Antibiotic Resistance News and Research

RSS

'ResistanceMap' tracks antibiotic resistance online

"Extending the Cure," a research project of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy that looks at antibiotic resistance, on Wednesday launched a map "designed to be a tool for public health, researchers, doctors, the media and the public to track resistant pathogens, which is a growing problem around the world," the Washington Post's "The Checkup" blog reports.

22 Sep 2011

NIH to honor IGB faculty member with innovator award

Douglas A. Mitchell, IGB faculty member in the Mining Microbial Genomes for Novel Antibiotics research theme and assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, is a recipient of the 2011 National Institutes of Health Director's New Innovator Award. The award recognizes bold ideas from some of the nation's most promising new scientists.

22 Sep 2011

New paper describes unique process that is central to induction of MSRA antibiotic resistance

A new paper by a team of University of Notre Dame researchers that included Shahriar Mobashery, Jeffrey Peng, Brian Baker and their researchers Oleg Borbulevych, Malika Kumararasiri, Brian Wilson, Leticia Llarrull, Mijoon Lee, Dusan Hesek and Qicun Shi describes a unique process that is central to induction of antibiotic resistance in the problematic bacterium methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

16 Sep 2011

Longer looks: Fighting antibiotic resistance; a health care arms race video; the HVP debate

We won't stop the rising tide of infections until we develop a new business model to fight them. We are not quite on the brink of some dystopian Victorian future. But every year, the prognosis for infectious-disease patients gets a bit grimmer. … And more-powerful drugs tend to cost more than the old drugs. … Even in the rich world, death from infection still looms; MRSA alone kills thousands every year. And firms are not developing antibiotics as fast as they used to.

16 Sep 2011

Without action to curb antibiotic resistance, some diseases may once again become untreatable

In this Atlantic Magazine opinion piece, Megan McArdle, senior editor at the Atlantic, echoes a warning by the FDA issued in 2001 which stated, "Unless antibiotic resistance problems are detected as they emerge, and actions are taken to contain them, the world could be faced with previously treatable diseases that have again become untreatable, as in the days before antibiotics were developed."

15 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: Burgess, Clancy and others on hospital infections; state health exchanges causing controversy

Hospital CEOs can do more than just prevent an outbreak of influenza in their facility this flu season: They can and must take action against antibiotic resistance, an urgent public health problem that affects us all. What does the flu have to do with antibiotic resistance and what can a hospital CEO do about it? Plenty, as it turns out.

13 Sep 2011

Study identifies genes never before linked to antibiotic resistance in enterococci

An analysis of the genome of a superbug has yielded crucial, novel information that could aid efforts to counteract the bacterium's resistance to an antibiotic of last resort.

9 Sep 2011

Mass. Eye and Ear receives NIAID grant to coordinate Harvard-wide Project on Antibiotic Resistance

The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary has received an $11 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the largest National Institutes of Health grant in this hospital's187-year history, to coordinate the Harvard-wide Project on Antibiotic Resistance.

8 Sep 2011

Superbug structure deciphered

NDM-1, the enzyme responsible for antibiotic-resistant "superbugs," has had its structure deciphered by British scientists. NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1) emerged in India three years ago. It has the ability to break up, or hydrolyze, even carbapenems, the strongest class of antibiotics, making them ineffective, and has been found in a wide variety of pathogens. Antibiotic resistance is on the rise. More than 25,000 people in the European Union die every year from bacterial infections.

6 Sep 2011

Researchers discover novel way to increase amounts of antibiotics

A novel way of increasing the amounts of antibiotics produced by bacteria has been discovered that could markedly improve the yields of these important compounds in commercial production. It could also be valuable in helping to discover new compounds. With the ever-growing threat from antibiotic resistance, these tools will be very useful in ensuring that we have enough of these useful compounds in the future.

5 Sep 2011

Scientists sequence ten variants of E. coli O104:H4 outbreak strain across the world

Ten variants of the deadly Escherichia coli strain that hit Germany in May 2011 have been sequenced across the world. The unprecedented level of collaboration across the scientific community should give insight into how the outbreak arose, says a scientist at the Society for General Microbiology's Autumn Conference 2011.

5 Sep 2011

Ancient antibiotic resistance findings leads experts to stress need to use antibiotics sparingly

"An analysis of 30,000-year-old bacteria whose DNA has been recovered from the Yukon permafrost shows that they were able to resist antibiotics," providing "the first direct evidence that antibiotic resistance is a widespread natural phenomenon that preceded the modern medical use of antibiotics," according to a study in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, the New York Times reports.

2 Sep 2011

UC Riverside research could help prevent crop loss, pest outbreaks

New research by scientists at the University of California, Riverside shows that evolution - genetic changes in populations over time - can occur so rapidly in organisms that its impact on population numbers and other aspects of biology can be seen within just a few generations.

17 Aug 2011

NanoLogix BNP and BNF Quick Test kits detect, identify Group B Strep in four to six hours

NanoLogix, a biotechnology innovator in the rapid detection and identification of live-cell bacteria and microorganisms, announced today that the American Journal of Perinatology has published a peer-reviewed paper from the University of Texas Health Science Center - Houston confirming NanoLogix BioNanoPore (BNP) and BioNanoFilter (BNF) Quick Test technology detect and identify Group B Strep in four to six hours.

8 Aug 2011

SMRT DNA sequencing technology reveals genetic profile of German E. coli bacteria

An international team of scientists has successfully employed single molecule, real-time DNA sequencing technology from Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. to provide valuable insights into the pathogenicity and evolutionary origins of the highly virulent bacterium responsible for the German E. coli outbreak.

28 Jul 2011

New rapid test accurately distinguishes bacterial and viral infections

Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) have developed a new test that quickly and accurately distinguishes between bacterial and viral infections in as little as five hours.

21 Jul 2011

EU countries should pool funding to create 'prize' for bringing new antibiotics to market, report says

"European policy makers were urged Wednesday to find viable financial incentives to get drug companies to discover new antibiotics, because the lack of fresh supplies poses acute dangers to health care and efforts against infectious diseases," according to a report by the Office of Health Economics and funded by GlaxoSmithKline, Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal reports.

8 Jul 2011

Scientists track public health trends through Twitter

Twitter allows millions of social media fans to comment in 140 characters or less on just about anything: an actor's outlandish behavior, an earthquake's tragic toll or the great taste of a grilled cheese sandwich.

8 Jul 2011

Antibiotic resistance is not a priority in the U.S.

Author and journalist Maryn McKenna in her "Superbug" blog on Wired.com examines U.S. spending on drug-resistant pathogens, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

7 Jul 2011

Antimicrobial copper surfaces reduce risk of acquiring hospital infection

Professor Bill Keevil, Head of the Microbiology Group and Director of the Environmental Healthcare Unit at the University of Southampton, has presented research into the mechanism by which copper exerts its antimicrobial effect on antibiotic-resistant organisms at the World Health Organization's first International Conference on Prevention and Infection Control.

2 Jul 2011