Antibiotic News and Research

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

U.S. hospital helps lower infection rates at British hospital

Using their best practice methods for infection control and patient care, Hospital for Special Surgery in New York has helped a new British hospital lower their infection rates and average length of stay.

20 Feb 2008

Ocular melanoma - potential new treatment options

Ocular melanoma is rarely detected before it has grown large enough to impair vision or to metastasize.

20 Feb 2008

Biannual mass antibiotic treatment may help reduce contagious eye disease trachoma in Africa

Changing the administration of the antibiotic azithromycin from once to twice a year in villages in Ethiopia substantially reduced eye infections in preschool children caused by chlamydia, which causes the serious, contagious eye disease trachoma, according to a study in the February 20 issue of JAMA.

20 Feb 2008

Deadly E. coli bug now threatening communities outside of hospitals

Scientists are warning of the increasing threat from infections caused by antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria.

19 Feb 2008

Cholesterol-lowering drug used to block staph infections in mince

An international team of researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has blocked staph infections in mice using a drug previously tested in clinical trials as a cholesterol-lowering agent.

17 Feb 2008

Mathematical approach to tackle dual-resistant hospital infections

A mathematical model that looks at different strategies for curbing hospital-acquired infections suggests that antimicrobial cycling and patient isolation may be effective approaches when patients are harboring dual-resistant bacteria.

17 Feb 2008

New control mechanism for genetic code translation discovered in bacteria

Almost all organisms, from bacteria to human beings, share the same genetic code, a group of universal instructions used to convert DNA or RNA sequences into proteins, the "building blocks" of life.

17 Feb 2008

Gene chip technology used to distinguish ventilator-associated pneumonia from underlying critical illness

Critically ill patients who need a ventilator to breathe face a high risk of pneumonia.

14 Feb 2008

Discovery of possible target for prevention and treatment of pneumonia

Researchers at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC have identified a key protein target that may be a crucial factor in the development of a vaccine to prevent and new therapies to treat pneumonia, the leading killer of children worldwide.

12 Feb 2008

Researchers find new U.S. trend in antibiotic resistance

A research team from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, examining bacterial isolates obtained in hospital and non-hospital clinical settings between 2000 and 2006, has identified drug-resistant strains of E. coli and Klebsiella bacteria in more than 50 blood, urine and respiratory samples.

11 Feb 2008

New cause identified for necrotic enteritis in chicken

Researchers from Monash University and CSIRO Livestock Industries have demonstrated for the first time that alpha-toxin protein, long thought to be required for necrotic enteritis to develop, is not the main cause of the chicken disease.

8 Feb 2008

Vaginal probiotic product reduce recurrence rate of bacterial vaginosis

A newly published double blind, randomised, placebo controlled study(1) shows that EcoVag, a patented vaginal probiotic product from the Danish company, Bifodan, significantly reduces the recurrence rate of Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) following antibiotic treatment.

31 Jan 2008

Weakness found in anthrax bacterium

MIT and New York University researchers have identified a weakness in the defenses of the anthrax bacterium that could be exploited to produce new antibiotics.

25 Jan 2008

No high quality studies on reducing MRSA infection in nursing homes for elderly people

Nursing homes for older people provide environments where bacteria such as meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are likely to thrive.

24 Jan 2008

Few strategies exist to prevent MRSA spread in nursing homes

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureu (MRSA) is making news as a dangerous, sometimes fatal disease for hospital patients, and in recent cases, students.

24 Jan 2008

Cranberries might help prevent urinary infections in women

Evidence supports drinking cranberry juice a familiar home remedy to treat urinary tract infection (UTI), according to a new review from Scotland.

24 Jan 2008

Unique fungal collection could hold key to future antibiotics

Scientists at Royal Holloway, University of London have joined forces with CABI to establish a facility to screen for potential new antibiotics.

23 Jan 2008

Pharmacists believe drive-through windows contribute to delays, errors

Consumers who pick up their prescription medications at a pharmacy drive-through window might be jeopardizing their own safety in the name of convenience.

23 Jan 2008

Infants with poor intestinal flora often develop eczema

In a healthy intestinal system there is a great variety of natural bacteria.

23 Jan 2008

Genetic switches could lower cost of producing drugs, proteins

Bacteria have evolved complex mechanisms called quorum sensing systems that provide for cell-to-cell communication, an adaptation that allows them to wait until their population grows large enough before mounting an attack on a host or competing for nutrients.

23 Jan 2008