News

News Archive

  • 11.29.2023  |  ‘I’ve tried and tried, and I can’t get rid of it’: The women living with drug-resistant infections

    THE TELEGRAPH | Most people think superbugs – or AMR – is a concern for the future. But the ‘silent pandemic’ has already become a pressing health threat.

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  • 11.10.2023  |  Gonorrhea is becoming drug resistant. Scientists just found a solution

    NEW YORK TIMES | A new antibiotic, zoliflodacin, is as effective as the current standard of care. Its creation may hasten the arrival of other needed antibiotics.

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  • 11.07.2023  |  How do bacteria actually become resistant to antibiotics?

    THE CONVERSATION | Antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest global threats to health, food security, and development. This month, The Conversation’s experts explore how we got here and potential solutions.

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  • 10.31.2023  |  ‘Alarming’ rates of babies with antibiotic-resistant bugs in Asia-Pacific, Australian study finds

    THE GUARDIAN | Study urges Australia to research new drugs as it warns rate of mutated infections ‘much worse than anticipated’.

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  • 10.02.2023  |  Ukraine infections show rising threat from antibiotic resistance

    FINANCIAL TIMES | This episode is the latest evidence of the health effects of the war spreading far beyond Ukraine.

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  • 07.31.2023  |  Not ‘if’ but ‘when’: Antibiotic resistance poses existential threat for modern medicine

    USA TODAY | Why antibiotic-resistant bacteria or ‘superbugs’ are becoming the new normal.

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  • 07.11.2023  |  AI could quickly screen thousands of antibiotics to tackle superbugs

    SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN | As the threat of antibiotic resistance increases, new antibiotics are imperative—and AI could widen the pipeline.

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  • 06.28.2023  |  What can we do to stop superbugs?

    WELLCOME | After years of antibiotics being abused and overused, Dr. Anand Anandkumar joins Alisha to study how we now face a silent pandemic where the treatments we rely on no longer work, correcting the misconceptions around antimicrobial resistance and explain what we can do about it.

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  • 06.26.2023  |  Decolonization protocol tied to dramatically reduced MRSA in critically ill infants

    CIDRAP | A decolonization protocol normally used in older patients was associated with a sharp reduction in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in critically ill infants.

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  • 06.22.2023  |  WHO outlines 40 research priorities on antimicrobial resistance

    WHO | WHO has published its first global research agenda for the world’s scientists to address the most urgent human health priorities to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) that outlines topics on drug-resistant bacteria that must be answered by 2030.

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  • 06.13.2023  |  Antimicrobial resistance to cause 5.2 million deaths in western Pacific by 2030, new report says

    THE TELEGRAPH | Drug-resistant infections will become a bigger killer in the region than HIV/Aids and tuberculosis, according to the WHO.

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  • 06.08.2023  |  The Atlantic Declaration: A framework for a twenty-first century U.S.-UK economic partnership

    THE WHITE HOUSE | The United States and the United Kingdom are announcing the Atlantic Declaration for a Twenty-First Century U.S.-UK Economic Partnership to ensure the alliance is adapted, reinforced, and reimagined for the challenges of this moment.

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  • 05.17.2023  |  Babbage: How to battle superbugs with viruses

    THE ECONOMIST | Gilead Amit, The Economist’s science correspondent, travels to the Eliava Institute in Tbilisi, Georgia to find out how phage therapies have been used there over the last century.

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  • 05.05.2023  |  How to combat the antibiotic resistance crisis

    SCIENCE FRIDAY | Ira discusses possible solutions to needing to update antibiotics and takes listener questions with Dr. Victor Nizet, faculty lead of the Collaborative to Halt Antibiotic-Resistant Microbes at the University of California San Diego and Dr. Eddie Stenehjem, executive vice chair of medicine at the University of Colorado.

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  • 05.03.2023  |  Western firms are becoming interested in a Soviet medicine

    THE ECONOMIST | “Phage therapy” aims to use viruses to cure bacterial infections.

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  • 04.19.2023  |  In low-resource nations, lack of diagnostics hampers fight against antimicrobial resistance

    CIDRAP | In a study published last year in The Lancet, an international team of researchers estimated that 1.27 million people died in 2019 from an antibiotic-resistant infection, and nearly 5 million deaths were associated with antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

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  • 04.19.2023  |  Microbiome comes of age

    BOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL | A local company could soon have one of the first of a whole new class of medicines on the market that treat disease by rebalancing gut bacteria.

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  • 04.12.2023  |  Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing persists at US children’s hospitals

    CIDRAP | An analysis of quarterly surveys of 28 US children’s hospitals found that inappropriate antibiotic prescribing remains common and varies by specialty, researchers reported today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.

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  • 04.11.2023  |  Highly resistant Pseudomonas strains found in Nigerian hospitals

    CIDRAP | A study conducted in three Nigerian hospitals found that nearly half of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates were resistant to all antibiotics tested, researchers reported yesterday in JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance.

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  • 04.10.2023  |  Strep is bad right now — and an antibiotic shortage is making it worse

    NPR | Downing a spoonful of bubblegum pink amoxicillin is a regular part of being a kid, but a nationwide shortage of the antibiotic is making a particularly bad season of strep throat tougher.

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  • 04.10.2023  |  Discovery of antibiotic-resistant superbugs in L.A. wastewater sparks worry

    LA TIMES | 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.

