Feature Channels: Drug Resistance

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17-Dec-2009 4:40 PM EST
Compound Found to Safely Counter Deadly Bird Flu
University of Wisconsin–Madison

A study suggests that a new compound, one on the threshold of final testing in humans, may be more potent and safer for treating “bird flu” than the antiviral drug best known by the trade name Tamiflu.

Released: 3-Dec-2009 2:45 PM EST
New Clues Into How Invasive Parasite Spreads
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered a possible strategy against an invasive parasite that infects more than a quarter of the world’s population, including 50 million Americans.

Released: 3-Dec-2009 1:45 PM EST
Stopping MRSA Before It Becomes Dangerous Is Possible
Sandia National Laboratories

Drug-resistant hospital bacteria could be inactivated at their outset.

Released: 24-Nov-2009 8:15 PM EST
Alzheimer's Study Leads to Better Drug for Infections
Washington University in St. Louis

Research into Alzheimer's disease seems an unlikely approach to yield a better way to fight urinary tract infections (UTIs), but that's what scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and elsewhere recently reported.

22-Oct-2009 1:00 PM EDT
New Combination Therapy Looks Promising Against Ulcer Bacteria
American College of Gastroenterology (ACG)

Results of a new study reveal that a seven-day course of LOAD therapy is superior to LAC at eliminating the H. pylori bacterium in patients with gastritis and peptic ulcers.

Released: 18-Oct-2009 5:00 PM EDT
Student Develops New E. coli Vaccine
University of Saskatchewan

Food and water around the world could soon become safer for human consumption thanks to a new cattle vaccine created by University of Saskatchewan graduate student David Asper.

Released: 23-Sep-2009 4:25 PM EDT
Extracts of Common Spices May Prevent the Production of E. coli O157 Toxin
Institute of Food Technologists (IFT)

Researchers found that a common kitchen spice contains an active component that reduces the deadliness of the Escherichia coli O157 toxin, according to a new study in the Journal of Food Science, published by the Institute of Food Technologists. E. coli O157 toxins cause abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhea, acute renal failure and gastrointestinal bleeding.

Released: 17-Sep-2009 4:30 PM EDT
Loyola Opens New Bilingual Clinic Dedicated to Treating MRSA
Loyola Medicine

New MRSA Clinic staffed by board-certified infectious disease physicians, researchers.

9-Sep-2009 2:00 PM EDT
Scientists Discover Mechanism to Make Existing Antibiotics More Effective at Lower Doses
NYU Langone Health

A new study published in the September 11, 2009 issue of Science by researchers at the NYU School of Medicine reveals a conceptually novel mechanism that plays an important role in making human pathogens like Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus anthracis resistant to numerous antibiotics.

Released: 10-Sep-2009 1:30 PM EDT
Researcher Publishes Discovery of Chemical Additive That May Make Old Antibiotics Viable Against Antibiotic-Resistant Bugs
Texas Tech University

Chemical additive may turn back the clock for many old antibiotics that have lost effectiveness from overuse.

Released: 3-Sep-2009 9:00 PM EDT
Surgical Scrub Solution: It’s Good for Patients, Too
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Giving critically ill hospital patients a daily bath with a mild, soapy solution of the same antibacterial agent used by surgeons to “scrub in” before an operation can dramatically cut down, by as much as 73 percent, the number of patients who develop potentially deadly bloodstream infections, according to a new study by patient safety experts at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and five other institutions.

18-Aug-2009 2:00 PM EDT
Study Finds Efforts to Curb Antibiotic Usage in Ambulatory Settings Are Successful
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Researchers with Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Department of Preventive Medicine have completed a large epidemiologic study to assess United States usage trends for antibiotic prescriptions. The study, which examined antibiotic prescription data from 1995 through 2006 to assess whether initiatives that began in the mid-1990s to curb antibiotic use have had a positive impact on prescribing, found the efforts to curb unnecessary prescriptions effective.

6-Aug-2009 8:45 PM EDT
MRSA May Accompany Hospital Patients Into Home Health Settings
JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association

Infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) appears relatively common among patients discharged from the hospital into home health care, according to a report in the August 10/24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. In addition, about one-fifth of infected patients may transmit the organism to other people in their households.

