Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic Resistance

  • 11.26.2024  |  Modern warfare is breeding deadly superbugs. Why?

    THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE | Researchers are trying to understand why resistant pathogens are so prevalent in the war-torn nations of the Middle East.

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  • 11.19.2024  |  Global antibiotic consumption continues to climb, study finds

    CIDRAP | A new analysis of pharmaceutical sales data from 67 countries indicates that antibiotic consumption has risen by more than 20% globally since 2016 but would likely have been much higher had the COVID-19 pandemic not occurred.

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  • 11.16.2024  |  Jeddah conference closes with adoption of global pledges to tackle antimicrobial resistance

    UNITED NATIONS | The 4th Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) wrapped up on Saturday with the adoption of the Jeddah Commitments, which lay out practical, actionable and cross-sectoral steps stakeholders can take to address this complex health issue.

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  • 11.14.2024  |  From Declaration to action: Antimicrobial resistance initiatives centre stage at Jeddah conference

    UNITED NATIONS | Antimicrobial resistance initiatives are back in the spotlight as stakeholders gather in Jeddah, on the Saudi Arabian coast, a few months after a high-level meeting in New York led to the unanimous adoption of a political declaration by the UN General Assembly.

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  • 11.08.2024  |  UN Meeting highlights antimicrobial resistance “epiphany”—lack of antibiotic access is a key driver

    JAMA NETWORK | At a recent press conference just moments before the United Nations (UN) held a high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), Mia Mottley, the chair of a global group on the subject, issued a request.

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  • 11.05.2024  |  Study finds high prevalence of resistant bacteria in infants in low-resource countries

    CIDRAP | A systematic review and meta-analysis found a that a "substantial" proportion of infants younger than 3 months in low-resource countries were colonized with antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, researchers reported today in JAMA Network Open.

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  • 10.26.2024  |  WHO: Vaccines could help fight antimicrobial resistance, save lives

    THE WASHINGTON POST | Vaccines against just 23 pathogens could reduce the number of antibiotics needed by 22 percent globally per year, the World Health Organization recently announced.

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  • 10.23.2024  |  Rise of almost untreatable superbug linked to a common antibiotic

    THE GUARDIAN | ‘Surprising’ finding by Australian-led study is first recorded instance of one antibiotic causing resistance to another in a different class.

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  • 10.14.2024  |  New WHO report presents progress in G7 countries in tackling antibiotic pipeline crisis

    THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION | Antimicrobial resistance is associated with more than a million deaths every year, however the research and development pipeline for new antibiotics is sparse, with lengthy and costly development and little innovation.

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  • 10.10.2024  |  Better use of vaccines could reduce antibiotic use by 2.5 billion doses annually, says WHO

    THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION | More investment in vaccines could avert deaths due to antimicrobial resistance, reduce antibiotic use and save money treating resistant infections.

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  • 10.08.2024  |  The antimicrobial resistance pandemic: Breaking the silence

    AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MICROBIOLOGY | Thanks to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), health care practitioners may try a handful of drugs before they find one that works for a patient—if they can find one.

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  • 10.08.2024  |  CDC and global partners commit to collective action to combat antimicrobial resistance

    CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION | In late September 2024, global leaders gathered in New York City for the second United Nations General Assembly High-level Meeting (UNGA HLM) on Antimicrobial Resistance.

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  • 10.07.2024  |  General Assembly adopts political declaration on antimicrobial resistance, demanding immediate action for safeguarding ability to treat disease, enhance food security

    UNITED NATIONS | The General Assembly today adopted the Political Declaration of last month’s high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance, recognizing it is one of the most urgent global health threats, and demanding immediate action to safeguard the ability to treat diseases, enhance food security and advance the Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

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  • 09.27.2024  |  WHO director general: A breakthrough global agreement on combatting antimicrobial resistance

    STAT NEWS | At the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Thursday, all countries approved a major new political declaration to radically scale up efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) — a major threat to modern medicine.

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  • 09.27.2024  |  Global leaders set first targets to control antimicrobial resistance crisis

    THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION | World leaders agreed on the first global targets to control the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis at the second High-level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance of the United Nations General Assembly.

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  • 09.26.2024  |  ‘Coloniser’ microbes to superbugs: How antibiotic resistance behaves

    ALJAZEERA | Antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, is a rising global health concern – with doctors, scientists and public health experts sounding the alarm that some of the world’s most reliable antibiotics are becoming less effective against so-called “superbugs”.

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  • 09.26.2024  |  World leaders commit to decisive action on antimicrobial resistance

    UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME | Global leaders have approved a political declaration at the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), committing to a clear set of targets and actions, including reducing the estimated 4.95 million human deaths associated with bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) annually by 10% by 2030.

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  • 09.26.2024  |  The global threat of antimicrobial resistance, a silent pandemic

    UNITED NATIONS | Antimicrobials—including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitic—save millions of lives, but what happens when these medications can no longer treat the diseases they were made for?

