antibioticresistant

Illustration of Clostridioides difficile bacterium with peritrichous flagella. Scientists uncovered a dual mechanism in C. diff that bolsters its antibiotic resistance, which could pave the way for more effective treatment strategies against resistant bacteria.A <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>species</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>A species is a group of living organisms that share a set of common characteristics…

If the bacteria with which someone is infected are antibiotic-resistant, physicians need to know so as soon as possible, so they can take the appropriate action. A simple new system could help, by detecting such resistance in just two hours as opposed to the usual 24.Ordinarily, in order to see if bacteria have developed a resistance to certain antibiotics, a population of the microbes has to be grown in a Petri dish to which the drugs are then added. It's also possible to perform a genetic analysis of the bacteria, to…

Antibiogram of XDR (extensively drug-resistant) Shigella sonnei. Credit: National Reference Center for E. coli, Shigella and Salmonella, Institut PasteurThe emergence of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains of Shigella sonnei has been detected by scientists at the Institut Pasteur’s French National Reference Center for Escherichia coli, Shigella, and Salmonella. Shigellosis, a highly contagious diarrheal disease caused by Shigella bacteria, is prevalent not only in industrializing countries but also in industrialized…

By European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases April 16, 2023A study presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) reveals evidence of multidrug-resistant bacteria transmission between pet cats and dogs and their owners in the UK and Portugal. Researchers found similar antibiotic-resistant bacteria in six pets in Portugal and one in the UK and their respective owners. This highlights the importance of including pet-owning households in efforts to…

Bacteria that are resistant to colistin, a last-resort antibiotic, have for the first time been detected in Los Angeles County wastewater, suggesting that the germs are circulating more widely in the community than previously thought, according to researchers at USC.The superbugs were discovered during surveillance of wastewater — a practice that took off during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to track the presence and transmission of infectious agents within a community. The pathogens appeared in samples of untreated…

About half of women and more than one in 10 men will get a urinary tract infection (UTI) in their lifetime, with many people experiencing recurrent UTIs. These common bacterial infections, which can lead to painful urination, have been easily treated and cured with antibiotics for decades. But as a result of antibiotic resistance—when bacteria become resistant to the medicines used to treat them—a number of antibiotics routinely employed for UTIs have become ineffective, leading to more severe illness, hospitalizations…

The risk is that doctors will opt for what’s known as a broad-spectrum antibiotic—a powerful drug that’s capable of killing many different types of bacteria. These medicines should be a last resort, because bacteria that mutate to resist them could be dangerous—and potentially untreatable. Wastewater surveillance might reveal which bacteria are spreading in a community and which antibiotics these bugs are vulnerable to. And if scientists notice an increase in genes that confer resistance to a specific antibiotic, they…

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a type of bacteria that can cause serious infections in the respiratory tract, urinary tract, and other parts of the body. It is a common cause of hospital-acquired infections and is particularly dangerous for people with weakened immune systems. Klebsiella pneumoniae is resistant to many antibiotics, making it difficult to treat.UNIGE researchers have discovered that a medication commonly used to treat herpes can combat an antibiotic-resistant bacterium by disrupting its defense…

A recent hospital case in Spain suggests antibiotic-resistant bacteria can sometimes migrate from the bowels to the lungs, and possibly back again.Bacteria are known to travel around the human body using routes we know little about, yet it's rare to find a case study where an infection spreads in a clear-cut way.The case in Spain is an exception worth noting. The patient was admitted to an intensive care unit in the municipality of Badalona following a seizure. For 39 days, they were mechanically ventilated while doctors…

The key to beating superbugs may have been under our noses the entire time, a new study suggests. The study, which was led by Dr. Ronan McCarthy of Brunel University London, discovered that the artificial sweeteners found in many sugar-free foods can actually kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These pesky bacteria have been some of the most annoying for medical professionals to deal with in recent years. The bacteria in question are acinetobacter baumannii and pseudomonas aeruginosa, known for causing…