Using artificial intelligence, researchers say, they’ve found a new type of antibiotic that works against a particularly menacing drug-resistant bacteria. When they tested the antibiotic on the skin of mice that were experimentally infected with the superbug, it controlled the growth of the bacteria, suggesting that the method could be used to create antibiotics tailored to fight other drug-resistant pathogens. What’s more, the compound identified by AI worked in a way that stymied only the problem pathogen. It didn’t seem to kill the many other species of beneficial bacteria that live in the gut or on the skin, making it a rare narrowly targeted agent. If more antibiotics worked this precisely, the researchers said, it could prevent bacteria from becoming resistant in the first place. The study was published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology. “It’s incredibly promising,” said Dr. Cesar de la Fuente, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s ...
Sepsis is a global health priority affecting 55 million patients worldwide and causing 11 million deaths annually. Treatment for sepsis may include prompt recognition, source control, antibiotics, fluids, vasopressors, and adjunctive therapies. Corticosteroids have been evaluated as adjunctive therapy for septic shock for more than 50 years. Despite this substantive body of research, uncertainty persists about the effects of corticosteroids on mortality. In a study publishing May 22, 2023 in the New England Journal of Medicine: Evidence, an international team of researchers from UC San Francisco, Raymond Poincaré AP-HP Hospital, Versailles SQY University, Paris-Saclay University and Inserm, and the George Institute for Global Health in Sydney, studied the role of hydrocortisone in the management of adult patients with septic shock. They found that while the effect of hydrocortisone was modest in terms of overall survival, it was associated with a decrease in the need for vasopressor drugs and improvement in ...
In a recent study published in the journal Eurosurveillance, researchers performed whole genome sequencing (WGS) on 874 Escherichia coli (E. coli) isolates carrying the bla NDM-5 gene, which encodes New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM)-5. They retrieved the study sample set from 13 European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA) countries between 2012 and June 2022. Background In a survey of carbapenem- and/or colistin-resistant Enterobacterales (CCRE survey) performed across 36 European countries in 2019, researchers detected 62 of 201 carbapenemase-producing E. coli isolates carrying NDM-5 encoding gene ‘blaNDM-5’ in 15 countries. Additionally, they observed that some of these 62 E. coli isolates belonged to high-risk sequence types (STs), which increased the risk of extraintestinal infections. Since these findings were concerning, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) requested further investigation into the matter. About the study In the present study, researchers initiated the collection of WGS and epidemiological data on bla ...
Using a specially designed capsule, researchers can now voyage through the digestive system, collecting new data about digestion and microorganisms. The work by a team including researchers at the University of California, Davis, Stanford University and Envivo Bio Inc., is published May 10 in papers in Nature and Nature Metabolism. Most of the process of digestion takes place in our small intestine, where enzymes break down food so it can be absorbed through the gut wall. “The small intestine has so far only been accessible in sedated people who have fasted, and that’s not very helpful,” said Professor Oliver Fiehn, director of the West Coast Metabolomics Center at UC Davis. Metabolomics is the study of the metabolome, the small molecules involved in metabolism in cells, tissues and organs. Fiehn is senior author on the Nature Metabolism paper and co-corresponding author on the Nature paper. Jacob Folz, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Davis, is first author on the Nature ...
Paediatricians from European countries have raised the alarm over a shortage of medicines for children including antibiotics and asthma treatment, warning it was endangering health. In a letter addressed to health ministers and seen by AFP on Saturday, the doctors stressed it was “urgent to find a fast, reliable and lasting solution” to the problems facing stocks in Europe. “The health of our children and our youngsters is in danger because of the lack of medicines throughout Europe,” they wrote. The letter was addressed to the health ministers of Austria, France, Germany, the Italian region of South Tyrol and Switzerland. It was co-signed notably by Andreas Werner, president of the French Association of Ambulatory Pediatrics, his German counterpart Thomas Fischbach and Laura Reali, head of the European Confederation of Primary Care Paediatricians. The doctors said it was the responsibility of political decision-makers to ...
Recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection can be treated with fecal microbiota transplants. FDA approval of Seres Therapeutics’ Vowst makes it the first oral microbiome therapy. A capsule filled with bacteria is now FDA approved for treating a serious and potentially deadly type of gut infection, making the Seres Therapeutics drug the first oral microbiome therapy to receive the regulatory go-ahead for patients. The infection is caused by Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile or C. diff), a bacterium that’s part of the diverse microbial community in the intestines. When the gut microbiome is disrupted, C. diff can proliferate, releasing toxins that cause frequent diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fever. In severe cases, the infection leads to organ failure and death. Antibiotics can treat C. diff infection, but these bacteria can develop resistance, leading to a recurrence of the infection. When that happens, patients have limited treatment options. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data cited by Seres, about 156,000 cases of ...
A man in Chile is infected with a bird flu that has concerning mutations, but the threat to people from the virus remains low, U.S. health officials said Friday. Past animal studies suggest these mutations could cause the virus to be more harmful or spread more easily, health officials said. But they also said there is no evidence that the mutations would make it easier for it to take root in a person’s upper lungs—a development that would raise concerns about spread among people. The mutations do not change public health officials’ assessment of the overall risk to people from the H5N1 virus, which “continues to be low,” said Vivien Dugan of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The mutations, which have appeared only in the one hospitalized patient, may have occurred after the man got sick, CDC officials said. There’s no evidence that the mutated virus spread to other people, mixed with ...
US health officials released data Tuesday showing how chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis cases have been accelerating, but doctors are hoping an old drug will help fight the sexually transmitted infections. Experts believe STDs have been rising because of declining condom use, inadequate sex education and reduced testing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of Americans are infected each year. Rates are highest in men who have sex with men, and among Black and Hispanic Americans and Native Americans. “Sexually transmitted infections are an enormous, low-priority public health problem. And they’ve been a low-priority problem for decades, in spite of the fact that they are the most commonly reported kind of infectious disease,” said Dr. John M. Douglas Jr., a retired health official who lectures at the Colorado School of Public Health. To try to turn the tide, many doctors see promise in doxycycline, a cheap antibiotic that has been sold for more than ...
Renee Martray of South Carolina has severe and permanent corneal scarring resulting in vision loss. She says it’s like trying to peer through eyeglasses that have been dipped in oil. Nancy Montz of Ohio developed a corneal ulcer, spent three weeks in the hospital and lost vision in her left eye. Carla Oliva of Florida developed a severe eye infection and, when treatment failed, had to have her right eye removed. She’s now legally blind. The women said their problems began after they used EzriCare Artificial Tears, which is part of a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and US Food and Drug Administration investigation into a multistate outbreak of a rare strain of bacteria. EzriCare said in a statement last month that when it learned of the investigation January 20, it was not aware of any testing that definitively linked the outbreak to its product. “Nonetheless, we immediately ...
The United States faces a rising medication shortage that’s so severe it’s causing a national security risk, according to a Senate report released Wednesday. Drugs in short supply recently include children’s medication, antibiotics and ADHD treatments, says the report by the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. It says new drug shortages rose by almost 30% from 2021 to 2022. “Shortages continue to have devastating consequences for patients and health care providers, including medication errors and treatment delays, and in some cases, have led to doctors having to ration lifesaving treatments,” the report said. Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., said Wednesday the shortages peaked at 295 drugs at the end of last year and “have left health care professionals grappling with limited resources to treat patients in need,” NBC News reported. The Hill noted, “The report also said the average drug shortage ...
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