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  • 09.26.2024  |  AMR takes center stage in New York

    POLITICO | Global leaders and experts will gather today in New York for a high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), at the United Nations General Assembly. We’ll get statements from the heads of U.N. agencies, AMR survivors, health ministers, Big Pharma executives, as well as country reps.

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  • 09.25.2024  |  Forecasting the fallout from AMR: Economic impacts of antimicrobial resistance in humans

    CENTER FOR GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT | This report integrates human health burden projections with economic models to provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact of AMR on global economies and health systems.

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  • 09.25.2024  |  Invisible killer: What is antimicrobial resistance?

    UN NEWS | Since their discovery a century ago, antimicrobial medicines, from antibiotics to antivirals, have significantly extended average life expectancy. Every day, these essential medicines save millions of lives, until they don’t.

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  • 09.24.2024  |  Lifeline, a musical that raises the alarm on antimicrobial resistance

    FORBES | The past, present, and future of antibiotics are dramatized in the musical Lifeline, which on September 21, 2024 held a gala performance to precede the 79th United Nations General Assembly’s September 26 Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) meeting.

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  • 09.24.2024  |  The world is facing an antibiotic emergency: a data-led plan of action is needed now

    THE GUARDIAN | Over the next 25 years, someone will die every three minutes from common, preventable and formerly treatable health conditions, simply because the antibiotics we use to treat them will have stopped being effective. Unless, that is, the world steps up to respond to the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

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  • 09.23.2024  |  Vanishing workforce: An antimicrobial resistance threat

    THINK GLOBAL HEALTH | This month, world leaders will gather at the UN General Assembly to address the looming threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). They will discuss antimicrobial access, governance, coordination, and many other critical aspects of the fight against AMR.

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  • 09.23.2024  |  UN high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance

    UNITED NATIONS | The UN General Assembly will convene a High-Level Meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) for the second time during its 79th session (UNGA 79) in New York in September 2024.

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  • 09.23.2024  |  A ‘very solvable’ problem: Steps needed to tackle global antimicrobial resistance

    CIDRAP | On September 26, the eyes of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) experts everywhere will be on New York, where world leaders and policy makers will gather for the second United Nations High-Level Meeting on AMR.

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  • 09.20.2024  |  ‘We never think AMR is going to happen to us’: The human cost of antimicrobial resistance – and how to prevent it

    GSK | In this Behind the Science series on the power of prevention, we explore what it means to get ahead of disease through prevention and earlier intervention to change the course of an illness. As bacteria evolve to outsmart antibiotics, proactive action will play a critical role in slowing the march of drug-resistant infections.

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  • 09.20.2024  |  Superbug crisis could get worse, killing nearly 40 million people by 2050, study estimates

    CNN | The number of lives lost around the world due to infections that are resistant to the medications intended to treat them could increase nearly 70% by 2050, a new study projects, further showing the burden of theongoing superbug crisis.

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  • 09.19.2024  |  WHO at UNGA: Call for urgent, high-level action to address global scourge of antimicrobial resistance

    THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION | The World Health Organization (WHO) and partners will call on world leaders to address critical global health challenges, and invest in global public health, at meetings throughout the high-level week of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA79), to be held in New York from 20 to 30 September 2024.

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  • 09.18.2024  |  Drug-resistant germs will kill millions more people in coming decades, researchers warn

    LA TIMES | Since the dawn of the antibiotic age, opportunistic pathogens have evolved defenses faster than humans can develop drugs to combat them. At the same time, humans have unwittingly given the bugs an advantage through the overuse of antibiotics, allowing pathogens that survive their exposure to pass on their resistant traits.

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  • 09.17.2024  |  Deaths from antibiotic-resistant infections could reach 39 million by 2050, study suggests

    SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE | More than 39 million people around the globe could die because of antibiotic-resistant infections between 2025 and 2050—a statistic that equates to about three deaths every minute, according to a new study.

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  • 09.17.2024  |  Superbugs due to antibiotic resistance could kill 39 million people by 2050, large study finds

    FOX NEWS | Resistance to antibiotics has led to one million worldwide deaths each year since 1990, for a total of 36 million. It is expected to cause more than 39 million more fatalities by 2050 — three per minute.

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  • 09.17.2024  |  40 million deaths by 2050: toll of drug-resistant infections to rise by 70%

    NATURE | More than 39 million people will die from antibiotic-resistant infections between now and 2050, according to an in-depth global analysis of antimicrobial resistance.

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  • 09.17.2024  |  Superbugs could kill 39 million people by 2050, study warns

    TIME | A landmark new study published in the Lancet estimates that antimicrobial resistant pathogens, or AMR, will kill more than 39 million people by 2050.The study also predicts that 169 million deaths will be associated with drug-resistant infections by that year.