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  • 04.03.2023  |  In the war on cacteria, it’s time to call in the phages

    WIRED | Researchers say viruses can kill antibiotic-resistant microbes and help treat infections. Regulators have to figure out how to get them on the market.

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  • 03.30.2023  |  Predator and prey: Harnessing phages to fight antibiotic resistance

    PHARMAVOICE | Phages, bacteria’s natural predator, could help combat the growing threat of superbugs. But can these therapies rise above antibiotic market woes?

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  • 03.29.2023  |  ‘We have arrived in the post-antibiotic era’: WHO warns of too few new drugs for deadly superbugs

    NBC NEWS | Health officials are sounding increasingly urgent alarms about the need for powerful new drugs to treat increasingly resistant infections.

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  • 03.27.2023  |  Colorado saw unusually high levels of intestinal disease in 2022, including antibiotic-resistant cluster

    THE DENVER POST | Colorado saw the second highest, behind California, with 32 cases recorded in 2022.

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  • 03.23.2023  |  E coli from meat behind half a million UTIs in the US every year, study suggests

    GUARDIAN | Fatal bloodstream illnesses driven by urinary tract infections could rise, warn scientists as research shows link to food-borne bacteria

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  • 02.20.2023  |  Impact funds help fight dementia and antibiotic resistance

    FINANCIAL TIMES | Investors are turning to impact investment funds to address antimicrobial resistance and dementia, despite the potential lack of financial returns and challenges posed by broken markets for new antibiotics.

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  • 02.16.2023  |  The last drug that can fight gonorrhea is starting to falter

    WIRED | Data gaps, funding cuts, and shyness about sex let gonorrhea gain drug resistance. There are no new treatments yet.

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  • 02.08.2023  |  Spread of antibiotic resistance revives interest in bacteria-killing viruses

    FINANCIAL TIMES | Spread of antibiotic resistance revives interest in bacteria-killing viruses

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  • 02.07.2023  |  Kidney dialysis-related infection rates higher in U.S. minorities -report

    REUTERS |  The use of neck veins for hemodialysis administration was found to be the most significant risk factor, with central venous catheter use being more prevalent in Black patients aged 18 to 49.

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  • 02.07.2023  |  Climate change is contributing to the rise of superbugs, new UN report says

    CNN | Climate change and antimicrobial resistance are two of the greatest threats to global health, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme.

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  • 02.07.2023  |  Studies spotlight growing threat of drug-resistant Shigella

    CIDRAP | Two studies published last week highlight how a highly drug-resistant enteric pathogen is challenging clinicians and public health officials.

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  • 02.07.2023  |  The antibiotic resistance crisis has a troubling twist

    WIRED | A major new UN report says we’ve ignored the role of environmental degradation in fueling the superbugs that kill 1.27 million people each year.

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  • 02.06.2023  |  Antibiotic use in farming set to soar despite drug-resistance fears

    NATURE | Antibiotic use in animal farming is expected to increase by 8% between 2020 and 2030, contributing to the global problem of antimicrobial resistance. Lack of publicly available data on antibiotic use and enforcement of regulations make it difficult for governments to address the issue, although efforts to reduce antibiotic use have been pledged by some countries.

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  • 02.01.2023  |  Antibiotic-resistant UTIs are common, and other infections may soon be resistant, too

    SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN | Urinary tract infections are increasingly becoming resistant to first-line antibiotics, and this may be a warning for our ability to treat other microbial infections

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  • 01.30.2023  |  What happened to all the antibiotics?

    PHARMAPHORUM | Across the world, there are reports of shortages of common antibiotics. Ben Hargreaves examines why these shortages are happening and what is being done in the background to return supply to normal.

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  • 01.19.2023  |  Massachusetts detects gonorrhea strain showing resistance to nearly all antibiotics used to treat it

    BOSTON GLOBE | Although standard treatment still works, the new bug, never before seen in the US, shows signs of developing resistance to the recommended drugs.

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  • 01.19.2023  |  First cases of gonorrhea resistant to several classes of antibiotics identified in the U.S.

    CNN | Public health officials says they have found two cases of gonorrhea that appear to have reduced susceptibility to every kind of antibiotic available to treat them. It’s the first time strains of gonorrhea this resistant to antibiotics have been identified in the United States.

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  • 01.09.2023  |  Old cure revived to help fight against antibiotic-resistant superbugs

    SYDNEY MORNING HERALD | Phage therapy, which uses harmless viruses to kill germs in cases where traditional antibiotics have failed, is making a comeback in Australia to counter antibiotic-resistant superbugs. The Alfred hospital in Melbourne has started using phage therapy to treat patients with severe bacterial infections that are either life-threatening or function-threatening, where they don’t have any other options left.

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  • 01.08.2023  |  Big Meat just can’t quit antibiotics

    VOX | Antibiotic use in meat production leads to bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics, making infections more difficult to treat. While Europe has successfully reduced antibiotic use in livestock by almost 50%, the US FDA is unlikely to follow suit.

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  • 01.04.2023  |  Right choice of antibiotic linked to lower risk of death from bloodstream infections

    CIDRAP | Patients who received an appropriate initial antibiotic for bloodstream infections (BSIs) had a lower risk of death compared with those who received an inappropriate antibiotic, US researchers reported today in JAMA Network Open.

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