World's most threatening superbugs ranked in new list

World's most threatening superbugs ranked in new list

The World Health Organization has drawn up a list of the drug-resistant bacteria that pose the biggest threat to human health. Top of the list are gram-negative bugs, such as E. coli, which can cause lethal bloodstream infections... read more

Fecal microbiota transplantation a decolonization treatment option

Fecal microbiota transplantation a decolonization treatment option

The use of fecal microbiota transplantation is an option to eradicate highly drug-resistant enteric bacteria carriage, according to results from a small pilot study conducted by French investigators. A prospective study of... read more

Study shows brute force antibiotics can overcome resistance

Study shows brute force antibiotics can overcome resistance

Researchers at the University College London have developed a new method that may overcome antibiotic resistance in bacterial cells. The team used sensitive equipment to measure the mechanical forces that four different antibiotics,... read more

Scientists develop potential new TB vaccine

Scientists develop potential new TB vaccine

Researchers are working on a potential new tuberculosis vaccine that would be the first new TB vaccine in a century to combat drug-resistance. The new vaccine uses biobeads to place antigens from the tuberculosis bacterium... read more

Cholera bacteria infect more effectively with a simple twist of shape

Cholera bacteria infect more effectively with a simple twist of shape

The bacteria that cause the life-threatening disease cholera may initiate infection by coordinating a wave of mass shapeshifting that allows them to more effectively penetrate the intestines of their unwitting victims, according... read more

Best Conditions for Legionella Growth

Best Conditions for Legionella Growth

Researchers have identified the optimal conditions for the growth of Legionella which causes a very serious, often deadly, type of pneumonia, Legionnaires' disease. Inspired by a number of large Legionnaires' outbreaks,... read more

Co-infection is Frequent in Patients Hospitalized with Influenza

Co-infection is Frequent in Patients Hospitalized with Influenza

According to a recent article published online in Intensive Care Medicine, co-infection occurs commonly in patients with influenza-related infections that require intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Influenza infection causes... read more

Disruption of the microbiota across multiple body sites in critically ill children

Disruption of the microbiota across multiple body sites in critically ill children

Microbiota in critically ill children differs sharply from the microbiota of healthy children and adults. Acknowledgement of dysbiosis associated with critical illness could provide opportunities to modulate the microbiota... read more

Antibiotic Resistance just became more complex

Antibiotic Resistance just became more complex

Bacteria that are susceptible to antibiotics can survive when enough resistant cells around them are expressing an antibiotic-deactivating factor. This new take on how the microbial context can compromise antibiotic therapy.... read more

Bacteriophages may harbor antibiotic resistance genes

Bacteriophages may harbor antibiotic resistance genes

Scientists at the Catalan Institute for Water Research have carried out a comprehensive analysis of several viromes from different habitats to explore whether bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) harbor antibiotic... read more

Mild electric e-scaffold disrupts bacterial biofilms

Mild electric e-scaffold disrupts bacterial biofilms

Researchers at Washington State University (Spokane, WA, USA) used an e-scaffold made out of conductive carbon fabric and a mild electrical current to produce a low, constant concentration of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2, an effective... read more

Non-antibiotic treatments for bacterial diseases in an antibiotic resistance era

Non-antibiotic treatments for bacterial diseases in an antibiotic resistance era

The progressive spread of antibiotic resistance genes is forcing us to reconsider our treatment options against some bacterial pathogens. Treating bacterial infections will likely become more challenging in the future. We... read more

Plazomicin Succeeds in Phase 3 cUTI and CRE Trial

Plazomicin Succeeds in Phase 3 cUTI and CRE Trial

Plazomicin an antibiotic being developed to fight multidrug-resistant bacterial infections, has met the primary objective of noninferiority compared with meropenem in a phase 3 registration trial among patients with complicated... read more

The role of POC Diagnostics in Combatting Antibiotic Resistance

The role of POC Diagnostics in Combatting Antibiotic Resistance

During the winter months, patients frequently present with respiratory symptoms like coughing, sneezing and fever that could be caused by one of several bacterial and viral infections including influenza, respiratory syncytial... read more

Researchers develop novel wound-healing technology

A WSU research team has successfully used a mild electric current to take on and beat drug-resistant bacterial infections, a technology that may eventually be used to treat chronic wound infections.... read more

Gut microbes promote motor deficits in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease

Gut microbes promote motor deficits in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease

Gut microbes may play a critical role in the development of Parkinson's-like movement disorders in genetically predisposed mice, researchers report.... read more

Scientists create first viable mathematical model of a key anti-Salmonella defense system

Scientists create first viable mathematical model of a key anti-Salmonella defense system

Scientists have created the first validated mathematical model of an important cellular defense mechanism against the bacterium Salmonella, according to a new study in PLOS Computational Biology.... read more