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  • 09.17.2024  |  Antimicrobial resistance could kill over 39 million by 2050 without big changes

    FORBES | Remember what happened the last time political leaders ignored warnings from scientists about an infectious disease threat? Well, for over the past two decades scientists have been clamoring for more urgent action to be taken against anti-microbial resistance, or AMR.

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  • 09.17.2024  |  Antibiotic resistance has claimed at least one million lives each year since 1990

    UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD | Resistance to antibiotics led to at least one million deaths each year since 1990, with increasing rates of drug-resistant infections expected to claim more than 39 million lives between now and 2050 without further policy action, according to a landmark study by the Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) Project.

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  • 09.16.2024  |  New forecasts reveal that 39 million deaths will be directly attributable to bacterial antimicrobial resistance between 2025-2050

    WELLCOME | Based on estimates across 204 countries and territories, new forecasts from the Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) Project suggest that bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) will cause 39 million deaths between 2025 and 2050 – which equates to three deaths every minute.

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  • 09.16.2024  |  Superbugs ‘could kill 39m people by 2050’ amid rising drug resistance

    THE GUARDIAN | Child deaths from infections see ‘remarkable’ decline but AMR fatalities of over-70s likely to rise by 146%, study finds.

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  • 09.16.2024  |  Antibiotic-resistance deaths to surge from 2025-2050, study says

    REUTERS | Bacterial illnesses that are resistant to available antibiotic medicines will cause more than 39 million deaths worldwide over the next 25 years and indirectly contribute to an additional 169 million deaths, according to a forecast published on Monday.

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  • 09.16.2024  |  Antibiotic resistance could cause over 39 million deaths by 2050, study says

    THE WASHINGTON POST | Researchers have long flagged antimicrobial resistance as a public health concern, but this study is the first to analyze such trends around the world and over time.

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  • 09.16.2024  |  Antimicrobial resistance: A fast-growing threat to the fight against HIV, TB and malaria

    THE GLOBAL FUND | We rely on antibiotics to treat a range of life-threatening infections. But bacteria are changing – becoming more resistant to the drugs we have. Infections that were once curable are now untreatable.

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  • 09.16.2024  |  WHO releases guidance on gender inequalities and antimicrobial resistance

    THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION | The World Health Organization (WHO) has released new guidance to address key gender disparities in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of drug-resistant infections.

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  • 09.15.2024  |  At the UN, world leaders are negotiating the biggest health issue you’ve never heard of

    THE CONVERSATION | The United Nations General Assembly could turn the tide on antimicrobial resistance. The keys to making this happen are ensuring policymakers have the best available evidence and rallying political support through unifying goals.

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  • 09.12.2024  |  A global emergency: Tackling antimicrobial resistance

    POLITICO | Microbes are becoming increasingly resistant to drugs, reversing medical gains and risking minor infections becoming deadly. We explore some of these threats as global leaders thrash out a United Nations text that has the chance to deliver ambitious pledges to tackle antimicrobial resistance.

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  • 09.12.2024  |  These are the most deadly pathogens — so why aren’t drug companies targeting them?

    POLITICO | Antibiotics are among the greatest success stories in the history of medicine. They have saved millions of lives by turning once-deadly diseases into curable conditions. But the golden era of antibiotics has come to an end.

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  • 09.12.2024  |  A global drug-resistance crisis demands a global response

    POLITICO | Resistance to antimicrobials is growing. Urgent action and global collaboration are needed to save lives. Could UNGA be a turning point?

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  • 09.12.2024  |  Wars are breeding superbugs that will spread ‘everywhere’

    POLITICO | Drug-resistant infections thrive in the chaos of war, spilling over to neighboring regions.

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  • 09.12.2024  |  IDSA, ESCMID call for ‘robust action’ on antimicrobial resistance ahead of UN meeting

    CIDRAP | The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) are calling for world leaders to take "robust action" to mitigate the impact of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

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  • 09.10.2024  |  Study: ‘Systemic weaknesses’ contribute to multidrug-resistant surgical infections in poorer nations

    CIDRAP | Data from hospitals in seven low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) show high levels of multidrug resistance (MDR) in surgical-site infections (SSIs), limited microbiologic testing capacity, and frequently ineffective prophylactic (preventive) antibiotics, researchers reported late last week in The Lancet Global Health.

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  • 09.06.2024  |  CDC’s role in antimicrobial resistance

    CONTAGION LIVE | At this week’s World AMR Congress, Benjamin Park, MD, senior advisor for Global Programs, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), participated on a panel, titled, The Role of ID Surveillance to Reduce AMR.

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  • 09.05.2024  |  Study suggests unnecessary antibiotics contribute to greenhouse gas emissions

    CIDRAP | A new study by researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine highlights the environmental impact of unnecessary antibiotic prescribing.

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  • 09.04.2024  |  WHO issues global guidance to limit antibiotic pollution from manufacturing

    CIDRAP | The World Health Organization (WHO) has released new guidance on what it calls an "important but neglected challenge" in efforts to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR).The guidance, released yesterday, provides targets aimed at limiting the emergence and spread of AMR from antibiotic manufacturing plants, which are a documented source of antibiotic pollution but remain largely unregulated.

