June 27, 2014
A roundup of news on drug resistance and other topics in global health.
Monitoring of drug resistance and usage should be included in the cost of interventions, CDDEP Director Ramanan Laxminarayan told The New York Times. “We need a robust system to track resistance around the world, he said. Antibiotics are finally getting attention because antibiotic resistance is starting to kill people. [The New York Times]
The FDA this week approved a new antibiotic, tedizolid phosphate (Sivextro), for the treatment of skin and soft tissue infections. It has shown similar success rates in treating both susceptible and drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. [MedPageToday]
Palo Alto-based company Theranos plans to revolutionize phlebotomy by running up to 30 tests from just one drop of blood at less than 50% of the standard Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates. [WIRED]
Beginning in October, US hospitals with high rates of hospital-acquired infections and injuries will be penalized under the Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program. [NPR]
A federal judge has upheld a New York City policy preventing unimmunized children from attending school when another student has a vaccine-preventable disease. [New York Times]
The hands of healthcare workers often serve as vectors for infection transmission. This article in The Journal of the American Medical Association discusses the importance of hand hygiene and the difficulties presented by attempts to ban handshakes from healthcare settings. [JAMA]
The WHO says drastic action is needed to contain an Ebola outbreak that has killed nearly 400 people and spread to three countries in West Africa. [BBC]
A strain of polio has been found in sewage samples taken from Viracopos International Airport in Brazil’s Sao Paolo state in March. According to the WHO, the chance of transmission in Brazil, which has been polio-free since 1989, is very low due to the country’s high vaccination coverage. [BBC]
A new study estimates that excessive alcohol consumption accounts for 1 in 10 deaths among working-age adults in the United States. [NPR]
Aspergillomarasmine A, a molecule produced by the Aspergillus fungus, may play a key role in battling antibiotic-resistant bacteria by turning off their resistance mechanism. [TIME]
Image via Alvaro Canivell/Flickr.
