MRSA Latest News

Duke University Medical Center researchers have found two genes in mice which might help identify why some people are more susceptible than others to potentially deadly staph infections. The researchers uncovered important genetic clues that ultimately could help inform patient management and drug development...

In the war against antibiotics, bacteria aren't selfish. According to a new report from Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers, a handful of resistant pathogens can protect an entire colony...

Research led by Dr Matt Hutchings and published in the journal BMC Biology shows that ants use the antibiotics to inhibit the growth of unwanted fungi and bacteria in their fungus cultures which they use to feed their larvae and queen. These antibiotics are produced by actinomycete bacteria that live on the ants in a mutual symbiosis...

A unique experiment at Rice University that forces bacteria into a head-to-head competition for evolutionary dominance has yielded new insights about the way Darwinian selection plays out at the molecular level. An exacting new analysis of the experiment has revealed precisely how specific genetic mutations impart a physical edge in the competition for survival...

Kissing a frog won't turn it into a prince - except in fairy tales - but frogs may be hopping toward a real-world transformation into princely allies in humanity's battle with antibiotic-resistant infections that threaten millions of people worldwide. Scientists today reported that frog skin contains natural substances that could be the basis for a powerful new genre of antibiotics...

Three babies have died at Mainz University Hospital, Germany, after receiving infusions (a drip) tainted with bacteria. The third baby to die had been born at 24 weeks and was very weak, said doctors at the hospital. Two other babies died on Saturday, 21st August, 2010. All three babies had received the same nutrient infusion solution (via a drip)...

Amid the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance, the WHO on Friday urged countries to take greater action to limit the spread of drug-resistant bacteria, CIDRAP News reports...

Researchers at Montana State University have developed six new biomedical technologies that could have applications for treating antibiotic resistant infections, fungal infections and viral infections; boosting humans' innate immunity and improving scientists' ability to study such compounds. The technologies are available for licensing to interested companies and entrepreneurs...

Hospitals vary in how they detect and treat drug-resistant staph infections, but most follow national guideline recommendations, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Researchers sent a 61-item questionnaire to pharmacy directors at 263 acute-care hospitals in the U.S...

Building on an enzyme found in nature, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have created a nanoscale coating for surgical equipment, hospital walls, and other surfaces which safely eradicates methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the bacteria responsible for antibiotic resistant infections. "We're building on nature," said Jonathan S. Dordick, the Howard P...

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "After several years of delay, Illinois has begun posting hospital infection data on its 'hospital report card' website, including facilities in the greater St. Louis area. State officials say the website - www.healthcarereportcard.illinois.gov - will benefit not only the consumer but also the health care industry. ...

Two recent studies provide evidence for a new approach to vaccines to prevent infections caused by drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus -- better known as MRSA - the leading cause of skin and soft tissue, bloodstream and lung infections in the United States. One demonstrates a way to counteract the bacteria's knack for evading the immune system...

Indian authorities say it is unfair to associate the superbug that has surfaced in Great Britain to India, because a significant number of bacteria carrying the NDM-1 gene (DNA code) have been reported in several different countries, including Brazil, the USA, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Australia...

NDM-1, which stands for New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 is a gene (DNA code) carried by some bacteria. If a bacteria strain carries the NDM-1 gene it is resistant to nearly all antibiotics, including carbapenem antibiotics - also known as antibiotics of last resort. Carbepenems are the most powerful antibiotics, used as a last resort for many bacterial infections, such as E...

Binh An Diep, Ph.D., Assistant Adjunct Professor, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, has been chosen by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) to receive a 2010 ICAAC Young Investigator Award. Sponsored by Merck, U.S. Human Health Division, this award recognizes an early career scientist for research excellence in microbiology and infectious diseases. Dr...

The rate of drug-resistant staph hospital-acquired infections has dropped as the U.S. has stepped up prevention efforts to fight the deadly condition, The Associated Press reports. "The decline was seen in a federal study of methicillin-resistant staph, or MRSA. The bug often causes only a boil or skin infection...

A study published online Wednesday in Lancet Infectious Diseases identifies a gene that enables bacteria to resist most antibiotics and calls for better global surveillance of multi-drug resistant bacteria, the Associated Press reports (8/11)...

Experts from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) report that MRSA infections have dropped significantly in the USA over the last four years. Researchers examined data from 2005 through to the end of 2008 of nine American metropolitan areas...

A new superbug that makes an enzyme called NDM-1 which probably travelled back to the UK in patients who went over to India and Pakistan for surgical treatments has entered UK hospitals, experts say. This superbug is resistant to virtually all antibiotics, even the most powerful ones. So far, only 50 cases have been reported in Great Britain...

An analysis of data from 2005 through 2008 of nine metropolitan areas in the U.S. indicates that health care-associated invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections decreased among patients with infections that began in the community or in the hospital, according to a study in the August 11 issue of JAMA. An estimated 1...

A new gene (New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase [NDM] 1) that enables bacteria to be highly resistant to almost all antibiotics is widespread in Enterobacteriaceae* taken from patients in India and Pakistan, and has also been found in UK patients who travelled to India for elective surgery, according to an Article published Online First and in the September edition of The Lancet Infectious Diseases...

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that, in first- and second-line treatment of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), nearly 70 percent of surveyed infectious disease specialists and internists will use Optimer's fidaxomicin and nearly half will use Medarex/Merck's CDA1 and CDB1, one year a...

Detailed pictures just published reveal how a new type of experimental antibiotic can kill bacteria that are already resistant to existing treatments [1]. The findings could ultimately help scientists to develop new antibiotics to tackle the bacteria responsible for many hospital and community-acquired infections...

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University developed techniques to quickly identify evolution of drug resistance in strains of malaria. Their goal is to enable the medical community to react quickly to inevitable resistance and thereby save lives while increasing the lifespan of drugs used against the disease. Currently, disease monitoring requires months of clinical trials...

UroToday.com - The role of antimicrobial prophylaxis for prevention of post transrectal ultrasound guided prostate biopsy (TGB) infections is well established. Although a variety of antimicrobial regimes have been suggested, fluoroquinolones are most commonly used as prophylaxis for these procedures...