‘Surprising’ finding by Australian-led study is first recorded instance of one antibiotic causing resistance to another in a different class
The rise of an almost untreatable superbug has been linked to a common antibiotic, an Australian-led study has found.
The study – published in Nature – found that rifaximin, an antibiotic used to treat liver disease, causes resistance to another antibiotic, daptomycin.
Continue reading...New climate network will teach trainee doctors more about heatstroke, dengue and malaria and role of global warming in health
Mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria will become a bigger part of the curriculum at medical schools across Europe in the face of the climate crisis.
Future doctors will also have more training on how to recognise and treat heatstroke, and be expected to take the climate impact of treatments such as inhalers for asthma into account, medical school leaders said, announcing the formation of the European Network on Climate & Health Education (Enche).
Continue reading...Living microbes that cause disease in humans and host antibiotic-resistance genes carried 1,200 miles
Microbes that cause disease in humans can travel thousands of miles on high-level winds, scientists have revealed for the first time.
The winds studied carried a surprising diversity of bacteria and fungi, including known pathogens and, some with genes for resistance to multiple antibiotics. Some of the microbes were shown to be alive – in other words, they had survived the long journey and were able to replicate.
Continue reading...Analysis suggests extent of problem UN estimates is causing 500,000 deaths a year in sub-Saharan region
A fifth of medicines in Africa could be substandard or fake, according to a major research project, raising the alarm over a problem that could be contributing to the deaths of countless patients.
Researchers from Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia analysed 27 studies in the review and found, of the 7,508 medicine samples included, 1,639 failed at least one quality test and were confirmed to be substandard or falsified.
Continue reading...Number of antibiotic prescriptions also up and officials warn against giving leftovers to friends and family
Giving leftover antibiotics to friends and family risks fuelling a surge in infections resistant to the drugs, officials have warned, as data shows a rise in related cases in England – with people of Asian heritage at greater risk than those who are white.
While severe antibiotic-resistant infections – such as bloodstream infections, UTIs, surgical site infections and respiratory infections – remained below 2018 levels last year, the latest estimates suggest there was a 4% rise between 2021 and 2022, from 55,792 to 58,224. The uptick follows a notable decline during the height of the Covid pandemic.
Continue reading...Nearly half of newly diagnosed infants in 10 countries have drug-resistant HIV, study finds, underlining need for new alternatives
HIV drug resistance is on the rise, according to a new report, which found that the number of people with the virus being treated with antiretrovirals had risen to 27.5 million – an annual increase of 2 million.
Four out of five countries with high rates had seen success in suppressing the virus with antiretroviral treatments, according to the World Health Organization’s HIV drug-resistance report.
Continue reading...Bacteriophages were superseded by modern antibiotics, but scientists believe they could be key to conquering antimicrobial resistance
It is, say enthusiasts, the cure that the world forgot. An old therapy that could take on the new superbugs.
Discovered in 1917 by French Canadian biologist Félix d’Hérelle, phages – or bacteriophages – are tiny viruses that are natural predators of bacteria. In many countries they were supplanted during the second world war by antibiotics but continued to be used for decades in eastern Europe.
Continue reading...New agreement secures 66% reduction in cost of rifapentine, which prevents ‘latent’ TB from becoming active
The price of a drug crucial to prevent tuberculosis is to be slashed by two-thirds in a deal that could stop millions from developing the disease.
TB is the leading cause of death from infectious disease worldwide, killing 1.5 million people a year, according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) global TB report.
Continue reading...Largest global study finds the drugs in two-thirds of test sites in 72 countries
Hundreds of rivers around the world from the Thames to the Tigris are awash with dangerously high levels of antibiotics, the largest global study on the subject has found.
Antibiotic pollution is one of the key routes by which bacteria are able develop resistance to the life-saving medicines, rendering them ineffective for human use. “A lot of the resistance genes we see in human pathogens originated from environmental bacteria,” said Prof William Gaze, a microbial ecologist at the University of Exeter who studies antimicrobial resistance but was not involved in the study.
Continue reading...Mucus that protects fish contains substances that could help tackle MRSA and E coli
Fish slime could be key to the development of new antibiotics, researchers say.
Antibiotic resistance is a growing danger, with experts warning of a return to a situation where everyday infections could become life-threatening. The NHS is aiming to cut antibiotic use by 15% by 2024 in a bid to tackle the problem – which has been called a danger to humanity – while the government has also announced it is looking into offering incentives to drug companies to come up with new antibiotics.
Continue reading...Printer ink, paint and arsenic found in some drugs sold to treat life-threatening illnesses
Doctors have called for an urgent international effort to combat a “pandemic of bad drugs” that is thought to kill hundreds of thousands of people globally every year.
A surge in counterfeit and poor quality medicines means that 250,000 children a year are thought to die after receiving shoddy or outright fake drugs intended to treat malaria and pneumonia alone, the doctors warned.
Continue reading...Discovery of genes, possibly carried by birds or humans, shows rapid spread of crisis
Genes associated with antibiotic-resistant superbugs have been discovered in the high Arctic, one of the most remote places on earth, showing the rapid spread and global nature of the resistance problem.
The genes were first identified in a hospital patient in India in 2007-8, then in surface waters in Delhi in 2010, probably carried there by sewage, and are now confirmed in soil samples from Svalbard in the Arctic circle, in a paper in the journal Environment International. They may have been carried by migrating birds or human visitors, but human impact on the area is minimal.
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