Released: 10-Aug-2009 1:10 PM EDT
Misuse of Common Antibiotic is Creating Resistant TB
American Thoracic Society (ATS)

Use of a common antibiotic may be undercutting its utility as a first-line defense against drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). Fluoroquinolones are the most commonly prescribed class of antibiotics in the U.S. and are used to fight a number of different infections such as sinusitis and pneumonia. They are also an effective first line of defense against TB infections that show drug resistance. New research shows, however, that widespread general use of fluoroquinolones may be creating a strain of fluoroquinolone-resistant TB.

Released: 14-Jul-2009 12:05 AM EDT
Researchers Map How Staph Infections Alter Immune System
UT Southwestern Medical Center

Infectious disease specialists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have mapped the gene profiles of children with severe Staphylococcus aureus infections, providing crucial insight into how the human immune system is programmed to respond to this pathogen and opening new doors for improved therapeutic interventions.

Released: 30-Jun-2009 4:00 PM EDT
Team Develops Anti-Infection Technology
WVU Medicine

Combat-related injuries plague the military in part because of multidrug-resistant bacteria. Imagine being able to spray a compound fracture with microcapsules that deliver a drug to bolster the immune system, stopping infection before it starts. That technology might be around the corner, says Bingyun Li, Ph.D., of WVU.

Released: 26-May-2009 5:05 PM EDT
Common Antibiotics May be Best First Treatment for Children with MRSA-related Infections
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

Penicillin and other antibiotics in the beta-lactam family work as well as other antibiotics to treat MRSA infections in the skin and soft-tissue of children and may help prevent further resistance to antibiotic treatment.

Released: 12-May-2009 8:30 PM EDT
Bacteria Create Aquatic Superbugs in Waste Treatment Plants
University of Michigan

For bacteria in wastewater treatment plants, the stars align perfectly to create a hedonistic mating ground for antibiotic-resistant superbugs eventually discharged into streams and lakes.

Released: 30-Apr-2009 9:00 PM EDT
New Technology Shows Promise Against Resistant Staph Infections
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have combined their revolutionary new drug-delivery system with a powerful antimicrobial agent to treat potentially deadly drug-resistant staph infections in mice. The study is published this month in the online version of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

Released: 16-Mar-2009 11:25 AM EDT
Flies May Spread Drug-Resistant Bacteria from Poultry Operations
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found evidence that houseflies collected near broiler poultry operations may contribute to the dispersion of drug-resistant bacteria and thus increase the potential for human exposure to drug-resistant bacteria. The findings demonstrate another potential link between industrial food animal production and exposures to antibiotic resistant pathogens.

15-Jan-2009 11:10 AM EST
E. coli Persists Against Antibiotics Through HipA-Induced Dormancy
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Bacteria hunker down and survive antibiotic attack when a protein flips a chemical switch that throws them into a dormant state until treatment abates, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the Jan.16 edition of Science.

Released: 16-Dec-2008 10:35 AM EST
Genes Involved in Antibiotic Resistance Vary within a Species
Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine scientist leads comparative analysis of six genomes of Acinetobacter baumannii; First genome sequence to be completed in Cleveland.

Released: 25-Nov-2008 4:05 PM EST
Synthetic Virus Supports a Bat Origin for SARS and Establishes Response Strategy for Emerging Infections
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

SARS "“ severe acute respiratory syndrome "“ alarmed the world five years ago as the first global pandemic of the 21st century. The coronavirus (SARS-CoV) that sickened more than 8,000 people "“ and killed nearly 800 of them "“ may have originated in bats, but the actual animal source is not known.

Released: 25-Nov-2008 10:40 AM EST
Researchers Recreate SARS Virus, Open Door for Potential Defenses Against Future Strains
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Vanderbilt University Medical Center have synthetically reconstructed the bat variant of the SARS coronavirus (CoV) that caused the SARS epidemic of 2003.

Released: 3-Nov-2008 11:00 AM EST
Avoiding the MRSA “Superbug”
Harvard Health Publications

At any one time, up to 30% of perfectly healthy people carry the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, which lives in the human nose. In most cases, the bugs are harmless, but an antibiotic-resistant form of S. aureus is becoming more common. Methicillin-resistant S. aureus, or MRSA, can be difficult to treat, but there are ways to avoid infection, reports the Harvard Men's Health Watch.

