Drug Resistance News

Latest MRSA / Drug Resistance News From Medical News Today.

Total news: 25
Last news: August 24, 2007 08:00:00

AdvanDx, Inc. announced that the Lee Memorial Health System has implemented AdvanDxs rapid, molecular-based PNA FISH tests that provide rapid identification of bloodstream pathogens in hours instead of days, enabling labs to quickly report critical information to physicians and pharmacists to ensure optimal therapy and help reduce death rates for patients afflicted with bloodstream infections. Every year, 350,000 patients acquire bloodstream infections in the U.S. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Phage Therapy May Control Staph Infections in Humans Including MRSAResearchers from Italy have identified a bacteriophage active against Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin-resistant strains, in mice and possibly humans. They report their findings in the August 2007 issue of the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.S. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Researchers at UCLA have developed a mathematical model that mimics a particularly nasty and ongoing outbreak in the Los Angeles County Jail (LACJ) of the flesh eating bacteria Staphylococcus Aureus. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded a UCLA research team a five-year, $9 million contract to fund a multicenter study investigating antibiotic treatments for MRSA, a staph infection seen increasingly in communities across the nation that is resistant to antibiotics most commonly used to treat skin infections.The study, to be led by co-principal investigators Dr. David A. Talan and Dr. Gregory J. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Many are familiar with copper being used for electrical wiring, as roofing material for houses, and to make pennies. Now, Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) researchers want to know if copper can be used to kill deadly pathogens found in hospitals. MUSC will participate in a study supported by congressionally appropriated funds to determine the antimicrobial effectiveness of copper, brass and bronze. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

FDA on Monday approved Pfizers antiretroviral drug maraviroc, which belongs to a new class of antiretrovirals that could provide an alternative to HIV-positive people who have developed resistance to multiple drugs, the [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Pigs could be the key to understanding how antibiotic resistant bacteria persist in Intensive Care Units in hospitals.NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) Immunology & Molecular Diagnostic Research Unit Team Leader, Dr James Chin, says it is commonly believed that each time an antibiotic is used only pathogens or disease-causing bacteria will be killed."Antibiotic use in hospitals is often perceived to be solely directed against only bad bacteria. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

The next time you have difficulty fighting a bacterial infection, your next trip to the doctor might be to the family veterinarian. A new University of Missouri-Columbia study is investigating whether the family pet could be a reservoir for infections of multi-resistant bacteria in humans.Antibiotic resistant bacteria are a growing problem in the medical profession as doctors are prescribing second and third choice medicines when common antibiotics dont work. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Background to Health Care Associated Infections (HCAIs)/MRSAHealthcare-associated infections are not new. For centuries they have been a side effect of medical treatment, especially in hospitals. There are a number of types of HCAI, MRSA is one type. The more medical care a person requires, the more likely they are to develop a health care associated infection. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

A method for making instant steam, without the need for electricity, promises to be useful for tackling antibiotic resistant superbugs like MRSA and C. difficile, as well as removing chewing gum from pavements and powering environmentally friendly cars, reports Nina Morgan in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Unlicensed drug importers illegally are selling antiretroviral drugs in Zimbabwe at unregulated locations like flea markets and hair salons, the countrys Medicines Control Authority said recently, Zimbabwes Financial Gazette reports. Some health experts warn that the nonprescription antiretrovirals could result in the development of widespread drug resistance. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

A new understanding of an enzyme important for the transfer of genetic information in bacteria may help scientists improve current antibiotics and also create antibiotics that are less vulnerable to resistance.Researchers used extremely powerful imaging techniques to see, for the first time, exactly what happens between bacteria and antibiotics at the atomic level. They report their findings in two studies in the journal Nature. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

GPs are still prescribing antibiotics for up to 80% of cases of sore throat, otitis media, upper respiratory tract infections, and sinusitis, despite the fact that official guidance warns against this practice, according to an analysis1 of the worlds largest primary care database of consultations and prescriptions, published this week in a supplement2 to the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Hospital stays for a type of antibiotic-resistant infection have more than tripled since 2000, and since 1995 have increased nearly 10-fold, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. AHRQ found that the number of hospital stays for patients infected with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), climbed from 38,100 in 1995 to 128,500 in 2000 and then to 368,800 in 2005, the latest year for which data are available. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Experts warn that the rate of antibiotic prescribing in the UK community is still poses a risk that levels of antibiotic resistance in the population remain elevated, say specialists in an article in the BMJ Online FirstBritish Medical Journal (BMJ). [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Health Minister Ann Keen praised the hard work of NHS staff as the number of MRSA bloodstream infections showed a 6.4 per cent fall on the previous quarter - the third time the figure has fallen. Ann Keen also pledged to continue measures to drive down numbers of infection, warning Trusts that patients must be treated in a safe, clean environment. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) signed into law two bills related to health care and is expected this week to sign another health care bill. Summaries of newspaper coverage of the bills appear below.Assisted-living facilities: Rendell this week is expected to sign a bill that would "place tough new regulations" on assisted-living facilities, the [click link for full article] - [Read more]

In the 40 years that humans have been traveling into space, the suits they wear have changed very little. The bulky, gas-pressurized outfits give astronauts a bubble of protection, but their significant mass and the pressure itself severely limit mobility.Dava Newman, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems at MIT, wants to change that. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

Decreasing the number of nurses on duty in an intensive care unit (ICU) increases the risk of serious infection, according to a report published in the open access journal Critical Care. StĂƒÂ©phane Hugonnet and colleagues from the University of Geneva Hospitals, Switzerland, investigated the number of patients admitted to the ICU who developed ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), over a four-year period. [click link for full article] - [Read more]

The Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, today published his Annual Report for 2006, On the State of Public Health, in which he reviews key health problems and developments. [click link for full article] - [Read more]