to treat hypertension and heart disease

Investigators at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have developed a new drug called nitrosyl-cobinamide.

27 Nov 2007

TB appears again in the U.S.

Officials from the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment in the U.S. say a Nepalese student at Colorado State University-Pueblo who died of tuberculosis in June, probably infected 17 other people.

26 Nov 2007

Lung transplants do more harm than good to children with cystic fibrosis

Lung transplantation, the therapy almost every cystic fibrosis patient (CF) considers at some point to prolong survival, rarely helps children with the disease live longer and, in fact, often increases their risk of dying, University of Utah researchers conclude in the most extensive study of the issue to date.

21 Nov 2007

Chlamydia pneumoniae involved in both heart disease and infertility

Outside the laboratory, Anthony Azenabor is outgoing and talkative, an extrovert who laughs heartily at his own jokes.

21 Nov 2007

New human rhinovirus associated with pediatric respiratory tract infection in Germany

Using a rapid, sensitive, and inexpensive diagnostic tool called MassTag PCR, scientists at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health's Center for Infection and Immunity implicated a new human rhinovirus as the cause of severe pediatric respiratory tract infections in Europe.

21 Nov 2007

HPA statement on recent media interest in Pseudomonas infections

There has been some recent media interest in Pseudomonas infections.

21 Nov 2007

Rushing to remove a child's tonsils not such a great idea

Dutch researchers say rushing to have a child's tonsils removed because of mild or moderate throat infections may not be such a good idea.

20 Nov 2007

$Treating facial fractures in war zones$

Treating facial fractures in war zones

American military personnel with facial fractures who meet certain criteria can undergo surgery to treat their injuries without being evacuated from war zones, according to a report in the November/December issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery.

20 Nov 2007

Morphotek issued new U.S patent for method to enhance the affinity of monoclonal antibodies

Morphotek, Inc., a subsidiary of Eisai Co., Ltd. has announced the issuance of United States Patent No. 7,235,643 B2 (the "643" patent).

19 Nov 2007

Bacteria shed light on an important group of human proteins

A collaboration between researchers in Switzerland, the UK and France has led to the solution of the first crystal structure of a member of the Rhesus protein family and thereby shed new light on a group of proteins of great importance in human transfusion medicine.

19 Nov 2007

Anti-cancer drug made from soil bacteria

Scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) have discovered a class of natural substances that are produced by soil bacteria and prevent somatic cells from dividing.

19 Nov 2007

Human health, agriculture and the environment to benefit from bioengineering project at the University of Kent

Martin Warren, Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Kent’s Department of Biosciences, has been awarded over £750,000 from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council for a study into biochemical pathways that could ultimately lead to improved health benefits for humans, as well as the development of important new technologies and products for agriculture and bioremediation (the use of plants or microorganisms to clean up pollution or contaminated material).

19 Nov 2007