Health News

Clinicians who prescribe unnecessary antibiotics fuel future antibiotic use

Receiving an initial antibiotic prescription for a viral acute respiratory infection—the type of infection that doesn’t respond to antibiotics—increases the likelihood that a patient or their spouse will seek care for future such infections and will receive subsequent antibiotic prescriptions, according to the findings of a study from Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. […]

Health News

Mechanical, oral antibiotic bowel prep yields no benefit for colectomy

(HealthDay)—Mechanical and oral antibiotic bowel preparation (MOABP) does not reduce surgical site infections (SSIs) or the overall morbidity of colon surgery versus no bowel preparation (NBP), according to a study published online Aug. 8 in The Lancet. Laura Koskenvuo, M.D., from University of Helsinki, and colleagues randomly assigned (1:1) 396 patients undergoing colon resection to […]

Health News

‘Trojan horse’ antibiotic can kill drug-resistant bacteria

‘Trojan horse’ antibiotic can kill drug-resistant superbugs from WITHIN ‘by hijacking their defences’ The drug, called cefiderocol, works by attaching itself on to iron molecules  Once allowed inside the bacterial cell, it can destroy it from within, experts say Experts now hope it will top up the world’s dwindling arsenal of antibiotics Antibiotic resistance is […]

Health News

New antibiotic found in common weed

Researchers in Switzerland made this suggestion after discovering a compound with a new type of antibiotic activity on the leaf of the thale cress, a common weed. Many of today’s antibiotics stem from natural compounds made by bacteria that live in soil. The bacteria produce them to defend against other microorganisms. But the new study […]

Health Problems

Gonorrhea researchers identify novel route to vaccine, new antibiotic

Researchers have identified a protein that powers the virulence of the bacteria that causes gonorrhea, opening the possibility of a new target for antibiotics and, even better, a vaccine. The findings, published today in PLOS Pathogens, are especially important since the microbe, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, is considered a “superbug” because of its resistance to all classes […]