Released: 22-Oct-2008 3:00 PM EDT
Researchers Find Clue to Antibiotic Resistance
University of Alabama at Birmingham

UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) researchers have discovered how one highly effective antibiotic finds and destroys its targeted bacteria. The findings could have great implications for combating antibiotic resistance and promoting antibiotic efficiency. In research published online Oct. 22 in Nature, the UAB team pinpointed the place on bacteria where an antibiotic called myxopyronin launches its attack, and why that attack is successful.

Released: 3-Sep-2008 8:55 AM EDT
‘Superbug’ Breast Infections Controllable in Nursing Mothers
UT Southwestern Medical Center

Many nursing mothers who have been hospitalized for breast abscesses are afflicted with the "superbug" methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, but according to new research by UT Southwestern Medical Center physicians, conservative treatment can deal with the problem.

Released: 14-Jul-2008 12:00 AM EDT
Superbugs Are a Super Problem!
NovaBay Pharmaceuticals

MRSA infections are blamed on the failures of antibiotics. Dr. Nafsika Georgopapadakou, Editor-in-Chief of Drug Resistance Updates, believes MRSA is similar to a slow moving hurricane, gathering strength and resistance as it spreads. "Once the "˜superbug' hits a community or hospital," asks Dr. Georgopapadakou, "are populations ready to cope?"

Released: 30-Jun-2008 12:10 AM EDT
Rising Number of Severe Bone Infections, Health Complications in Children Linked to MRSA
UT Southwestern Medical Center

The emergence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as a major pathogen has led to more complications and longer hospital stays for children with acute bone infections, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report.

Released: 24-Jun-2008 9:00 AM EDT
Athletes Susceptible to Antibiotic-resistant Staph Infections
American Academy of Dermatology

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly referred to as MRSA, is a type of staph that causes infections resistant to a class of common antibiotics that includes methicillin, penicillin, amoxicillin and oxacillin. While MRSA infections were traditionally associated with extended hospital stays, they are now becoming more common in everyday life.

Released: 17-Jun-2008 3:00 PM EDT
Nasty Superbugs
Mayo Clinic

Superbugs -- bacteria that are resistant to many commonly used antibiotics -- can seem scary. Antibiotic resistance means illnesses last longer, and the risk of complications and death increases.

Released: 11-Jun-2008 12:05 PM EDT
How to Protect Yourself from MRSA in Gyms, Health Clubs
Loyola Medicine

Loyola infection-control physician, nurse say simple steps can help reduce your risk of contracting potentially deadly superbug.

6-Mar-2008 4:00 PM EST
MRSA Screening at Hospital Does Not Appear to Reduce Infection Rate
JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association

New findings do not support the recommendation for universal screening on hospital admission for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) to reduce the rate of hospital-acquired infections in surgical patients, according to a study in the March 12 issue of JAMA.

Released: 5-Mar-2008 1:45 PM EST
MRSA Is a Slow Moving Hurricane That Cannot be Averted Says Infection Expert
NovaBay Pharmaceuticals

Dr. Ron Najafi, CEO of NovaBay. Dr. Najafi believes the issue of MRSA is similar to a slow moving hurricane, gathering strength and resistance as it spreads. "Once the "˜superbug' hits a community or hospital," asks Dr. Najafi, "are populations ready to deal with it?"

Released: 19-Feb-2008 2:30 PM EST
Evolutionary History of SARS Supports Bats as Virus Source
Ohio State University

Scientists who have studied the genome of the virus that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) say their comparisons to related viruses offer new evidence that the virus infecting humans originated in bats.

Released: 18-Feb-2008 5:45 PM EST
Math Modeling Offers New Ways to Fight Dual-resistant Hospital Infections
Arizona State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

A mathematical model that looks at different strategies for curbing hospital-acquired infections suggests that antimicrobial cycling and patient isolation may be effective approaches when patients are harboring dual-resistant bacteria. Results were presented Feb. 17 by an Arizona State University professor at the AAAS annual meeting.

11-Feb-2008 8:00 PM EST
New Approach May Render Disease-Causing Staph Harmless
University of California San Diego

UCSD School of Medicine and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, has uncovered a completely new treatment strategy for serious Staphylococcus aureus ("Staph") infections. The research comes at a time when strains of antibiotic-resistant Staph (known as MRSA, for methicillin-resistant S. aureus) are spreading in epidemic proportions in both hospital and community settings.

