Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) News and Research

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Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a type of bacteria that is resistant to certain antibiotics. These antibiotics include methicillin and other more common antibiotics such as oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin. Staph infections, including MRSA, occur most frequently among persons in hospitals and healthcare facilities (such as nursing homes and dialysis centers) who have weakened immune systems.

MRSA infections that occur in otherwise healthy people who have not been recently (within the past year) hospitalized or had a medical procedure (such as dialysis, surgery, catheters) are known as community-associated (CA)-MRSA infections. These infections are usually skin infections, such as abscesses, boils, and other pus-filled lesions.

Researchers discover marine alga from Kiel Fjord as potential remedy against infections, skin cancer

Healing with the help of marine organisms is no utopia. Already 12 life-saving drugs, e.g. against cancer, have been developed from marine organisms and their symbiotic microbiota.

2 Jul 2020

Quality improvement initiative at Children's National Hospital reduces antibiotic use

A quality improvement initiative in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Children's National Hospital led to a significant reduction in treatment with intravenous vancomycin, an antibiotic used for resistant gram positive infections, which is often associated with acute kidney injury.

1 Jul 2020

SARS-CoV-2 paradox: Lower death rate during early stages of the pandemic

An analysis of national weekly mortality rates between December 2019 - March 2020, compared to the same period for the previous five years, by researchers at WMG and WMS, University of Warwick, has shown that there have been fewer deaths registered this year during the lead up to the Covid-19 pandemic.

22 Jun 2020

Nanosponges could attack and neutralize SARS-COV-2 virus

Nanoparticles cloaked in human lung cell membranes and human immune cell membranes can attract and neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 virus in cell culture, causing the virus to lose its ability to hijack host cells and reproduce.

17 Jun 2020

Drug Teixobactin shows promise against drug-resistant superbugs

Two well-known superbugs are the gram-positive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). A new drug Teixobactin has shown promise against these microbes. The study titled, “The Killing Mechanism of Teixobactin against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus: an Untargeted Metabolomics Study,” was published in the latest issue of the journal Therapeutics and Prevention.

4 Jun 2020

Research: Peptide makes older antibiotics effective again at doses 100 times lower than usual

A peptide renders older antibiotics effective again at doses 100 times lower than the common dosage, as shown by research from örebro University.

22 Apr 2020

Pets have a low risk of transmitting multi-drug resistant bugs to owners, study finds

Zoonoses are diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans. About 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases are zoonoses, just like the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that’s caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Domesticated animals such as pets can carry parasites and other pathogens to people. However, a new study suggests that pets are not a significant source of transmission to humans.

21 Apr 2020

Antibiotic blocks the integration of building blocks into the cell wall of pathogens

One of the last arrows in the quiver in the fight against dangerous bacteria is the reserve antibiotic daptomycin.

21 Mar 2020

Metal complexes could hold the key to next generation of antibiotics

Compounds containing metals could hold the key to the next generation of antibiotics to combat the growing threat of global antibiotic resistance.

27 Feb 2020

Study finds no advantage in using two antibiotics to treat MRSA infections

A world-first clinical trial has called into question the effectiveness of using more than one antibiotic to treat the deadly 'super-bug', Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia, commonly known as Golden Staph.

14 Feb 2020

Combination of two antibiotics found to be no better than one for treating MRSA blood infections

Researchers attempting to improve the treatment for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) blood infections have discovered the combination of two antibiotics was no better than one, and led to more adverse effects.

11 Feb 2020

The challenge of new antibiotic discovery

It is important to discover antibiotic drugs and to bring them to clinical use, a task made all the more urgent by the increase in the number of infections that are resistant to existing antibiotics. However, this task is a formidable one.

28 Jan 2020

Evolution of Antibiotic Tolerance Promotes Resistance to Combination Regimens

A new study suggests that the evolution of antibiotic tolerance requires further investigation if newly designed antibiotic treatments are going to be able to prevent drug-resistant infections.

10 Jan 2020

Scientists discover how bacterial evolution of antibiotic arsenals is providing new drug blueprints

Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have discovered that two very different species of bacteria have evolved distinct, powerful antibiotic arsenals for use in the war against their bacterial neighbors.

9 Jan 2020

Modifying a cancer drug has created a new agent for multi-resistant infections

Researchers have modified a cancer drug to create an agent that is effective at treating multi-drug-resistant infections.

16 Dec 2019

New antimicrobial polymer can kill bacteria resistant to common antibiotics

Researchers from Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, MIT's research enterprise in Singapore, and Nanyang Technological University have designed an antimicrobial polymer that can kill bacteria resistant to commonly used antibiotics, including the superbug Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

12 Dec 2019

Manuka honey fights infection in surgical dressings

And now, Manuka honey is proving a gamechanger in the fight against extremely drug-resistant infections, according to a new study published in the journal Frontiers.

5 Dec 2019

Household factors promote rapid staph superbug spread within families

A new study published in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases on November 21, 2019, shows how the superbug called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can get into a house and spread rapidly between family members and pets, with the potential to cause devastating infections.

27 Nov 2019

New clinical practice guideline published for adults with community acquired pneumonia

The American Thoracic Society and the Infectious Diseases Society of America have published an official clinical guideline on the diagnosis and treatment of adults with community acquired pneumonia (CAP) in the ATS's Oct. 1 American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

1 Oct 2019

Genetic mutation appears to help people fight off MRSA

Researchers have discovered that people who carry a certain genetic mutation may have a greater chance of fighting off MRSA infections.

18 Sep 2019