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  • 09.03.2024  |  New global guidance aims to curb antibiotic pollution from manufacturing

    THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION | The World Health Organization (WHO) has published its first-ever guidance on antibiotic pollution from manufacturing. The new guidance on wastewater and solid waste management for antibiotic manufacturing sheds light on this important but neglected challenge ahead of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High-Level Meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) taking place on 26 September 2024.

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  • 09.03.2024  |  New WHO guidance takes aim at ‘antibiotic pollution’ from manufacturing labs

    UNITED NATIONS | The directive covers wastewater and solid waste management for manufacturing of antibiotics, and comes ahead of a High-Level Meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) that will be held during the UN General Assembly later this month in New York.

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  • 08.26.2024  |  Efforts to reduce antimicrobial resistance in low-resource nations are lagging, survey suggests

    CIDRAP | A survey of public health experts from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) highlights significant gaps in implementation and enforcement of policies aimed at mitigating antimicrobial resistance (AMR), researchers reported late last week in BMC Public Health.

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  • 08.21.2024  |  Deep-sequencing technique provides more complete picture of resistant bacteria in hospitals

    CIDRAP | A new genomic sequencing technique could help hospitals better track and control the spread of multiple drug-resistant pathogens, researchers reported yesterday in The Lancet Microbe.

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  • 08.19.2024  |  Report highlights challenges of tackling antimicrobial resistance in Africa

    CIDRAP | Amid a burgeoning mpox crisis, African health officials are drawing attention to the growing burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) on the continent and have laid out a roadmap for addressing the problem.

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  • 08.15.2024  |  Antimicrobial resistance is a greater threat than HIV-AIDS, TB and malaria, says new report

    AFRICA CDC | The likelihood of falling ill or dying from diseases that resist treatment has escalated in Africa, with children and other vulnerable groups being most at risk, according to a new report by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

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  • 08.14.2024  |  Study finds significant pre-COVID declines in antibiotic-resistant infections at VA hospitals

    CIDRAP | An analysis of 15 years' of data from the Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System found significant reductions in several antibiotic-resistant healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, US researchers reported yesterday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

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  • 08.14.2024  |  As a cancer care expert, my fears over my own diagnosis run deeper than just curing the disease

    THE GUARDIAN | My treatment for aggressive lymphoma has been successful but severely weakened my immune system. Like many others, antimicrobial resistance could kill me, even if the cancer itself is survivable.

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  • 08.13.2024  |  Five ways science is tackling the antibiotic resistance crisis

    NATURE | Humans are locked in an arms race with microbes, but scientists are pursuing diverse approaches to keep one step ahead or slow down the competition.

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  • 08.13.2024  |  Putting a face on the ‘invisible threat’ of antimicrobial resistance

    CIDRAP | While it's a different type of crisis than the COVID-19 pandemic, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most significant public health threats facing the world. The most widely cited study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, estimates that drug-resistant infections contributed to nearly 5 million deaths globally in 2019 and were directly responsible for 1.27 million.

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  • 08.12.2024  |  Study links inadequate therapy, delayed newer antibiotics to worse outcomes

    CIDRAP | A retrospective analysis of data on US hospital patients with infections caused by Enterobacterales and Pseudomonas aeruginosa found that inadequate empiric therapy (IET) and delayed use of newer antibiotics was associated with significantly worse outcomes, researchers reported late last week in BMC Infectious Diseases.

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  • 08.11.2024  |  Fighting the looming ‘silent pandemic’

    NEOS KOSMOS | When Jane Fletcher went into hospital for routine surgery she never expected to come out with a superbug and a front-row seat to the ‘silent pandemic’.

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  • 08.09.2024  |  What is antimicrobial resistance – and why is it a global health threat?

    BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM | Drug-resistant infections are a growing threat worldwide. Here’s the science behind it – and how we can tackle the issue.

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  • 08.08.2024  |  ‘It’s at the scale of a pandemic’: superbug emergency puts babies on the frontline

    BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM | In Nigeria and Ethiopia, neonatal sepsis poses a major threat to newborns. And as antibiotic resistance grows, a crisis is mounting.

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  • 08.08.2024  |  ‘It’s happening on the scale of a pandemic’: the drug-resistant infections killing African babies

    THE GUARDIAN | Illnesses that would once have been easily managed are no longer responding to antibiotics, and the world’s poorest regions are being hit hardest.

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  • 08.07.2024  |  WHO calls for coordinated effort to boost antibiotic development

    CIDRAP | In a policy brief published earlier this week, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for global coordination on policies to strengthen the antibacterial pipeline.

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  • 08.07.2024  |  ‘I lost my son to sepsis’: the fightback against the spread of superbugs

    THE GUARDIAN | Global leaders are preparing for a summit on antimicrobial resistance, which kills more than a million people a year, and those affected want to be seen as more than numbers.

