Peer-Reviewed Publication WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPE (TEM) IMAGE OF THE BACTERIAL CELL WITH AN EXTRACELLULAR VESICLE ATTACHED.CREDIT: WSU PULLMAN, Wash. – Bacteria can be tricked into sending death signals to stop the growth of their slimy, protective homes that lead to deadly infections, a new study demonstrates. The discovery by Washington State University...
Credit: CC0 Public DomainBacterial infections are the second leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for one in eight of all deaths in 2019, the first global estimate of their lethality revealed on Tuesday. The massive new study, published in the Lancet journal, looked at deaths from 33 common bacterial pathogens and 11 types of infection...
by Hayley Muendlein, The Conversation Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is a common source of bacterial coinfections. Credit: Janice Haney Car/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The 1918 influenza pandemic resulted in the loss of over 3% of the world’s population—at least 50 million people. But it wasn’t the flu virus that caused the majority of these deaths....
UNIVERSITY OF SEVILLE The results make it possible to expand the treatment options for infections for which few alternatives exist, while at the same time helping to avoid increasing resistance to the usual drugs. To this end, the study looked at the safety and efficacy of intravenous fosfomycin, an old “forgotten” antibiotic, as a possible...
by Bob Yirka, Medical Xpress Credit: CC0 Public Domain A team of researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has found evidence that suggests giving patients ACE inhibitors reduces the ability of their immune system to fight off bacterial infections. In their paper published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the group describes testing of multiple ACE...
By Michael Irving June 08, 2021 Bacteriophages are viruses that prey on bacteria, making them good candidates for treatments against superbugs auntspray/Depositphotos Bacteria have a nasty ability to rapidly evolve, allowing them to evade antibiotics in short order. But now, scientists at UC San Diego have used evolution against them, by “training” bacteria-killing viruses to...
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO IMAGE: AN ANTIBIOTIC (GREEN), BOUND IN THE HUMAN-LIKE YEAST RIBOSOME (GRAY), ALLOWS FOR SYNTHESIS OF SOME PROTEINS (REPRESENTED IN ORANGE, PURPLE, AND BLUE) BUT NOT OTHERS (DARK GREEN). CREDIT: MAXIM SVETLOV/UIC According to researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago, the antibiotics used to treat common bacterial infections, like pneumonia and sinusitis,...
DUKE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER DURHAM, N.C. – When patients complain of coughing, runny nose, sneezing and fever, doctors are often stumped because they have no fundamental tool to identify the source of the respiratory symptoms and guide appropriate treatments. That tool might finally be on its way. In a study proving feasibility, researchers at Duke Health showed...
If new recommendations from the American College of Physicians take hold, patients may soon see shorter courses of antibiotics prescribed for common bacterial infections in an effort to stem the tide of antibiotic resistance. For acute, uncomplicated bronchitis and COPD exacerbation, five days. For community-acquired pneumonia, five days with extensions based on symptoms. For uncomplicated urinary tract...
BY ALISA ZAPP MACHALEK You’ve probably heard news stories and other talk about CRISPR. If you’re not a scientist—well, even if you are—it can seem a bit complex. Here’s a brief recap of what it’s all about. In 1987, scientists noticed weird, repeating sequences of DNA in bacteria. In 2002, the abbreviation CRISPR was coined...
