Phage Treatment of an Aortic Graft Infected with Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

Phage Treatment of an Aortic Graft Infected with Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

Another phage therapy success. Bacteria-killing Viruses found in a pond knocked out an antibiotic resistant infection. Management of prosthetic vascular graft infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa can be a significant... read more

The Effects of Antibiotic Cycling and Mixing on Antibiotic Resistance in ICU

The Effects of Antibiotic Cycling and Mixing on Antibiotic Resistance in ICU

Whether antibiotic rotation strategies reduce prevalence of antibiotic-resistant, Gram-negative bacteria in intensive care units (ICUs) has not been accurately established. We aimed to assess whether cycling of antibiotics... read more

FDA Approves Treatment of Patients with Hospital-Acquired Bacterial Pneumonia and Ventilator-Associated Bacterial Pneumonia

FDA Approves Treatment of Patients with Hospital-Acquired Bacterial Pneumonia and Ventilator-Associated Bacterial Pneumonia

FDA has approved Allergan's supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) to expand the approved use of AVYCAZ® (ceftazidime and avibactam) to include the treatment of hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia and ventilator-associated... read more

Urine Test Developed to Test for Tuberculosis

Urine Test Developed to Test for Tuberculosis

An international team of researchers has developed a urine test that can be used to detect tuberculosis (TB) in human patients. Alessandra Luchini and her team have developed a urine test for TB that gives results in 12 hours.... read more

How Bacteria May Help Regulate Blood Pressure

How Bacteria May Help Regulate Blood Pressure

While bacteria once had negative connotations, scientists are now saying it could be good for you. Smell receptors in kidneys sniff out signals from gut bacteria for cues to moderate blood pressure. Some years ago, when Jennifer... read more

A New Combination of Antibiotic and Inhibitor

A New Combination of Antibiotic and Inhibitor

Intensivists have another antibiotic combination to treat severe infections caused by gram-negative bacteria with the FDA’s approval of Vabomere (meropenem, combined with the beta-lactamase inhibitor called vaborbactam).... read more

Faecal Transplant Effectively Treats Recurrent or Unresponsive Clostridium Difficile

Faecal Transplant Effectively Treats Recurrent or Unresponsive Clostridium Difficile

Using a faecal microbiota transplant cured 92% of people with Clostridium difficile that had recurred or had not responded to antibiotics. Faecal transplant also had a lower risk of treatment failure than the antibiotic vancomycin.... read more

Calcium induces chronic lung infections

Calcium induces chronic lung infections

Researchers have now discovered that calcium induces the switch from acute to chronic infection. One of the most serious pathogens is the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which frequently causes hospital infections and is... read more

Antiseptic baths to prevent infections deemed effective for long-term use

Antiseptic baths to prevent infections deemed effective for long-term use

Long-term use antiseptic soap in bathing critically ill patients to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) did not cause high levels of resistance in bacteria on the patients' skin.... read more

Candida Auris a “Perfect Storm” Superbug

Candida Auris a “Perfect Storm” Superbug

How an invasive fungus got health officials' attention. Try as they might, the infection control specialists at Royal Brompton Hospital could not eradicate the invasive fungus that was attacking already gravely ill patients... read more

Mechanisms of Severe Mortality-associated Bacterial Co-infections Following Influenza Virus Infection

Mechanisms of Severe Mortality-associated Bacterial Co-infections Following Influenza Virus Infection

The mechanisms of severe morbidity following influenza-bacteria co-infections mainly include failure of an antibacterial immune response and pathogen synergy. Moreover, failure to resume function and tolerance might be one... read more

A Randomized Trial of the Amikacin Fosfomycin Inhalation System for the Adjunctive Therapy of Gram-Negative VAP

A Randomized Trial of the Amikacin Fosfomycin Inhalation System for the Adjunctive Therapy of Gram-Negative VAP

Clinical failures in ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) caused by gram-negative bacteria are common and associated with substantial morbidity, mortality, and resource utilization. In this trial of adjunctive aerosol therapy... read more

Prevalence of multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria among nursing home residents

Prevalence of multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria among nursing home residents

Multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria (MDR-GNB) are associated with an increasing proportion of infections among nursing home (NH) residents. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to critically... read more

Viral coinfection is shaped by host ecology and virus-virus interactions across diverse microbial taxa and environments

Infection of more than one virus in a host, coinfection, is common across taxa and environments. Viral coinfection can enable genetic exchange, alter the dynamics of infections, and change the course of viral evolution. Yet,... read more

Lung Microbiome: Key to Respiratory Ills?

Lung Microbiome: Key to Respiratory Ills?

Recently, JAMA discussed this research and its potential clinical applications with 2 experts on the front lines, Jack Gilbert, PhD, a microbial ecologist at the University of Chicago and director of its new Microbiome Center... read more

Komodo dragon-inspired synthetic peptide DRGN-1 promotes wound-healing of a mixed-biofilm infected wound

Komodo dragon-inspired synthetic peptide DRGN-1 promotes wound-healing of a mixed-biofilm infected wound

Cationic antimicrobial peptides are multifunctional molecules that have a high potential as therapeutic agents. We have identified a histone H1-derived peptide from the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), called VK25. Using... read more

New Guidelines for Accurate Diagnosis of C. difficile Infection

New Guidelines for Accurate Diagnosis of C. difficile Infection

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), a potentially lethal bacterial infection, causes colon inflammation and is responsible for 3,700 deaths in Europe per year. This highly symptomatic infection causes fever, diarrhea,... read more