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  • 08.07.2024  |  How discharged patients can carry superbugs home

    AXIOS | Discharged hospital patients can carry superbugs home and infect relatives or caregivers, even if they weren't sickened by the bacteria, per a study in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.

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  • 08.05.2024  |  Babies in Nigeria are being born with antibiotic resistant bacteria

    THE CONVERSATION | Sepsis occurs when one’s immune system has an extreme response to an infection. It’s a life-threatening condition: globally, it accounts for about 11 million deaths – 20% of all deaths per year. And it doesn’t just affect adults.

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  • 08.03.2024  |  Antimicrobial resistance on the rise due to wars in Ukraine and Gaza

    FORBES | Increasingly, multidrug-resistant bacteria circulate in war zones in Ukraine and Gaza. These so-called superbugs often don’t respond to antibiotics. In turn, infections are becoming more difficult to treat which can lead to severe illness or death, among both military personnel and civilians.

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  • 08.01.2024  |  WHO warns of moderate-risk level for drug-resistant K. pneumoniae

    BECKER'S HOSPITAL REVIEW | A strain of bacteria that causes severe and sometimes drug-resistant infections has been detected in all six World Health Organization regions, the group reported July 31.

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  • 08.01.2024  |  WHO warns of increase in hypervirulent, multidrug-resistant Klebsiella strains

    CIDRAP | The World Health Organization (WHO) is warning countries about increasing reports of hypervirulent and multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (hvKp).

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  • 07.31.2024  |  Antimicrobial resistance, hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae – global situation

    THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION | K. pneumoniae strains that can cause severe infections in healthy individuals and have been identified with increasing frequency in recent years are considered hypervirulent compared to classical strains because of their ability to infect both healthy and immunocompromised individuals and because of their increased tendency to produce invasive infections.

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  • 07.30.2024  |  CDC study highlights COVID’s impact on infection control, multidrug-resistant pathogens in hospitals

    CIDRAP | A new study by researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) illustrates the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on infection control (IC) practices in US hospitals, even in parts of the country that experienced lower SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

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  • 07.30.2024  |  Heteroresistance: An insidious form of antibiotic resistance

    AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MICROBIOLOGY | Are all cells in a population of bacteria identical? When it comes to antibiotic resistance, the answer is a clinically unfortunate “no.”

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  • 07.29.2024  |  You asked, we answered: What is antibiotic resistance?

    NEBRASKA MEDICINE | I’ve heard about “superbugs” that can’t be stopped by antibiotics. But what does it mean when bacteria are resistant to antibiotics, and how does this happen?

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  • 07.29.2024  |  Review and meta-analysis finds high rates of antibiotic resistance in hypervirulent Klebsiella

    CIDRAP | A systematic review and meta-analysis found high rates of resistance to older and newer antibiotics in strains of hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae (hvKp), researchers reported last week in the Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance.

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  • 07.26.2024  |  Hospital-acquired infections are rising – here’s how to protect yourself in health care settings

    THE CONVERSATION | A new study from the National Institutes of Health shows a jump in both hospital-acquired infections and resistance to the antibiotics used to treat them. Dr. Nasia Safdar, a professor of infectious medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, discusses why infection rates have gone up and how you can protect yourself as a hospital patient or visiting family member.

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  • 07.26.2024  |  Op-ed, The Epoch Times: We are losing antibiotics—and we can’t afford to

    HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE | Local health care systems across the country are at risk of no longer working as we once knew them. The problem is doctors and nurses are running out of antibiotics to treat their patients—and the costs of inaction threaten the health and financial well-being of every American.

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  • 07.23.2024  |  Genomic surveillance could be a step change in tackling antimicrobial resistance

    UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM | 100 years ago, we did not have antibiotics.The reality is that if antimicrobial resistance is left to continue at its current pace, we may be running out of antibiotics before the end of this century.

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  • 07.22.2024  |  A growing threat that needs public attention

    WAMC NORTHEAST PUBLIC RADIO | Due to the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in humans and animals, many strains of bacteria have evolved resistance to medically important antibiotics, meaning they are not killed by the drugs. Instead, they survive, multiply, and spread.

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  • 07.21.2024  |  Could a conflict-borne superbug bring on our next pandemic?

    ROLLING STONE | New breeds of drug-resistant bacteria are proliferating in war-torn parts of the globe — and spreading from the battlefield to hospitals and across borders.

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  • 07.17.2024  |  ESCMID releases guidance on antimicrobial stewardship in emergency departments

    CIDRAP | The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) today published guidelines for antimicrobial stewardship in emergency departments (EDs), which are endorsed by the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists. The guidelines appear in Clinical Microbiology and Infection.

