superbugs

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European Inventor Armed With Lab-On-A-Chip Fights Infectious Disease And Personalizes Skin Care

Tina Shah | Tech Times | January 20, 2015

Some argue antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the ability of microbes to develop resistance to antimicrobial drugs, is a growing threat. Others say superbugs are already here, citing the increase in strains of antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis worldwide and the spread of staph infections...

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Factory Farms Sow Superbugs

Jan Schakowsky and Dev Gowda | Chicago Sun-Times.com | October 7, 2014

Imagine a world where a scraped knee on a playground could have deadly complications. A world where chemotherapy and radiation are less effective cancer treatments because of increasingly common post-treatment infections, or where lifesaving drugs we regularly rely on today no longer heal people...

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Farmers Giving Livestock More Antibiotics Despite Superbug Threat

Josh Hicks | The Washington Post | October 7, 2014

The sale of antibiotics for livestock increased 16 percent from 2009 to 2012 in a trend that has troubling implications for resistance in humans, according to the Food and Drug Administration...

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FDA Has Vetted Just Seven Percent Of Animal Antibiotics For Superbug Risk

Michael Erman | Reuters | September 15, 2014

Scientists fear the widespread use of antibiotics on the farm may be a factor in the rise of "superbugs" – bacteria that grow resistant to drugs, infect humans and defy conventional medicines.  Amid these concerns, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has come under pressure to curb antibiotic use in farm animals. In 2003, the agency announced plans to evaluate every new animal drug based on the drug's potential to create superbugs...

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FDA’s Step To Limit Animal Antibiotics Symbolic–Animal Husbandry Issues Must Still be Addressed

Ralph Loglisci | Civil Eats | December 13, 2013

In 1977, the [FDA] let everyone know that there was strong evidence that the use of penicillin and tetracycline for anything other than treating disease in livestock, could lead to the development of super bugs strong enough to render the powerful antibiotics useless in people. [...] Now, [the FDA] has finally mustered the courage to approve a strongly worded recommendation for producers to stop using medically important antibiotics as growth promoters and to give veterinarians oversight over therapeutic uses of the life-saving drugs. Read More »

Fears Abound As Superbugs Ravage India

Meredith Engel | NY Daily News | December 4, 2014

The country's dependence on antibiotics could be causing some bacteria to become resistant to medication. Third-World countries like India have higher rates of bacterial infections...

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First Nations’ Ancient Medicinal Clay Shows Promise Against Today’s Worst Bacterial Infections

Press Release | University of British Columbia | January 26, 2016

Naturally occurring clay from Kisameet Bay, B.C. — long used by the Heiltsuk First Nation for its healing potential — exhibits potent antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant pathogens, according to new research from the University of British Columbia. The researchers recommend the rare mineral clay be studied as a clinical treatment for serious infections caused by ESKAPE strains of bacteria...

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For V.A. Hospitals (And Patients), A Major Health Victory

Tina Rosenberg | The New York Times | January 30, 2015

Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the United States is making modest progress in bringing down rates of hospital-acquired infections...

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Health System Turns To RFID To Slash Infection Rates

Dan Bowman | FierceHealth IT | January 13, 2014

Infection control via improved hand-washing efforts is the impetus for a recently announced pilot project involving big data and wireless sensors at Columbus, Ohio-based OhioHealth. Read More »

Hospitals' Struggles To Beat Back Familiar Infections Before Ebola Arrived

Staff Writer | Kaiser Health News | October 23, 2014

While Ebola stokes public anxiety, more than one in six hospitals – including some top medical centers – are having trouble stamping out less exotic but sometimes deadly infections, federal records show...

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How Antibiotic Pollution Of Waterways Creates Superbugs

Humans pollute the world with many chemicals and some of these affect living things, even at very low concentrations. Endocrine-disrupting compounds, which interfere with hormones, are a good example, but recently more concern has been raised about pollution with antibiotics. The problem is that up to 80% of an antibiotic dose passes straight through the body. So most of the antibiotics used in medical treatment or during animal production may end up in waste water. And waste treatment plants generally don’t remove antibiotics very well. Antibiotic pollution also comes from spreading manure on crop land, or using sewage as fertilizer. Waste water released from hospitals and antibiotic production plants is another major source.

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How Monsanto’s GMO Creations Caused 291,000 Suicides In India

Mike Barrett | Natural Society | November 17, 2014

It is no secret that Monsanto is making life difficult for countless farmers in America with its parented seeds...But did you know that Monsanto is also leading hundreds of thousands of farmers to suicide?...

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How Superbugs Hitch A Ride From Hog Farms Into Your Community

Tom Philpott | Mother Jones | September 13, 2014

Factory-scale farms don't just house hundreds of genetically similar animals in tight quarters over vast cesspools collecting their waste...And when you dose the animals daily with small amounts of antibiotics—a common practice—the bacteria strains in these vast germ reservoirs quite naturally develop the ability to withstand anti-bacterial treatments...

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How Superbugs Threaten Your Food And Life

Sanchita Sharma | Hindustan Times | May 10, 2014

...This worrying problem causing as much global concern as terrorism is antibiotic resistance. Antibiotics, the wonder drugs that made surgery safe and stopped disease outbreaks by preventing and curing all infections four decades ago, can no longer do so...

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How the Trump Budget Undercuts Security Risks Posed by Pandemics

President Trump proposed a US$54 billion military budget increase to solidify the security of our nation. However, the government also recognizes pandemic threats as an issue of national security – one that knows no borders. In the last four years, we have faced the Ebola epidemic – contained after significant loss of life – and Zika, which is still not contained. Collectively, we will feel these effects for a generation, while children born with Zika-related defects and their families will feel the effects every day of their lives...

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