Weekly Digest: New Ebola cases at lowest levels in a year, Listeria outbreak in the U.S.

Increased antibiotic use in livestock poses a threat to human health and could have significant effects in low- and middle-income countries. CDDEP Director Ramanan Laxminarayan was interviewed for a segment on the PRI radio show Living on Earth to discuss CDDEP’s most recent research on rising global livestock antibiotic use. On the show, Laxminarayan addresses how and when agricultural antibiotic use practices started, how such use has developed to become a global phenomenon and what effects the trend will have on human health, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. According to Laxminarayan, “the tragedy of resistance is that when these folks actually get wealthy enough to be able to afford an antibiotic, these drugs won’t work.” [Living on Earth, PNAS]

Can antibiotics ‘evolve’ to be more effective against resistant bacteria? No—not quite. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be designed adaptively. A new post on the CDDEP blog from Associate Director Hellen Gelband investigates this question, and possible ways that antibiotics could be designed to combat the problems posed by growing antibiotic resistance. [CDDEP]

The WHO’s tally of confirmed Ebola cases this week was just 30—the lowest since the outbreak was declared a year ago. Liberia has reported no new cases since March 27, and neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone have had 21 and 9 new cases, respectively. Scientists were surprised to discover this week that the virus may actually have been lurking in West Africa for decades: a New York Times op-ed discussed evidence that Ebola antibodies may have been present in Liberia as long ago as 1982. The current outbreak has claimed more than 10,000 lives out of over 25,000 confirmed cases. [Reuters, The New York Times]

Two American food producers, Blue Bell and Sabra, have announced recalls after detecting the presence of Listeria in their products. The CDC declared a multistate outbreak of Listeriosis possibly related to Blue Bell Creameries products this week after eight people were hospitalized and three died from infections with Listeria monocytes. Blue Bell has announced three separate recalls of ice cream products and halted operations at the affected facility. Sabra Dipping Co. also announced a voluntary recall of some of its hummus products after a routine test uncovered a strain of the same bacterium. Interest has been growing recently among researchers to create vaccines for foodborne illnesses: a news article in Nature explored the topic and included quotes from an interview with CDDEP Director Ramanan Laxminarayan. [CDC, NPR, Nature]

Rotating antibiotics instead of giving patients multiple drugs at once may be equally effective at killing bacteria—and help to avoid antibiotic resistance. A study published in PLOS Biology investigated the possibility of using two common antibiotics, doxycycline and erythromycin, in a low-dose sequential regimen instead of a traditional high-dose drug “cocktail”. The researchers found that rotating between the two every twelve hours was a surprisingly effective strategy, and could be a useful method to combat antibiotic resistance. [PLOS Biology]

Pfizer has stopped selling childrens’ pneumococcal vaccines in China. The company ceased sales operations for Prevenar, a vaccine for childhood pneumococcal disease and one of the company’s best-selling products globally, after the Chinese government did not renew its import license for the product. Pfizer was the only company selling the vaccine in the country and anticipates an ensuing shortage. [The Wall Street Journal]

Oral antibiotic treatment could save thousands of newborns each year. Research published in The Lancet and The Lancet Global Health found that giving oral antibiotics to newborns with bacterial infections, instead of the currently recommended injectable treatment, could be used to treat babies safely outside of hospitals and potentially stop thousands of infant deaths. A WHO spokesman stated that the organization is planning to revise its protocol to reflect the new research. [The Lancet, The New York Times]

Heart disease and other non-communicable diseases have overtaken infectious disease as the leading cause of death in India. According to the Times of India, the top ten causes of death in India in 2013 were “IHD [ischemic heart disease], COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease], stroke, tuberculosis, pneumonia, suicide, road injuries, hypertensive heart and diabetes,” compared with data from 1990 when tuberculosis, pneumonia and malaria led as causes of mortality.  [Times of India]

Patients utilizing internet services to treat sexually-transmitted infections in the UK may be contributing to antibiotic resistance. Though it may be easier and less embarrassing, popular STI treatment services that allow a patient to fill out a form online and receive medication in the mail can give out incorrect medications that contribute to drug resistance, according to an article published in The Guardian by sexual health and HIV specialist Verity Sullivan. Gonorrhea in particular, Sullivan argues, affects over 30,000 people annually in the UK and proper treatment requires in-person care from a physician. [The Guardian]

As heroin overdoses hit record highs across the United States, the price of opioid “antidote” naloxone has risen significantly. Police departments across the country have acquired the emergency drug in an effort to curb overdoses, but many say that the price has risen by 50 percent or more in the last few months. The drug’s manufacturer, Amphastar, has seen a 70 percent increase in profits since it went public in mid-2014. [Al Jazeera America]

Cigarette smoke can make methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) more effective. A study carried out by researchers at UC San Diego exposed MRSA bacteria to cigarette smoke and found that the exposed bacteria were more difficult for immune cells to kill, had an easier time infecting human cells and caused pneumonia with a higher mortality rate in a mouse model. [Infection and Immunity]

Image of Listeria monocytogenes courtesy Wikimedia Commons.