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  • 07.17.2024  |  SHEA calls for more CDC funds after data show 20% hike in resistant hospital infections

    CIDRAP | A fact sheet published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday highlights a 20% rise in hospital-onset infections caused by antimicrobial-resistant pathogens and a fivefold increase in Candida auris infections during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with 2019.

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  • 07.16.2024  |  Antimicrobial resistance threats in the United States, 2021-2022

    CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION | CDC used new data to update the United States burden of seven antimicrobial-resistant pathogens typically found in healthcare settings. The new data describe the burden in the two following years, 2021 and 2022, and compares against 2019 data.

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  • 07.14.2024  |  ‘My baby died in my arms’: A mother on the dangers of AMR

    THE JOURNAL | The world is facing a health crisis which is as serious as the Covid-19 pandemic and could cause millions of premature deaths, but we’re not doing enough to mitigate the risks, experts have warned.

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  • 07.13.2024  |  The superbugs lurking in seas and rivers

    BBC | Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) develops when the genetic codes of pathogens, including bacteria present in sewage, mutate to resist medicines designed to control infections. Infections caused by the resulting drug-resistant pathogens, sometimes referred to as "superbugs", are estimated to be directly linked to 1.27 million deaths each year.

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  • 07.12.2024  |  Climate change could return us to the pre-antibiotic era

    SALON | We are in a race with ever-evolving bacteria — and we are losing. Climate change is making the battle much harder.

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  • 07.11.2024  |  Resisting antibiotic-resistant bacteria

    OTAGO DAILY TIMES | A surprise discovery of microscopic proportions at the University of Otago may have massive potential when it comes to solving the world’s growing resistance to antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance is when bacteria change to resist antibiotics, making certain bacterial infections difficult to treat.

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  • 07.10.2024  |  Why is antimicrobial resistance not getting much attention from biopharma?

    BIOSPACE | The creation of antibiotics stands as one of the greatest medical breakthroughs in history, saving hundreds of millions of lives, and now halting the rise of AMR has emerged as a global health imperative. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that AMR is one of the top global public health and development threats, with nearly 5 million associated deaths per year.

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  • 07.10.2024  |  GRAM, IDDO announce AMR data repository to strengthen research and improve access

    CENTRE FOR TROPICAL MEDICINE AND GLOBAL HEALTH | Seeking to strengthen research on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) worldwide, the GRAM Project has joined with the Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO) to create an Oxford-based repository for AMR data, with the first curated dataset now available.

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  • 07.09.2024  |  70% of antibiotics used not working on patients: Expert

    TIMES OF INDIA | Noted intensivists from across the country recently gathered in the city to speak at an international symposium on the increasing need for awareness of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

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  • 07.08.2024  |  AI able to identify drug-resistant typhoid-like infection from microscopy images in matter of hours

    UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE | Artificial intelligence (AI) could be used to identify drug resistant infections, significantly reducing the time taken for a correct diagnosis, Cambridge researchers have shown. The team showed that an algorithm could be trained to identify drug-resistant bacteria correctly from microscopy images alone.

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  • 07.08.2024  |  Impacts of antimicrobial resistance on cancer care

    CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION | In the eighth installment of CDC's AMR Exchange webinar series, experts discussed the intersection of antimicrobial resistance and cancer care and the importance of preventing infections in people receiving treatment for cancer.

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  • 07.08.2024  |  Superbug that now kills 300,000 people a year evolved rapidly from common bacteria

    THE INDEPENDENT | A deadly superbug that causes about 300,000 deaths a year evolved from being a common environmental bacterium and spread rapidly in just over two centuries, according to a new study that could help improve our understanding of immunity against invading bacteria.

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  • 07.05.2024  |  Tackling antimicrobial resistance in agribusiness and environment

    THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND | A new training Centre led by The University of Queensland and headquartered at IMB is partnering with industry to tackle the global crisis of antimicrobial-resistant infections, which affect humans, animals and the environment.

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  • 07.03.2024  |  PACCARB recommendations for global action against antimicrobial resistance

    INFECTIOUS DISEASE ADVISOR | Members of the 25th Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB) held a public meeting from May 21 to 22, 2024 to vote on recommendations to reduce the global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

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  • 07.01.2024  |  WHO launches effort to boost global diagnostic capacity

    CIDRAP | The World Health Organization (WHO) last week launched an effort to strengthen global diagnostic capacity and support access to safe, affordable, and quality-assured diagnostics.

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  • 07.01.2024  |  Degradation of cell wall key in the spread of resistance

    UMEÅ UNIVERSITY | A study at Umeå University, Sweden, provides new clues in the understanding of how antibiotic resistance spreads. The study shows how an enzyme breaks down the bacteria's protective outer layer, the cell wall, and thus facilitates the transfer of genes for resistance to antibiotics.

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  • 06.25.2024  |  Building evidence for the use of bacteriophages against antimicrobial resistance

    THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION | “My father felt powerless, like life was flowing out of him,” explains his daughter, Lies. At the age of 84, after Pim van Vliet underwent a surgery, he began suffering from a chronic urinary tract infection caused by a multi-drug resistant bacterium, Klebsiella pneumoniae.

