antibiotic resistance

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Antibiotic Use for Travelers' Diarrhea Favors Particularly Resistant Super Bacteria

Press Release | University of Helsinki | February 9, 2017

Every year, millions of travellers visit countries with poor hygiene, and approximately one third of them return home carrying antibiotic-resistant ESBL intestinal bacteria. Most of them remain unaware of this, as the bacteria cause no symptoms. High-risk areas for contracting ESBL bacteria are South and South-East Asia, Africa and Latin America. Diarrhoea is the most common health complaint for people who travel to poor regions of the world. Those contracting diarrhoea have an increased risk of ESBL acquisition, and if they choose to they treat it with antibiotics, the risk becomes multiplied...

Antibiotic Use In Chickens: Responsible For Hundreds Of Human Deaths?

Maryn McKenna | Wired | August 9, 2013

In the long back and forth between science and agriculture over the source of antibiotic resistance in humans — Due to antibiotic overuse on farms, or in human medicine? — one question has been stubbornly hard to answer. If antibiotic-resistant bacteria do arise on farms, do they leave the farm and circulate in the wider world? And if they do, how much damage do they do? Read More »

Antibiotic Use On The Farm: Are We Flying Blind?

Dan Charles | NPR | August 29, 2013

There's a heated debate over the use of antibiotics in farm animals. Critics say farmers overuse these drugs; farmers say they don't. Read More »

Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Are A Genuine Threat We Must All Fight

Heather Fairhead | The Guardian | January 24, 2013

Advances in medicine are in jeopardy. Doctors, governments, drug companies and patients all must change their behaviour Read More »

Antibiotic-Resistant Diseases Pose 'Apocalyptic' Threat, Top Expert Says

Ian Sample | The Guardian | January 23, 2013

Chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies tells MPs issue should be added to national risk register of civil emergencies Read More »

Antibiotics 'Fail 15%' Of Patients Due To Superbugs And ‘Reckless’ Prescription [United Kingdom]

Staff Writer | RT | September 26, 2014

One in seven patients can no longer be helped by antibiotics because they are increasingly ineffective after being handed out too freely by GPs. Experts warn that common infections could become potentially life-threatening for Britons...

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Antibiotics And The Meat We Eat

David A. Kessler | New York Times | March 27, 2013

SCIENTISTS at the Food and Drug Administration systematically monitor the meat and poultry sold in supermarkets around the country for the presence of disease-causing bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. These food products are bellwethers that tell us how bad the crisis of antibiotic resistance is getting. And they’re telling us it’s getting worse. Read More »

Antibiotics: Medical City’s Unhealthy Strain

Pushpa Narayan | The Times of India | October 9, 2014

...Chennai has been at the center of recent controversies over the use of antibiotics. The seminal 2010 Lancet paper that identified the emergence of superbugs resistant to a variety of antibiotics found that the superbugs came from Chennai and Hyderabad...

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Antimicrobial Resistance Diagnostic Challenge Selects 10 Semifinalists in First Phase of Competition

Press Release | National Institutes of Health | March 27, 2017

Ten semifinalists have been selected in the first phase of the Antimicrobial Resistance Diagnostic Challenge, a federal prize competition that will award up to a total of $20 million in prizes, subject to the availability of funds, for innovative rapid, point-of-need diagnostic tests to combat the emergence and spread of drug resistant bacteria. The semifinalists were selected for their concepts for a diagnostic based on a technical and programmatic evaluation from among 74 submissions. While semifinalists will each receive $50,000 to develop their concepts into prototypes, anyone can submit a prototype to compete in the second phase of the challenge to win up to $100,000...

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Antimicrobial Substances Identified in Komodo Dragon Blood

Press Release | American Chemical Society | February 22, 2017

In a land where survival is precarious, Komodo dragons thrive despite being exposed to scads of bacteria that would kill less hardy creatures. Now in a study published in the Journal of Proteome Research, scientists report that they have detected antimicrobial protein fragments in the lizard’s blood that appear to help them resist deadly infections. The discovery could lead to the development of new drugs capable of combating bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics...

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Australian Chief Scientist: Act Now, or Expect Deadly 'Post-Antibiotics Era'

Liat Clark | Wired | July 12, 2013

In the latest warning that antibiotics resistance is nearing dangerous levels in modern populations, Australia's chief scientist has issued a stark warning that if we don't invest in combatting it now, sore throats and other minor infections could one day be deadly. Read More »

Australian Teenage Science Prodigys Discover Ways to Reduce Antibiotic Resistance, Among Other "Phenomenal" Findings

Kimberley Le Lievre | The Canberra Times | February 12, 2017

Teenagers across Australia are producing scientific findings that could potentially change the way we live and the world we live in. One of the country's brightest young minds has developed a way to make bacteria less resistant to antibiotics. Another has created six new types of bioplastic including one which decomposes at 300 times faster than plastic. Two brothers have come up with a laser device to make road cycling safer...

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Beyond Antibiotics: A New Weapon Against Superbugs Shows Promise Share On Facebook Share On Twitter Share On Google Plus Share Via Email More Options

Ariana Eunjung Cha | The Washington Post | November 6, 2014

Over the past decade, the problem of deadly, drug-resistant superbugs has become a global crisis, outpacing new countermeasures and threatening to bring patient care back to beginning of the 20th century. These bugs are now responsible for 23,000 deaths and 2 million illnesses a year in the United States alone...

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Breeding Bacteria On Factory Farms

Mark Bittman | New York Times | July 9, 2013

The story of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in farm animals is not a simple one. But here’s the pitch version: Yet another study has reinforced the idea that keeping animals in confinement and feeding them antibiotics prophylactically breeds varieties of bacteria that cause disease in humans, disease that may not readily be treated by antibiotics... Read More »

Can We Engage Private Pharmacies To Help Control Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis?

Judy Stone | Forbes | February 13, 2017

Antibiotic resistance and infectious diseases have long been high on my list of things to worry about, with multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis vying for top honors. In 2015, 10.4 million people became ill with tuberculosis, and 1.8 million died, making TB one of the top causes of death globally. Six countries account for 60% of the cases: China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa. As I noted in a previous post, India is critically important to control of drug resistance as well as tuberculosis, as it has the highest TB burden, with 2.2 million infections annually, as well as the largest antibiotic consumption...

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