Antibiotic News and Research

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

Randomized trial shows patient-delivered partner treatment superior to partner referral in male urethritis

Ensuring that the sexual partners of patients diagnosed with urethritis are also treated remains a challenge since the traditional methods of partner referral are usually ineffective.

3 Apr 2006

Scientists use bacteria found naturally in soil to produce new antibiotics in the fight against drug-resistant "Super-bugs"

Antibiotic resistance is a major problem worldwide and there is an urgent need for new antibiotics to be developed. Potential new drugs are usually made in the lab which is complicated and time-consuming.

30 Mar 2006

Patent filed for method to prevent early labor and premature delivery of low-birth-weight babies

The discovery is an incremental step in an area of obstetrics that has seen little improvement in 20 years.

28 Mar 2006

Discovery of a gene that drives anthrax bacteria's toxic effects

A study in Cell reports the discovery of a gene that drives anthrax bacteria's toxic effects. The gene could offer a potential new target for countermeasures against the lethal toxin, according to the researchers.

28 Mar 2006

Salmonella research provides clues to antibiotic development

Pathogens are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, causing problems for therapy. Doctors need to have antibiotics available that work in new kinds of ways.

19 Mar 2006

FDA grants Cerexa fast track designation

Cerexa has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation for PPI-0903, a next-generation, broad-spectrum, cephalosporin antibiotic, for the treatment of complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI) caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

17 Mar 2006

Asthma risk increased by early use of antibiotics

Researchers suggest that when children are exposed to antibiotics in the first year of life it may increase the risk of them developing asthma later in childhood.

15 Mar 2006

Antibiotic use in infants may double asthma risk

Children exposed to at least one course of antibiotics in their first year of life may have an increased risk of developing childhood asthma.

14 Mar 2006

Single dose of oral antibiotic azithromycin taken after trichiasis eye surgery prevents recurrence of inturned eyelashes

A Johns Hopkins Medicine study finds that a single dose of the oral antibiotic azithromycin taken after trichiasis eye surgery can reduce the frequency with which eyelashes turn back in and abrade the eye.

14 Mar 2006

New tools in the fight against pneumococci

New tools in the fight against pneumococci - the bugs targeted by vaccines recently announced by the Department of Health - are described by a team led by scientists from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.

13 Mar 2006

Researchers synthesize nisin in a test tube

Scientists have made nisin, a natural antibiotic used for more than 40 years to preserve food, in a test tube for the first time using nature's toolbox.

13 Mar 2006

Photodynamic therapy may be an effective treatment for infections of the oral cavity

Researchers found that the bacteria S. mutans, as well as fungal organisms of the genus Candida, cultured from HIV patients, were highly susceptible to killing with minimal doses of PDT, both in laboratory dishes and on biofilms grown on denture material.

13 Mar 2006