April 04, 2014
A roundup of news on drug resistance and other topics in global health.
A study co-authored by CDDEP Fellow Eili Klein and published this week in the journal PLOS ONE suggests that surveillance efforts should be geared towards tracking changes in the A(H1N1)pdm09 influenza strain ( swine flu ) as there is a high probability of an antigenic drift variant in the strain occurring in the near future. [PLOS ONE]
A US Food and Drug Administration advisory committee on Monday voted unanimously in favor of approving two new antibacterial drugs: Cubist Pharmaceuticals’ tedizolid and Durata Therapeutics’ dalbavancin, both of which are intended to treat serious skin infections, including those caused by MRSA. [Reuters]
Recently identified infectious components of what were long believed to be non-infectious diseases, such as heart disease and certain cancers, are leading to advancements in germ theory that could bring about a paradigm shift in medicine. [The Atlantic]
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday encouraged African policymakers put more funding towards eradicating malaria. [UN]
For World Health Day 2014, which will take place on April 7, WHO is highlighting the threat of vector-borne diseases with the slogan small bite, big threat . The organization s newly published report “A global brief on vector-borne diseases” outlines steps that can be taken to prevent infection. [WHO]
The WHO s Southeast Asia region has been declared polio-free, meaning the virus has officially been eradicated in 80% of the world. [BBC]
IBM is using nanotechnology to target a number of potentially deadly infections, including MRSA and HIV. [Fast Company]
Wired interviewed NYU researcher Martin Blaser, who argues that antibiotics are responsible for severe disruption in the human microbiome in his new book Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues. [Wired]
Researchers at the University of Queensland have discovered a strain of Escherichia coli that is one strain away from being resistant to nearly all known treatments. [MSN]
South African doctors need to be far more careful about prescribing antibiotics, scientists warned at the 16th International Conference on Infectious Diseases in Cape Town on Friday. [Business Day]
A new report by the Wellcome Trust claims that the battle against drug resistance just got tougher due to the emergence of new strains of drug-resistant, resilient pathogens. [Wellcome Trust]
A new CDC study found a strong positive association between ciprofloxacin resistance and gonorrhea incidence rates in 17 cities in the 1991-2006 period, highlighting the possibility of future increases in gonorrhea incidence caused by emerging cephalosporin resistance . [CDC]
Image via Samantha Celera/Flickr.
