October 18, 2013
A roundup of news on drug resistance and other topics in global health.
In a new study published in Nature Communications, researchers describe a method to detect bacterial infections in real-time using fluorescent-dyed antibiotics. While this technique is yet to be tested in humans, it successfully detected S. aureus infections in mice, according to the study. [Nature News]
In two separate studies, researchers have genetically modified E. coli for beneficial applications. In the first study published in ACS Synthetic Biology, scientists reprogrammed E. coli to detect and kill P. aeruginosa, one of the leading causes of hospital-acquired infections. Another study published in Science, illustrated how genetically recoding E. coli made it more resistant to viruses, thereby opening possibilities to reduce contamination in the production of biofuels or penicillin. [Medical News Today, New Scientist]
MIT researchers report in the journal PLoS One their development of a new microfluidic technique and its application in separating the various strains of P. aeruginosa bacteria into those that cause diseases, sorted by their virulence, and those that do not. [MIT News]
Researchers have restored, expanded or improved the effectiveness of a number of commonly used antimicrobials, belonging to the metronidazole and other 5-nitromidazoles (5-NI) group, by altering their basic structures, according to a study performed in animal models and published in PNAS. [Medical News Today]
The World Health Organization s International Agency for Research on Cancer recently concluded and classified outdoor air pollution with sufficient evidence as carcinogenic to humans. [Reuters]
The UK Department of Health s recently announced Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy outlines how whole-genome sequencing can be used to better understand bacteria and their ability to develop resistance to drugs. [PHG Foundation]
New research published in the journal PLoS One has identified a biomarker for sepsis in blood whose screening could dramatically reduce the diagnosis period for this infection, which is one of the leading causes of mortality in the US. [Science Daily]
The Independent writes that phages isolated by UK researchers that target C. difficile have been effective in lab tests against 90 percent of the most dangerous strains of the bug. [The Independent]
To address the threat of drug resistance due to overuse and misuse, India s Health and Family Welfare Ministry recently introduced Schedule H1 that will prohibit over-the-counter sales of 46 drugs, including antibiotics, starting March, 2014. However, some worry that the new regulations might be a challenge for state drug authorities to enforce and for small-sized pharmacies to comply with. [The Hindu]
New visualizations published by the BBC show significant variations across countries in vaccine coverage for measles, Hib3, and DTP3, while also illustrating the regional changes in annual immunization rates from 1980 to 2012. [BBC]
A new study in PLoS Medicine criticizes the top-down, leader-centric approach currently being used to eradicate polio in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, the three countries where it remains endemic, calling instead for interventions that focus on education and community engagement and for strengthening their routine health systems. [PLOS Medicine]
As large amounts of complex data become available in the biological sciences, it is becoming increasingly necessary to find ways to use big data in biology for meaningful results. [Quanta Magazine]
An article in The New York Times writes that the next global pandemic will most likely be caused by zoonotic viruses, i.e., those that originate in animals. [The New York Times]
A study published in PNAS has found that prion diseases which cause neurodegenerative disorders in both humans and animals may be capable of developing drug resistance. [Scientific American]
In Wired s Superbug blog, the director for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Thomas Frieden, discusses the effects of the 16-day government shutdown on the agency s activities. While the shutdown has been largely blamed for the spread of a Salmonella outbreak to more than a dozen states, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has asserted that its response efforts were not affected. [Wired, The Hill]