Released: 13-Feb-2008 2:05 PM EST
Bacterial Toxin Closes Gate on Immune Response
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Researchers have demonstrated that a bacterial toxin from the common bacterium Staphylococcus aureus shuts down the control mechanism of the tunnel, called an ion channel, in immune cell membranes. The work has Implications for finding new ways to fight MRSA.

Released: 8-Feb-2008 1:40 PM EST
Team Reports New U.S. Trend in Antibiotic Resistance
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Researchers found drug-destroying enzymes in dozens of samples from blood, urine and sputum obtained over a six-year period in both hospital and non-hospital clinical settings. These bacteria were believed to be rare in the U.S.

Released: 30-Jan-2008 4:10 PM EST
Researchers Discover New Target for Preventing and Treating Flu
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Researchers have provided a new strategy for designing drugs that target resistant Type A influenza viral strains by solving the three-dimensional structure of a viral protein called the M2 proton channel. This protein is the molecular receptor for one class of influenza drugs.

17-Jan-2008 1:25 PM EST
Few Strategies Exist to Prevent MRSA Spread in Nursing Homes
Health Behavior News Service

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is making news as a dangerous, sometimes fatal disease for hospital patients, and in recent cases, students. MRSA is also a major source of illness acquired in nursing homes, yet few studies have looked at how to prevent its spread among elderly residents, according to a new review.

21-Jan-2008 5:00 PM EST
Single MRSA Bacteria Strain Causes Severe Infections
Houston Methodist

Researchers have discovered that the most dangerous form of staph infection now occurring in the United States originates from a single strain of bacteria, not multiple strains as previously believed. These findings were published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Released: 27-Dec-2007 2:00 PM EST
New Drug Targets May Fight Tuberculosis, Bacterial Infections in Novel Way
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medical College

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City say exciting new molecular targets -- so-called "virulence factors" that bacteria use to thrive once they are in the host -- present an alternative, potent means of stopping TB, leprosy and other bacterial illness.

Released: 20-Dec-2007 4:00 PM EST
Researchers Solve First Structure of a Key to Intact DNA Inheritance
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Researchers have solved the structure of a DNA-protein complex that is crucial in the spread of antibiotic resistance among bacteria. Knowing this structure also provides fundamental insight into how cells successfully divide into two new cells with intact DNA.

Released: 17-Dec-2007 10:15 AM EST
Poultry Workers at Increased Risk of Carrying Antibiotic-Resistant E. coli
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Poultry workers in the United States are 32 times more likely to carry E. coli bacteria resistant to the commonly used antibiotic, gentamicin, than others outside the poultry industry. This is the first U.S. research to show exposure occurring at a high level among industrial poultry workers.

Released: 11-Dec-2007 11:00 AM EST
Florida Middle Schoolers Teach Their Fellow Students A Lesson -- About Hand Hygiene
American Cleaning Institute

The SDA/CDC national hand hygiene education program, "Healthy Schools, Healthy People: It's a SNAP," have honored students at DeLaura Middle School in Satellite Beach, Florida, with the 2007 Top Classroom Award. DeLaura students created a handwashing education program for their classmates and the local community.

Released: 10-Dec-2007 2:15 PM EST
Saint Joseph's University

It's well known that a primary vector of disease is a germ-laden hand. Mano to mano, much misery in the land of the adenovirus is spread from a handshake. So what can you do when a sniffling colleague heads over to greet you at a holiday party?

Released: 6-Dec-2007 11:05 AM EST
University Mentors Grand Prize-Winning Team for Second Time in Nine-Year History of Siemens Competition
Stony Brook Medicine

Two Long Island students who spent the majority of their summer doing research in the Chemistry Lab of Professor Iwao Ojima at Stony Brook University, were selected as Grand Prize winners in the Team category of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology.

Released: 3-Dec-2007 3:40 PM EST
Hopkins Children’s Receives $1 Million Grant from the Gates Foundation to Build TB Bacterium Tracker
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Johns Hopkins Children's Center has received a $946,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to design a system that visually tracks the behavior of the tuberculosis bacterium in the body and its response to current and new drug treatments.

Released: 28-Nov-2007 12:00 AM EST
New Anti-Infective Drug Aims to Fight Drug-Resistant Bacteria at the Source
NovaBay Pharmaceuticals

Nasal colonization by Staphylococci is an important risk factor that predisposes carriers to nosocomial (hospital) infections. Researchers hope that a new compound may greatly reduce this layer of colonizing bacteria so that hospital patients will be less likely to experience serious MRSA infections.



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