Antibiotic News and Research

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

First time observing real-time molecular interplay within ribosome

The ribosome is a kind of factory for protein in the cell, and as such has long been a prime target for drug discovery. Now, a technological advance by a team at Weill Cornell Medical College is poised to revolutionize research in the field.

21 Mar 2007

Trojan horse approach designed to defeats drug-resistant bacteria

A new antimicrobial approach can kill bacteria in laboratory experiments and eliminate life-threatening infections in mice by interfering with a key bacterial nutrient, according to research led by a University of Washington scientist.

19 Mar 2007

FDA clears Xpert EV test for meningitis

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared for marketing a test that uses molecular biology to quickly detect the presence of viral meningitis.

19 Mar 2007

15,595 meningitis cases this season in Africa

Two months into the dry season in the African "Meningitis Belt", 15,595 cases including 1,670 deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from four countries: Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Uganda.

19 Mar 2007

Novel pathway for antibiotic-induced cell death

Scientists have identified unforeseen mechanisms by which quinolones - a family of broad-spectrum antibiotics among the most widely prescribed - induce bacterial cell death.

13 Mar 2007

New method for identifying viruses and bacteria that cause common infections in children

Infectious disease specialists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found a new method for identifying suspect viruses and bacteria that cause some of the most common acute infections in children.

13 Mar 2007

Antifungal drug kills tuberculosis bug

Scientists hoping to find new treatments for one of the world's most deadly infectious diseases say drugs used to treat common fungal infections may provide the answer.

From The University of Manchester 12 Mar 2007

Quick diagnosis test for streptococcal strains

A streptococcal infection may initially cause nothing more than a relatively harmless sore throat. It can, however, also lead to potentially fatal disease or lifelong disability.

8 Mar 2007

FDA approval for new cattle antibiotic will cause controversy

According to reports the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States is about to approve the use of another antibiotic in cattle.

4 Mar 2007

Further study of past flu pandemics key to future preparedness

Scientists and public health officials, wary that the H5N1 avian influenza virus could trigger an influenza pandemic, have looked to past pandemics, including the 1918 "Spanish Flu," for insight into pandemic planning.

28 Feb 2007

New method for rapid diagnosis of intestinal illnesses

Academics have found, for the first time, smells from healthy faeces and people with infectious diarrhoea differ significantly in their chemical composition and could be used to diagnose quickly diseases such as Clostridium difficile (C. Diff.).

27 Feb 2007

Hormone patch could be safer than pills in relieving the symptoms of the menopause

According to new research by French scientists hormone skin patches and gels are far less likely than pills to cause dangerous blood clots.

26 Feb 2007

Exchange of E. coli between humans and chimps in Uganda

Scientists from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana have found that people employed in chimpanzee-focused research and tourism in a park in western Uganda are exchanging gastrointestinal bacteria - specifically Escherichia coli - with local chimpanzee populations. And some of the E. coli strains migrating to chimps are resistant to antibiotics used by humans in Uganda.

22 Feb 2007

Newborns with respiratory distress should be evaluated for primary ciliary dyskinesia

Reviewing published reports, Ferkol and Margaret Leigh, M.D., professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), found that neonatal respiratory distress was a common clinical symptom of PCD, a chronic airway disease that affects about 1 in 15,000 children.

20 Feb 2007