Antibiotic Resistance News and Research

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Physicians prescribe strongest antibiotics capable of killing multiple kinds of bacteria

When U.S. physicians prescribe antibiotics, more than 60 percent of the time they choose some of the strongest types of antibiotics, referred to as "broad spectrum," which are capable of killing multiple kinds of bacteria, University of Utah researchers show in a new study.

2 Aug 2013

FDA promise to "reboot" antibiotic development rules to combat rise in resistance falls short

The rise of antibiotic resistance among hospital-acquired infections is greater than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in its 2008 analysis, according to an ahead-of-print article in the journal, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

2 Aug 2013

Antibiotic prescribing rates can be reduced using internet-based training for clinicians

Antibiotic prescribing rates for acute respiratory tract infections could be significantly lowered using internet-based training for clinicians, new research has shown.

31 Jul 2013

Research: Reducing antibiotics consumption does not necessarily reduce resistance

Antibiotic use-and misuse-is the main driver for selection of antibiotic resistant bacteria. This has led many countries to implement interventions designed to reduce overall antibiotic consumption. Now, using methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as an example, Laura Temime of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers, Paris, and collaborators warn that simply reducing antibiotics consumption does not necessarily reduce resistance.

30 Jul 2013

NIH awards $2.35M grant to BUSM researcher to study the development of gonococcal vaccine

Lee Wetzler, MD, an attending physician in the department of infectious diseases at Boston Medical Center and associate program director for research in the section of infectious diseases at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), was awarded a four-year, $2.35 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the development of a gonococcal vaccine.

24 Jul 2013

Study reveals that Hudson River polluted with antibiotic-resistant bacteria

The risk of catching some nasty germ in the Hudson River just started looking nastier. Disease-causing microbes have long been found swimming there, but now researchers have documented antibiotic-resistant strains in specific spots, from the Tappan Zee Bridge to lower Manhattan.

22 Jul 2013

Structural properties have changed across bacterial families without putting limits on antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been emerging at an alarming rate. In some of the scariest of these pathogens, the mechanism responsible for the bacteria's ability to defeat antibiotics is a complex protein molecule embedded in the bacterial cell wall -- the enzyme β-lactamase.

20 Jul 2013

Researchers distinguish viral and bacterial infections in children with fever

In children with fever but no other symptoms of illness, it is difficult to know whether a child has a viral infection that will resolve on its own or a potentially serious bacterial infection that requires antibiotics.

16 Jul 2013

Chickens purchased from farmers markets carry higher bacterial loads

Raw, whole chickens purchased from farmers markets throughout Pennsylvania contained significantly higher levels of bacteria that can cause foodborne illness compared to those purchased from grocery stores in the region, according to a small-scale study by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences

12 Jul 2013

NPS MedicineWise calls on every Australian to fight against antibiotic resistance

In light of a paper released by the Office of the Chief Scientist today, NPS MedicineWise is calling on every Australian to do their part in the fight against antibiotic resistance in our community.

11 Jul 2013

Scientists uncover easy strategies to prevent harmful side-effects of antibiotics responses

A team of scientists at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University has discovered why long-term treatment with many common antibiotics can cause harmful side effects-and they have uncovered two easy strategies that could help prevent these dangerous responses.

4 Jul 2013

Academies recommend ways to prevent antibiotic resistance, to develop antibiotics more quickly

Joint press release by the Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina

17 Jun 2013

Solution-based circuit chip for rapid, multiplexed detection of pathogens

Life-threatening bacterial infections cause tens of thousands of deaths every year in North America. Increasingly, many infections are resistant to first-line antibiotics. Unfortunately, current methods of culturing bacteria in the lab can take days to report the specific source of the infection, and even longer to pinpoint the right antibiotic that will clear the infection.

13 Jun 2013

Drug targeting of phages could offer a potential new path to mitigate antibiotic resistance

Bacteria in the gut that are under attack by antibiotics have allies no one had anticipated, a team of Wyss Institute scientists has found. Gut viruses that usually commandeer the bacteria, it turns out, enable them to survive the antibiotic onslaught, most likely by handing them genes that help them withstand the drug.

11 Jun 2013

Certain varieties of clay have ability to kill MRSA, says ASU researcher

In the race to protect society from infectious microbes, the bugs are outrunning us. The need for new therapeutic agents is acute, given the emergence of novel pathogens as well as old foes bearing heightened antibiotic resistance.

20 May 2013

Discovery provides vital clues for new antibiotics against MRSA

Scientists at Imperial College London have identified four new proteins that act as receptors for an essential signalling molecule in bacteria such as MRSA.

14 May 2013

New biosensor detects antibiotic resistance in bacteria, can help fight superbugs

On May 8th JoVE will publish research that demonstrates how a biosensor can detect antibiotic resistance in bacteria. This new technology is a preliminary step in identifying and fighting superbugs, a major public health concern that has led to more deaths than AIDS in the United States in recent years.

9 May 2013

Royal Society elects scientists from JIC for advances in antibiotic discovery and in crop improvement

Two scientists from the John Innes Centre have been elected as Fellows of the Royal Society, the premier scientific accolade in the UK. Their breakthroughs in fundamental research have pioneered advances in antibiotic discovery and in crop improvement from which we all benefit.

6 May 2013

Research: Protein complex in human breast milk can help reverse antibiotic resistance

A protein complex found in human breast milk can help reverse the antibiotic resistance of bacterial species that cause dangerous pneumonia and staph infections, according to new University at Buffalo research.

3 May 2013

Cempra demonstrates solithromycin's potential against urogenital infections at ECCMID

Cempra, Inc., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing differentiated antibiotics to meet critical medical needs in the treatment of bacterial infections, today announced that it will present data at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Berlin, demonstrating solithromycin's potential to treat urogenital infections and combat challenging pathogens such as enterococci and Legionella pneumophila.

29 Apr 2013