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  • 06.20.2024  |  Antimicrobial resistance: Why the next government needs to prepare for ‘the coming plague’

    KING'S COLLEGE LONDON | Could antimicrobial resistance (AMR) be the incoming government’s next major challenge? AMR is a growing global threat, responsible for one in eight global deaths a year – estimated to kill 50 million people per year by 2050.

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  • 06.14.2024  |  WHO releases report on state of development of antibacterials

    THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION | The World Health Organization (WHO) today released its latest report on antibacterial agents, including antibiotics, in clinical and preclinical development worldwide. Although the number of antibacterial agents in the clinical pipeline increased from 80 in 2021 to 97 in 2023, there is a pressing need for new, innovative agents for serious infections and to replace those becoming ineffective due to widespread use.

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  • 06.06.2024  |  Drug-resistant infections more likely to strike women, says WHO

    NATURE | Women might be more likely to develop drug-resistant infections than men — an under-recognized aspect of the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance, according to a global review led by the World Health Organization (WHO). The report finds that more than 70% of countries do not recognize gender inequalities in national plans to tackle drug-resistant infections.

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  • 05.29.2024  |  How the pandemic gave power to superbugs

    NPR | Antibiotics cannot cure COVID. They don’t help a bit. And yet, new data shows that, during the pandemic, COVID patients were given antibiotics – a lot of antibiotics.

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  • 05.23.2024  |  The Lancet Series on antimicrobial resistance: The need for sustainable access to effective antibiotics

    THE LANCET | Access to effective antibiotics is essential to every health system in the world, however, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens this backbone of modern medicine and is already leading to deaths and disease which would have once been prevented. This Series highlights that, although AMR can affect anyone throughout the life course, the very young, very old and severely ill are the ones suffering the most.

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  • 05.17.2024  |  WHO updates list of drug-resistant bacteria most threatening to human health

    THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION | The World Health Organization (WHO) today released its updated Bacterial Priority Pathogens List (BPPL) 2024, featuring 15 families of antibiotic-resistant bacteria grouped into critical, high and medium categories for prioritization. The list provides guidance on the development of new and necessary treatments to stop the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

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  • 05.13.2024  |  Rise of drug-resistant superbugs could make Covid pandemic look ‘minor’, expert warns

    THE GUARDIAN | Common infections will kill millions if drug resistance through misuse of antibiotics is not curbed, says England’s ex-chief medical officer

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  • 04.28.2024  |  Climate change risks fuelling antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs’

    FINANCIAL TIMES | Antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” are among the greatest public health threats of our age — and researchers fear that climate change will make them still more dangerous.

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  • 04.24.2024  |  FDA approves new treatment for uncomplicated urinary tract infections

    U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION | Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Pivya (pivmecillinam) tablets for the treatment of female adults with uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) caused by susceptible isolates of Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis and Staphylococcus saprophyticus.

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  • 04.19.2024  |  New antibiotics were underprescribed for hard-to-treat infections, study finds

    STAT | Although U.S. regulators approved several new antibiotics for combating hard-to-treat bacteria during a recent five-year period, hospital doctors instead gave older, generic remedies to more than 40% of patients battling those stubborn pathogens, according to a new analysis.

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  • 03.14.2024  |  There is a need for awareness about AMR in Indian hospitals: Experts

    BHARAT | Admitting that the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) burden in India is among the highest in the world, the Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR) has said that healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) and lack of awareness about it lead to AMR which is one of the top global public health and development threats.

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  • 03.13.2024  |  New E. coli: One of the most problematic AMR bacteria in circulation

    GASTROENTEROLOGY & ENDOSCOPY NEWS | A new strain of Escherichia coli has been discovered that is both highly virulent and resistant to some antibiotics.

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  • 03.12.2024  |  Study reveals ‘considerable farmer knowledge’ on aspects of antibiotics risk

    PHYS ORG | A study published in CABI Agriculture and Bioscience has revealed "considerable farmer knowledge" on different aspects of antibiotics risks—including antimicrobial resistance—associated with their use on livestock in Kenya.

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  • 03.07.2024  |  University leads thinking on new information systems to tackle AMR at a national level

    UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL | Researchers at the University of Liverpool have worked with partners to set out a vision for protecting the UK public against antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

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  • 03.02.2024  |  Strengthening laboratory capacities to combat antimicrobial resistance in Sierra Leone

    THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION | In the ongoing battle against the growing threat of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) pathogens, Sierra Leone's Ministry of Health, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), has embarked on a series of crucial training initiatives. These efforts aimed to equip healthcare professionals especially laboratory officers with the necessary skills to identify bacterial agents and perform antibiotic susceptibility tests as part of activities to combat the threat of AMR effectively.

