The microbes that inhabit the gut are critical for human health, and understanding the factors that encourage the growth of beneficial bacterial species — known as “good” bacteria — in the gut may enable medical interventions that promote gut and overall human health. In a new study, Yale researchers have uncovered a novel mechanism by which these bacteria colonize the […]
Five medical organizations are recommending updated best practices for hand hygiene to protect patients and staff in healthcare settings. The recommendations emphasize the importance of healthy skin and nails and easy access to alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections through Hand Hygiene: 2022 Update, one in a series of expert guidance documents known collectively as the Compendium, was published […]
The number of people in Europe dying because of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) infections has hit an all time high, according to new EU data. An estimated 35,000 Europeans die every year, while drug-resistant infections are responsible for €1.5 billion extra healthcare costs and productivity losses. The European Medicines Agency (EMA), the EU’s medicines watchdog, says it is playing its part […]
Tuberculosis can be tough to detect. Diagnosis usually requires coughing up a sputum sample from the lungs, which can be unpleasant, impractical, and even hazardous. But in a promising new study, a multinational team of researchers may have found another way to identify the bacterial disease. Having patients spit into a cup, then loading saliva into a commercially available testing […]
Chlamydia, the leading cause of sexually transmitted bacterial infections, evades detection and elimination inside human cells by use of a cloaking device. But Duke University researchers have grasped the hem of that invisibility cloak and now hope they can pull it apart. To enter the cell and peacefully reproduce, many pathogenic bacteria, including Chlamydia, cloak themselves in a piece of […]
Monkeypox can sometimes lead to neurological complications such as encephalitis (brain inflammation), confusion or seizures, finds a new review of evidence led by a UCL researcher. Several studies incorporated in the systematic review and meta-analysis of evidence, published in eClinicalMedicine, also found that muscle aches, fatigue, headache, anxiety and depression were all relatively common among monkeypox patients. Across the studies with […]
Urinary tract infections are common, yet are increasingly tough to treat because the bacteria that cause them are becoming resistant to many antibiotics. Now, in ACS Central Science, researchers report a new molecule that inhibits drug-resistant bacteria in lab experiments, as well as in mice with pneumonia and urinary tract infections. The researchers say that this compound, fabimycin, could one day […]
For more than 30 years, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been the gold standard in molecular diagnostic testing, detecting genetic material, such as those from a virus or from human DNA. But PCR, including reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), is mostly done at large, centralized laboratories, not in point-of-care (POC) settings, because its instrumentation is bulky, expensive, takes a […]
In a new study, researchers at Cedars-Sinai found that antibiotics have sex-specific effects on the gut microbiome makeup of male and female laboratory rats. The findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, could have implications for using the drugs in humans to treat or prevent bacterial infection. “We found that giving the rats a multidrug antibiotic cocktail resulted in significant […]
The presence of probiotics such as lactic acid bacteria changes the environment in the intestine and forces the yeast fungus Candida albicans to change its metabolism, making it less infectious. This way, probiotics can contain or prevent the spread of fungal infections in the gut. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute (Leibniz-HKI) […]
Recent Comments