Flesh Eating News and Research

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New research aims to eliminate Streptococcus infections

Professor Howard Jenkinson in the Department of Oral & Dental Science (Dental School) at the University of Bristol has been awarded a grant of £285,000 from The Wellcome Trust to research ways to combat diseases caused by Streptococcus bacteria.

5 Mar 2008

Researchers seek to make cavity-causing bacteria self-destruct

Bacteria that eat sugar and release cavity-causing acid onto teeth may soon be made dramatically more vulnerable to their own acid.

3 Jan 2008

Chicken pox vaccination should be introduced for children in the UK

The only realistic way of preventing deaths and severe complications arising from chickenpox is to routinely vaccinate children against the disease, concludes research published ahead of print in Archives of Disease in Childhood.

13 Nov 2007

French clay fights flesh-eating bug

French clay that kills several kinds of disease-causing bacteria is at the forefront of new research into age-old, nearly forgotten, but surprisingly potent cures.

25 Oct 2007

Networking in living cells may hold key to fighting diseases

Scientists in Manchester are working to change the social habits of living cells an innovation that could bring about cleaner and greener fuel and help fight diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

From The University of Manchester 24 Aug 2007

New model to predict the spread of a 'super-bug' in L.A. county jail

Researchers at UCLA have developed a mathematical model that mimics a particularly nasty and ongoing outbreak in the Los Angeles County Jail (LACJ) of the flesh eating bacteria Staphylococcus Aureus.

17 Aug 2007

Flesh-eating bacteria on Texas beach leaves man fighting for his life

Steve Gilpatrick went swimming while on holiday in early July at Crystal Beach, when the ulcer had apparently almost healed; his leg became infected three days later and he developed a high fever and was taken to hospital.

21 Jul 2007

Key mechanism to emergence of deadly strep bacteria discovered

The incidence of serious strep infections has risen dramatically in the last three decades, and this increase is largely attributed to the spread around the globe of a single strain of strep known as the invasive M1T1 clone.

16 Jul 2007

Discovery of new survival mechanism in common bacteria

Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the National Institutes of Health, have discovered a survival mechanism in a common type of bacteria that can cause illness.

8 Jun 2007

Four more test positive for deadly flesh eating bug in NZ hospital

Four more cases of a deadly bug which has already killed three people since September 29 people, have been discovered in a New Zealand hospital.

17 Oct 2006

Three dead in NZ from flesh-eating bacteria

Three elderly patients in a hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand, have died from a rare flesh-eating bacteria.

16 Oct 2006

Research points to a novel approach to treating serious Strep infections

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have discovered that so-called flesh-eating "Strep" bacteria use a specific enzyme to break free of the body's immune system, a finding which could potentially lead to new treatments for serious infections in human patients.

24 Feb 2006

Groundbreaking research into some of the most deadly antibiotic-resistant diseases

Pioneering research by a North East of England scientist could lead to a cure for some of the most deadly antibiotic-resistant diseases.

15 Dec 2005

New technique to produce large numbers of antibodies quickly

Faster method to create antibodies for disease research British scientists are pioneering a new technique to produce large numbers of antibodies quickly and reliably to help the study of dangerous bacteria.

9 Oct 2005

Increasingly virulent Staph infections

In a "Brief Report" in the 22 September 2005 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at the University of Chicago describe three cases of rapidly progressive and ultimately fatal Staphylococcus aureus infections in small children.

26 Sep 2005

Researchers show protein's role in stopping bacterial-induced inflammation

In findings that could have implications for autoimmune disorders and drug-resistant bacterial infections, researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have identified a key protein involved in the appropriate shut-down of inflammation following an immune response to invading pathogens.

28 Apr 2005

Staph superbug now far more common in the community

Two teams of experts are saying that a drug-resistant "superbug" previously only found in hospitals is becoming more common in the community and must be aggressively treated. They say that staphylococcus aureus, or staph, infections that are resistant to methicillin and similar drugs can now be put into the category of flesh-eating bacteria and doctors need to be aware of this and exchange antibiotics at the first sign of trouble.

6 Apr 2005

New clues in understanding why group A streptococci (GAS) has a range of bacterial afflictions in humans

Researchers have unlocked new clues in understanding why group A streptococci (GAS) has a range of bacterial afflictions in humans. One of the keys to this species of bacteria is its production of streptokinase (SK), an enzyme that activates plasminogen, the blood clot-dissolving protein in humans.

6 Dec 2004

Autophagy is also cell's second line of defense against invading pathogens such as strep

Cells give up their secrets slowly. Just when you think that all major cellular systems are understood, along comes a surprise. The latest is about autophagy, a major pathway for degrading and recycling within cells.

4 Dec 2004

Drug-resistant bacteria increasingly causing infections in healthy people

An emerging form of so-called "flesh-eating bacteria" is caused by a strain that is resistant to standard first-line antibiotics. The same type of bacteria, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is causing record numbers of less-serious skin infections in children and also is emerging as a cause of pneumonia, which can be deadly

30 Sep 2004