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  • 03.01.2024  |  CSIRO-funded grant advances breakthrough therapeutics for frontline antibiotic rescue

    DOHERTY INSTITUTE | University of Melbourne Dr Stephanie Neville, a molecular microbiologist at the Doherty Institute specialising in antibiotic resistance of bacterial pathogens, has been awarded a $500,000 CUREator grant by Brandon BioCatalyst, in the Minimising Antimicrobial Resistance Stream supported by CSIRO.

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  • 03.01.2024  |  AMR Industry Alliance calls for ‘bold, coordinated’ action on antimicrobial resistance

    CIDRAP | The AMR Industry Alliance this week issued a "call-to-action" in advance of the United Nations (UN) High-Level Meeting on AMR (antimicrobial resistance) in September.

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  • 02.28.2024  |  Continued efforts needed to fight antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in humans and animals

    EUROPEAN FOOD SAFETY AUTHORITY | Resistance of Salmonella and Campylobacter bacteria to commonly used antimicrobials continues to be observed frequently in humans and animals, according to a report issued today by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

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  • 02.28.2024  |  Can we keep up with the resistance?

    INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIAL EDITION | Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a leading cause of death worldwide. In 2019 alone, AMR directly resulted in about 1.27 million deaths, and played a role in almost 5 million deaths. Without intervention, that death toll is expected to rise to about 10 million deaths per year by 2050.

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  • 02.28.2024  |  European AMR trends in humans, animals, foods for 2021–2022

    FOOD SAFETY MAGAZINE | The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) recently published a joint report on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in zoonotic pathogens from humans, animals, and food in 2021–2022. EFSA and ECDC warn about repeatedly observed resistance to common antibiotics in Salmonella and Campylobacter.

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  • 02.28.2024  |  Can non-profits beat antibiotic resistance and soaring drug costs?

    NATURE | Effective, affordable antimicrobial drugs aren’t moneymakers, despite being desperately needed. Can non-profit organizations pick up the slack?

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  • 02.27.2024  |  Global Leaders Group lays out steps to boost antibiotic development, access

    CIDRAP | The Global Leaders Group (GLG) on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) last week issued a series of recommendations to address shortfalls in the antibiotic pipeline and boost access to new antibiotics and diagnostics.

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  • 02.23.2024  |  New guidance document to bolster AMR surveillance in the Western Pacific

    DOHERTY INSTITUTE | In the ongoing battle against the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the WHO Collaborating Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance at the Doherty Institute, in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO), has taken a significant step forward by developing a guidance document regarding AMR surveillance.

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  • 02.22.2024  |  Report suggests lower antibiotic use in Europe led to less antimicrobial resistance

    CIDRAP | A multi-agency report ties a reduction in antimicrobial consumption (AMC) in Europe to a decrease in overall antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in people and farm animals from 2014 to 2021.

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  • 02.19.2024  |  Antimicrobial resistance diagnostic markets transforming global healthcare with innovative technologies and trends 2023-2027

    BUSINESS WIRE | The healthcare sector is on the cusp of a revolution with the latest advancements in diagnostic technologies geared towards combatting antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This new comprehensive research publication analyzes the burgeoning market and the potential these technologies hold in the fight against one of the most pressing healthcare challenges of our time.

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  • 02.19.2024  |  Study highlights high rate of multidrug-resistant urinary tract infections in East Africa

    CIDRAP | An analysis of urinary tract infection (UTI) isolates from East African countries found that roughly half were multidrug-resistant (MDR), researchers reported last week in JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance.

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  • 02.15.2024  |  Could a single synthetic molecule outsmart a variety of drug-resistant bacteria?

    LA TIMES | An estimated 2.8 million people in the U.S. contract infections each year from bacteria resistant to antibiotics, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. More than 35,000 of them die.

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  • 02.12.2024  |  WHO updates list of medically important antibiotics for use in human medicine

    CIDRAP | The World Health Organization (WHO) last week updated its list of medically important antimicrobials for use in human medicine, adding new categories based on their importance in human medicine, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) risk, and the potential human health implications of non-human use.

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  • 02.08.2024  |  Report warns of ‘brain drain’ from antibiotic research and development

    CIDRAP | Two new reports this week from a coalition of industries working to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) highlight some of the progress that's been made, along with a critical problem that could undermine efforts to develop much-needed new antibiotics.

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  • 02.07.2024  |  Guidance on establishing national and local AMR surveillance systems in the Western Pacific Region

    THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION | Antimicrobial resistance (‎AMR)‎ is impacting our health, economies and development. Up to 5.2 million people may die because of resistant bacterial infections across the Western Pacific Region from 2020-2030.

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  • 01.18.2024  |  Trial supports switch to oral antibiotics in patients with low-risk Staph bloodstream infections

    CIDRAP | The results of a randomized clinical trial show that early switch to oral antibiotic therapy was non-inferior to continuing intravenous (IV) therapy in patients with low-risk Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection, researchers reported yesterday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

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