Staphylococcal Infection News and Research

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How Staphylococcus aureus resists our natural defenses

Researchers at the University of Washington have uncovered how the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, including the notorious MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staph aureus) "superbug" strains, resists our body's natural defenses against infection.

25 Mar 2008

Tackling antimicrobial resistance

Drug resistance is making many diseases increasingly difficult and sometimes impossible to treat, according to Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

11 Mar 2008

New clinical standards on the treatment of patients with cystic fibrosis

New clinical standards on the treatment of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) have been released following an exhaustive review of all available literature.

16 Nov 2007

Sandia develops portable microfluidic platform to detect biotoxins

Of all the threat scenarios facing emergency responders around the country, the release and spread of a dangerous biotoxin in a large public space is one of the most troubling.

27 Sep 2007

Pets could be to blame for infections of multi-resistant bacteria in humans

The next time you have difficulty fighting a bacterial infection, your next trip to the doctor might be to the family veterinarian.

31 Jul 2007

Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma becomes more common in U.S.

The cancer known as cutaneous T-cell lymphoma became substantially more common in the United States between 1973 and 2002, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Dermatology.

17 Jul 2007

Community-associated antibiotic-resistant staph infections increase

The incidence of antibiotic-resistant staph infections associated with being acquired in the community and not in health care institutions increased almost seven-fold in Chicago's Cook County Hospital system between 2000 and 2005, according to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

30 May 2007

New treatment for toxic shock syndrome

Researchers at the University of Minnesota and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a new therapeutic that neutralizes Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) more effectively than other treatments.

23 May 2007

MRSA - surveillance, rapid screening and hospital hygiene

The origins and future perspectives about meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are outlined in a Review in this week's issue of The Lancet.

31 Aug 2006

New fungal defensin, plectasin, possesses as much power as penicillin

A peptide identified in a fungus found in northern European pine forests possesses as much power as penicillin as well as vancomycin, according to an international team of researchers.

12 Oct 2005

Nabi Biopharmaceuticals granted Staphylococcus Antigen and Vaccine patent

Nabi Biopharmaceuticals has announced that it has been granted U.S. Patent No. 6,936,258 entitled "Staphylococcus Antigen and Vaccine" by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the composition of a strategically important glycoprotein-based antigen (GP-1) associated with three Staphylococcal strains: S. epidermidis, S. haemolyticus and S. hominis.

11 Oct 2005

Endocarditis infection is increasing due to staphylococcal infection

An international study reveals that infective endocarditis, infection and inflammation involving the heart valves is commonly associated with health care factors and is increasingly due to staphylococcal infection, according to a study in the June 22/29 issue of JAMA.

21 Jun 2005

MRSA study demonstrates need for frequent hand washing and environmental disinfection in health care settings

A major cause of hospital-acquired infections can persist for days and even weeks on environmental surfaces found in healthcare settings, including bed linens, computer keyboard covers and acrylic fingernails

6 Jun 2005

HIV protease inhibitors block programmed cell death in vivo

The immunodeficiency that arises in HIV may be due to excessive programmed cell death of immune CD4 T cells.

3 Jun 2005

Researchers test vaccine to prevent dangerous Staphylococcal infections

Vanderbilt University Medical Center infectious diseases researchers are launching a trial for a new vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus. The vaccine, if proven effective, could help curb the growing threat of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), an emerging organism rapidly spreading through close personal contact.

10 May 2005

As science gets wiser, so do the bugs

As science gets wiser, so do the bugs. The rates of drug-resistant bacteria infecting patients in the community and in the hospital have been increasing steadily in recent years, according to two new studies in the June 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

9 May 2005

Newly emerging illness, named staphylococcal purpura fulminans

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have identified a newly emerging illness, named staphylococcal purpura fulminans. The disease begins as a respiratory tract infection, which then is infected by Staphylococcus aureus.

30 Mar 2005

Innovative computer modeling technique predicts how protein molecule behavior in response to environmental conditions

In a development that could have great significance for efforts to understand how the basic molecular machinery of life works, researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) have successfully applied an innovative computer modeling technique to predicting how protein molecules will behave in response to different environmental conditions.

15 Mar 2005

Study of infection prevention therapy for premature babies

Whether donated human antibodies can protect premature babies from a common and potentially dangerous bacterial infection is under study at the Medical College of Georgia Children’s Medical Center.

4 Nov 2004

Bactericidal (bacteria-killing) versus bacteriostatic (bacteria-inhibiting) drugs for treating infections

When treating an infection, physicians may face a choice between using a bactericidal (bacteria-killing) drug, a bacteriostatic (bacteria-inhibiting) drug or a combination of the two.

21 Oct 2004