Antibiotics

One in four seniors is bringing along stowaways from the hospital to their next stop: superbugs on their hands. Moreover, seniors who go to a nursing home or other post-acute care facility will continue to acquire new superbugs during their stay, according to findings made by University of Michigan researchers published today in a JAMA Internal Medicine research letter. The study focused on patients who have recently been admitted to the hospital for a medical or surgical issue and temporarily need extra medical care in a PAC facility before fully returning home...

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In early April, experts at a military lab outside Washington intensified their search for evidence that a dangerous new biological threat had penetrated the nation’s borders. They didn’t have to hunt long before they found it. On May 18, a team working at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research here had its first look at a sample of the bacterium Escherichia coli, taken from a 49-year-old woman in Pennsylvania. She had a urinary tract infection with a disconcerting knack for surviving the assaults of antibiotic medications. Her sample was one of six from across the country delivered to the lab of microbiologist Patrick McGann...

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Two alarming figures from a report released last month by the U.K. government: By 2050, antibiotic resistance will cost the world a projected 10 million lives and $8 trillion each year...

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In the long fight over antibiotic use in agriculture, one of the most contentious points is whether the resistant bacteria that inevitably arise can move off the farm to affect humans. [...] So whenever a research team can link resistant bacteria found in humans with farms that are close to those humans, it is an important contribution to the debate. Read More »

The Animal Health Institute (AHI) issued the following statement in response to the Food and Drug Administration’s publication of the final Guidance 213 and proposed VFD rule implementing the policy of extending veterinary oversight and eliminating  the subtherapeutic use of medical important antibiotics in animal agriculture. Read More »

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria—often called "superbugs"—are entering the nation's food system and endangering consumers at an alarming rate, according to researchers who analyzed data from the federal government. Read More »

One in seven patients can no longer be helped by antibiotics because they are increasingly ineffective after being handed out too freely by GPs. Experts warn that common infections could become potentially life-threatening for Britons...

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