‘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...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...Models suggest deaths in poorer countries could be cut by 18% – or about 750,000 a year – with preventive measures
Every year 750,000 deaths linked to drug-resistant superbugs could be prevented through better access to clean water and sanitation, infection control and childhood vaccinations, research suggests.
Antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, is a huge global challenge, with the evolution of drug-resistant superbugs, driven by factors including inappropriate and excessive antibiotic use, raising the prospect of a future where modern medicine fails.
Continue reading...National Institute for Health and Care Excellence says national early warning score should be used to assess severity of illness
People who are severely ill with suspected sepsis should promptly be given life-saving access to antibiotics to prevent unnecessary deaths, according to updated guidance from a health watchdog.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has said that the national early warning score should be used to assess people with suspected sepsis aged 16 and over, who are not and have not recently been pregnant, and are in an acute hospital setting or ambulance.
Continue reading...Report finds more than one-third of population had at least one antimicrobial prescription subsidised by Australian government in 2022
Australia’s continued overuse of antibiotics is driving common and potentially dangerous infections to become increasingly resistant to drugs, including last resort treatments.
A major government report on antimicrobial use, published on Wednesday, found more than one-third (36.6%) of the population had at least one antimicrobial prescription subsidised by the Australian government in 2022, up from 32.9% in 2021.
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...Study urges Australia to research new drugs as it warns rate of mutated infections ‘much worse than anticipated’
“Alarming” rates of babies with infections resistant to common antibiotics in the Asia-Pacific region should prompt urgent investment into new drugs for treating childhood diseases, findings from a new study suggest.
The misuse and overuse of antibiotics is driving bugs to mutate so that common drugs are no longer effective to kill them, known as antimicrobial resistance. Dr Phoebe Williams, an infectious diseases paediatrician and antimicrobial resistance researcher with the University of Sydney, said she regularly travelled to work in hospitals in the south-east Asia and Pacific region where she found “entire wards of babies that have multi-drug resistant infections, and there is nothing left to treat them with”.
Continue reading...Study suggests antimicrobial used to promote livestock growth breeds bacteria more resistant to our natural defences
The blanket use of antibiotics in farming has led to the emergence of bacteria that are more resistant to the human immune system, scientists have warned.
The research suggests that the antimicrobial colistin, which was used for decades as a growth promoter on pig and chicken farms in China, resulted in the emergence of E coli strains that are more likely to evade our immune system’s first line of defence.
Continue reading...Scientists say albicidin has allowed them to take a giant step forward to creating a powerful new range of antibacterial drugs
Scientists have discovered a plant toxin whose unique method of dispatching bacteria could be used to create a powerful new range of antibiotics. The prospect of developing new antibacterial drugs this way has been hailed by doctors, who have been warning for many years that the steady rise of multidrug-resistant pathogens such as E coli now presents a dangerous threat to healthcare across the planet.
The new antibiotic – albicidin – attacks bacteria in a completely different way to existing drugs, a group of British, German and Polish scientists have revealed in a paper recently published in the journal Nature Catalysis. This suggests a new route could be exploited to tackle bacterial disease, they say.
Continue reading...Pharmacists are having to convert tablets into liquid alternatives needed for small children
Australian medical groups and pharmacists have warned that a national shortage of medicines including common antibiotics is getting worse, with some pharmacists having to convert tablets into liquid alternatives for children.
Some doctors are now urging the federal government to invest in the development of domestic manufacturing as a long-term solution to overcome global supply chain challenges.
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Continue reading...Tassal and Huon Aquaculture did not announce use of antibiotics, which may contribute to growth of antibiotic-resistant superbugs
More than a tonne of antibiotics was used to control a potentially deadly fish disease at two salmon farms in southern Tasmania earlier this year, but the companies and government made no public announcements at the time.
Reports submitted to the Environment Protection Agency by Tassal and Huon Aquaculture revealed wild fish had scavenged antibiotic-laced pellets below the salmon cages. One sample of three flathead caught off Coningham beach, 2km from the boundary of Tassal’s Sheppards lease, revealed antibiotics in the flesh of the fish above the reportable threshold. The monitoring reports were not made public until months after the disease outbreak.
Continue reading...Scientists observed fewer cases of avian bronchitis and superior meat after chickens given cannabis
It all began when Ong-ard Panyachatiraksa, a farm owner in the north of Thailand who is licensed to grow medicinal cannabis, was wondering what to do with the many excess leaves he had amassed. He asked: could his brood of chickens benefit from the leftovers?
Academics at Chiang Mai University were also curious. Since last January they have studied 1,000 chickens at Ong-ard’s Pethlanna organic farm, in Lampang, to see how the animals responded when cannabis was mixed into their feed or water.
The results are promising and suggest that cannabis could help reduce farmers’ dependence on antibiotics, according to Chompunut Lumsangkul, an assistant professor at Chiang Mai University’s department of animal and aquatic sciences, who led the study.
Continue reading...Research into C difficile found antibiotic resistance is growing as a result of overuse on farm stock
Scientists have uncovered evidence that dangerous versions of superbugs can spread from pigs to humans. The discovery underlines fears that intensive use of antibiotics on farms is leading to the spread of microbes resistant to them.
The discovery of the link has been made by Semeh Bejaoui and Dorte Frees of Copenhagen University and Soren Persson at Denmark’s Statens Serum Institute and focuses on the superbug Clostridioides difficile, which is considered one of the world’s major antibiotic resistance threats.
Continue reading...Pharmaceutical pollution poses ‘global threat to human and environmental health’, major study finds
Humanity’s drugs have polluted rivers across the entire world and pose “a global threat to environmental and human health”, according to the most comprehensive study to date.
Pharmaceuticals and other biologically active compounds used by humans are known to harm wildlife and antibiotics in the environment drive up the risk of resistance to the drugs, one of the greatest threats to humanity.
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...The winning essay in the Max Perutz science writing award 2021, published below, was written by Vicky Bennett from the department of biology and biochemistry at Bath University
In May, PhD students who are funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) were invited to enter the Max Perutz science writing award 2021 and write a compelling piece about their research for the non-scientific reader.
From the many entries received, the 10 that made the shortlist covered diverse topics, including dementia, childhood adversity, the role of genes in schizophrenia and the use of hypnosis to treat psychosis.
Continue reading...From willow bark to mosquitoes, nature has been a source of vital medications for centuries. But species die-off caused by human activity is putting this at risk
What will biodiversity loss mean for drug discovery?
Traditionally used as a painkiller for headaches, snowdrops are now known to slow the onset of dementia. In the 1950s, a natural alkaloid called galantamine was extracted from the bulbs. Today, a synthesised version of this is used to treat Alzheimer’s disease and scientists are investigating further to see if snowdrops might also be effective in the treatment of HIV.
However, over-harvesting has resulted in many snowdrop species becoming threatened. The snowdrop isn’t alone – plants are an abundant source of potential new medicines, often providing us with chemical templates for the design of novel drugs. Yet scientists across the globe say unsustainable use of wild medicinal plants is contributing to biodiversity loss and could limit opportunities to source medicines from nature in the future.
Continue reading...Despite chronic pain and deadly infections, Palestinians wounded in protests three years ago still hope to recover without surgery
Sitting on his hospital bed, with external fixators screwed into his right leg, Mohammed al-Mughari has been in pain and on medication since he was shot in the leg more than three years ago.
He lives with a chronic bone infection – from bacteria now resistant to most antibiotics. Doctors, including in Jordan and Egypt where he sought treatment previously, have all recommended that an amputation could end his long-term suffering, but he has steadfastly refused.
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.
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