Latest Enterococcus Stories

Whilst some bacteria can provide health benefits there are others that can do annoying things – like kill you. So in order to save ourselves we should probably kill them first. So, stand aside bacterial wipes, hand sanitizers and antiseptic sprays there is a new bug zapper in town. Bring in the plasma flashlight – a torch that emits a plasma jet that kills bacteria on the skin in an instant. Developed by a group of Chinese and Australian scientists, including CSIRO, the flashlight...

Antibiotic-resistant enterococci are a serious problem for patients in the hospital, but little is known about how these bacteria are able to escape antibiotics. New discoveries about the ways in which enterococci turn their resistance to cephalosporin antibiotics on and off are described in a study that will be published November 1 in the online journal mBio®. The new details about resistance could lead to new therapies for preventing and treating enterococcal infections. Enterococcus...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- IntelligentMDx (IMDx) announced today that it has received CE-Mark for its second automated molecular test for the Abbott FDA cleared m2000 instrument. The IMDx(TM) VanR for Abbott m2000(TM) test accurately detects and distinguishes the vanA and vanB genes most commonly found in vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) in specimens from patients at risk for colonization or infection. Detection of both the vanA and vanB genes allows for...

Mass. Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School investigators share finding in July 2011 issue of Antimicrobial Agents and ChemotherapyHospitals struggle to prevent the infections that complicate treatment for cancer, joint replacement, heart surgery and other conditions. Hospital-acquired infections are often resistant to multiple antibiotics, leading to approximately 100,000 deaths and more than $30 billion in additional health care costs yearly. New drugs are being developed to combat these...

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Superbugs aren't just a concern when walking through a hospital. They could also be coming from our animal farms. According to a new study, insects could be responsible for spreading antibiotic-resistant bacteria from pigs to humans.Ludek Zurek and collaborators from Kansas and North Carolina State Universities isolated bacteria from farm pig feces and compared them to the bacteria present in the intestines of the house flies and German cockroaches caught on those farms....

Superbugs are not just a problem in hospitals but could be also coming from our animal farms. Research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Microbiology indicates insects could be responsible for spreading antibiotic resistant bacteria from pigs to humans.Ludek Zurek and collaborators from Kansas and North Carolina State Universities isolated bacteria from farm pig feces and compared them to the bacteria present in the intestines of the house flies and German cockroaches...

A new study, published Tuesday in the open access journal Proteome Science, has found the presence of antibiotic-resistant enterococci bacteria in seagull stool, leading researchers to believe that the birds could be spreading difficult-to-treat infections.The team of researchers, which included Gilberto Igrejas from the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro in Portugal, studied the droppings of the Larus cachinnans species of gulls. They found that one out of every ten carry...

DURHAM, N.C., March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- bioMerieux - a world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics - today announced the launch of the first Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared chromID(TM) VRE, a simple and cost-effective solution in the struggle against vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). chromID VRE is the first to receive an FDA 510(k) clearance for the qualitative detection of Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis showing acquired resistance to vancomycin in...

Unexpected research findings show resource managers and researchers may have to rethink how they determine if water will make people sick.Bacteria commonly used to indicate health risks in recreational waters might not be so reliable after all. Pathogenic E. coli were pervasive in stream-water samples with low concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria. This is one of the unexpected findings from recent research that may affect how researchers and resource managers rely on indicator bacteria...

Vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) have been found in sewage sludge, a by-product of waste-water treatment frequently used as a fertilizer. Researchers writing in the open access journal Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica point out the danger of antibiotic resistance genes passing into the human food chain.Leena Sahlström, from the Finnish Food safety Authority, worked with a team of researchers from the Swedish National Veterinary Institute to study sewage sludge from a waste-water...