Latest Antibiotic Stories
Acinetobacter baumanni, a pathogenic bacterium that is a poster child of deadly hospital acquired infections, is one tough customer. It resists most antibiotics, is seemingly immune to disinfectants, and can survive desiccation with ease. Indeed, the prevalence with which it infects soldiers wounded in Iraq earned it the nickname "Iraqibacter." In the United States, it is the bane of hospitals, opportunistically infecting patients through open wounds, catheters and breathing tubes. Some...
Treating very young infants with antibiotics may predispose them to being overweight in childhood, according to a study of more than 10,000 children by researchers at the NYU School of Medicine and the NYU Wagner School of Public Service and published in the online August 21, 2012, issue of the International Journal of Obesity. The study found that on average, children exposed to antibiotics from birth to 5 months of age weighed more for their height than children who weren't exposed....
DALLAS, Aug. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Golden Seeds has invested in a $1.0M Series A financing of DxUpClose. DxUpClose is developing an in-vitro antibiotic sensitivity test for use at point-of-care, designed to deliver results in less than an hour. The first target market is urinary tract infections. Physicians currently do not have real time tools to test antibiotics against bacteria so they have to guess or order expensive lab tests which take 24 to 48 hours for results. Without lab...
JENA, Germany, August 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- SIRS-Lab, the innovative molecular diagnostics company specialized in sepsis, today announced the successful completion of recruitment in its 1'000-patient trial. The prospective, blinded multicenter study involved 13 key medical centers across Germany and focused on ICU patients. Results are expected in early 2013. The evaluated VYOO(R) test detects the presence of genetic material from a broad panel of pathogens in whole blood,...
Scientists of the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine have breathed new life into a forgotten technique and so succeeded in detecting resistant tuberculosis in circumstances where so far this was hardly feasible. Tuberculosis bacilli that have become resistant against our major antibiotics are a serious threat to world health. If we do not take efficient and fast action, 'multiresistant tuberculosis' may become a worldwide epidemic, wiping out all medical achievements of the last...
The Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (JPIDS) today released the largest and most rigorous evaluation to date of the impact on reducing the days of antibiotic therapy in a children's hospital using a prospective-audit-with-feedback antibiotic stewardship program (ASP). The study utilized a control group of the 25-member children's hospitals of the Child Health Corporation of America. A companion article describes how the ASP was created within this 317-bed tertiary care...
It is becoming widely recognized that probiotics are necessary to maintain healthy intestinal and digestive function and can have an effect on weight gain or loss. They are seen all over the news, but what are they? (PRWEB) August 09, 2012 It is becoming widely recognized that probiotics are necessary to maintain healthy intestinal and digestive function and can have an effect on weight gain or loss. They are seen all over the news, but what are they? Essentially, probiotics are the...
AUSTIN, Texas and TORONTO, Aug. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Affinium Pharmaceuticals announced today that full recruitment has been achieved in its multi-center Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating oral AFN-1252 in acute bacterial skin & skin structure infections ("ABSSSI"). This Phase 2 trial is the first human efficacy study conducted with a new class of antibiotics designed to specifically inhibit staphylococcal fatty acid biosynthesis via a new drug target, the fatty acid synthase...
(Ivanhoe Newswire) – A new training tool that helps doctors involve patients in decision-making has been shown to help reduce the use of antibiotics for acute respiratory infections. Antibiotics are often prescribed for respiratory infections, though many are not bacterial infections and will not respond to antibiotic use. It could be dangerous because antibiotic overuse could lead to antibiotic resistance in addition to being a health concern. A cluster randomized trial was conducted...
A training tool that helps physicians involve patients in decision-making can reduce the use of antibiotics for acute respiratory infections, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Antibiotics are prescribed too often for acute respiratory infections, even though many are not bacterial infections and therefore will not respond to antibiotic use. Overuse of antibiotics is a health concern and may be contributing to antibiotic resistance....
Latest Antibiotic Reference Libraries
Staphylococcus aureus is a facultative anaerobic gram-positive coccus, and is the most common cause of staph infections. It is commonly part of the skin flora found in the nose and on skin. Around 20% of the human population is long-term carriers. It gets its golden color due to its carotenoid pigment staphyloxanthin. The pigment acts as a virulence factor with an antioxidant action that allows the microbe to evade death by reactive oxygen species used by the host immune system. Staphylococci...
Bacillus anthracis is a Gram-positive spore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium, with a width of 1-1.2µm and a length of 3-5µm. It can grow in aerobic or anaerobic conditions. It is the only known bacterium to synthesize a protein capsule and the only pathogenic bacterium to carry its own adenylyl cyclase virulence factor. They form oval spores located centrally in a non-swollen sporangium. These spores are highly resilient and can survive extreme temperatures, low-nutrient environments, and...
