Antibiotics

Doctors at the Children’s Hospital Colorado have published their research on a new approach to antibiotic stewardship, with promising reductions in antibiotic use and rates of Clostridium difficile.

Rita Olans, DNP, CPNP-PC, APRN-BC, assistant professor at MGH Institute of Health Professions, discusses the importance of incorporating staff nurses in a healthcare setting's antimicrobial stewardship program.

Vikas Gupta, PharmD, BCPS, director of Clinical Strategy at Becton Dickinson, discusses his research on the national prevalence of multidrug-resistant organisms.

Speakers at the Infectious Diseases Society of America annual conference plenary symposium in New Orleans, Louisiana, discuss past successes, current challenges, and future efforts regarding infectious disease.

Marcos Pires, PhD, assistant professor at Lehigh University, explains the inspiration behind his team’s research in immunotherapy as a new way to fight bacterial infection.

Researchers from Sweden’s Linköping University discover the pathway that leads to deadly infections in people co-infected with HIV and TB.

Marcos Pires, PhD, assistant professor at Lehigh University, explains the main points behind his research regarding immunotherapy.

While health officials continue to search for more novel tools to fight tuberculosis, a team of researchers has found that a class of antibiotics first introduced in the 1960s may offer an important weapon against the outbreaks of today.

In a recent study in mice, researchers used a synthetic peptide to disrupt the bacterial stress response that causes abscess formation in skin infections with drug-resistant bacteria.

Although they’re often life-saving, all hospital operations come with the risk of surgical site infections. C-section are no different, researchers, in a recent medical trial, have found a way to slash post-operative infection rates with the use of an extra antibiotic.

With the use of antibiotics remaining high and steady in American hospitals and healthcare facilities, new rules on infection prevention and antibiotic use are set to bring changes to thousands of nursing homes, nationwide.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded scientists combating antibiotic resistance with more than $14 million in funding for new research and innovations by universities, nonprofits, and the business community.

Consumer Reports recently evaluated more than 3,100 hospitals in the United States and found that about a third of them received a low rating for controlling infections from Clostridium difficile.

Richard Krieger, MD, chairman of the Infection Control Committee at Chilton Medical Center, and infectious disease physician at ID care, explains how clinicians should manage patients with so-called “chronic Lyme disease.”

Following the recent United Nations General Assembly meeting to discuss the growing global threat of antimicrobial resistance, health experts are highlighting the role vaccines can play in preventing dangerous infections.

As antibiotic-resistant bacteria continue to endanger public health, greater attention from health officials and new US federal funding aimed at fighting superbugs, signal a new urgency in this battle.

Current traditional culture methods can take up to three days to identify bacteria and test antimicrobial resistances from a urine sample.

Recent research suggests those who are physically active may have a lower risk of bacterial infections than those who live a sedentary lifestyle.

According to newly published research, high levels of zinc changes microbiota in the gut decreasing resistance to infections from Clostridium difficile.

As individual nations attempt to make meaningful progress on stemming antibiotic use, a troubling new study shows that hospitals in the United States have continued to dispense antibiotics at a steady rate in recent years.

State health departments in Minnesota and Washington are on the alert after recent outbreaks of Legionnaire’s disease.

When researchers recently discovered a strain of Escherichia coli resistant to the final resort antibiotics colistin and carbapenem in the United States, it marked an increasing pattern of pan–drug-resistant bacteria appearing worldwide. A new report from France, though, may indicate that identifying and isolating these deadly superbug strains may help us control their spread.

On September 21, 2016, delegates at the 71st meeting of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly gathered to discuss the shared danger of antimicrobial resistance, signaling the global scale of this urgent public health crisis while pledging to collectively tackle the problem of superbugs.

Health officials around the world agree that our one of the best steps to reducing the problem of antimicrobial resistance is scaling back on unnecessary overprescribing of these medications. As doctors in many countries work to implement these efforts, a new report out of the United Kingdom shows some progress in the fight against drug-resistant “superbugs,” along with plenty of work to still be done.

As so-called “superbug” bacteria continue to develop new ways of resisting antibiotics, scientists are on the search for new and alternative treatments. Promising news from a recent study is now showing that we may be able to battle the most virulent strains of the Clostridium difficile bacteria with a class of drugs already on the market.