Copyright 2009 Medical News Today Latest MRSA / Drug Resistance News From Medical News Today. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/mrsa-superbug/ admin@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Admin) editors@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Editors) en-us Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170259.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170259.php Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology is pleased to announce that it has received a second grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fund conferences on infectious disease in its "Keystone Symposia Global Health Series." In 2006, the Colorado, USA-based nonprofit organization received its first three-year grant; the funding for that ended with the October 20-25, 2009 conference on "Overcoming the Crisis of TB and AIDS" in Arusha, Tanzania. The new grant provides $2. HIV / AIDS Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170243.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170243.php Experts on both sides of the Atlantic applaud President Barack Obama and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, representing the European Union (EU) Presidency, for establishing a transatlantic task force to address antibiotic resistance, an urgent and growing problem that threatens patient safety and public health worldwide. During a summit held this week in Washington, D.C. MRSA / Drug Resistance Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170035.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170035.php Just one extra cleaner on a hospital ward can save lives and money, according to new research sponsored by UNISON, the UK's largest public service union. The detailed study found that one extra cleaner, using targeted cleaning methods, had a "measurable effect on the clinical environment," cutting the number of patients who contracted MRSA and saving the hospital an estimated £30,000 - £70,000. Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169581.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169581.php Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the Technical University of Denmark along with other collaborators in Denmark and the US found that the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa can 'switch on' production of molecules that kill white blood cells - preventing the bacteria being eliminated by the body's immune system. P. Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169470.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/169470.php A strain of MRSA that causes bloodstream infections is five times more lethal than other strains and has shown to have some resistance to the potent antibiotic drug vancomycin used to treat MRSA, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study. The study found that 50 percent of the patients infected with the strain died within 30 days compared to 11 percent of patients infected with other MRSA strains. MRSA / Drug Resistance Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168197.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168197.php Deborah Friberg, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of WakeMed Health and Hospitals, Raleigh, North Carolina, has been named the recipient of the first annual Healthcare Administrator Award, presented by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). The award recognizes a healthcare facility's executive team member who has demonstrated significant support for infection prevention and control throughout their facility. MRSA / Drug Resistance Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168234.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168234.php As NHS hospitals face an even tougher winter than usual managing the rise in demand for beds alongside the second wave of swine flu, an influential group of doctors, scientists and patient representatives has called for the early discharge of appropriate MRSA patients to prevent a rise in MRSA infection rates. MRSA / Drug Resistance Mon, 19 Oct 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/167836.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/167836.php Drugs made using unusual metals could form an effective treatment against colon and ovarian cancer, including cancerous cells that have developed immunity to other drugs, according to research at the University of Warwick and the University of Leeds. Colorectal Cancer Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/167705.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/167705.php TheraDoc®, the leading provider of clinical decision support technology in healthcare, announced that it has started beta testing of a new computerized patient surveillance tool that will help hospitals monitor and manage screening programs for MRSA / Drug Resistance Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/167637.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/167637.php The perception that antibiotic resistance is primarily the undesirable consequence of antibiotic abuse or misuse is a view that is simplistic and inaccurate, according to a recent report by the American Academy of Microbiology. The reasons behind the spread of resistance are much more complex, including appropriate antibiotic use, lack of proper sanitation and hygiene, and even the environment. MRSA / Drug Resistance Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/167678.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/167678.php NanoBio Corporation today announced compelling preclinical data for NB-401, a nebulized nanoemulsion-based agent that kills highly drug-resistant strains of bacteria commonly found in cystic fibrosis patients. Currently there are limited treatment options available that effectively address these resistant bacteria. The study results are being presented today at the 2009 Annual North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference (NACFC) in Minneapolis, Minn. Cystic Fibrosis Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/167524.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/167524.php Agence France-Presse examines the ongoing fight to control the spread of tuberculosis in South Africa. "The World Health Organisation estimates almost one percent or 461,000 South Africans develop TB annually, with government figures showing that the disease was the country's leading natural cause of death in 2006," the news service writes. Tuberculosis Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/167330.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/167330.php While studying an HIV protein that plays an essential role in AIDS progression, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have discovered compounds that show promise as novel treatments for the disease. HIV drug discovery efforts have met with little success in finding compounds that interact with an important HIV virulence factor, called Nef, because it lacks biochemical activity that can be directly measured, explained Thomas E. Smithgall, Ph.D., William S. HIV / AIDS Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/167221.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/167221.php The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have awarded $5 million to an interdisciplinary group of Harvard researchers to launch the "Harvard-wide Program on Antibiotic Resistance." Headed by Michael S. Gilmore, Ph.D. MRSA / Drug Resistance Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/167088.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/167088.php In a study presented at the 49th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC), researchers used a mobile, automated UV device to decontaminate hospital rooms at the Cleveland Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Ohio and analyzed its ability to remove troublesome bacteria, including C. difficile spores. The device, known as Tru-D, uses reflected UVC germicidal energy to decontaminate air and surfaces, including those in primary shadows. MRSA / Drug Resistance Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/166952.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/166952.php Mandatory MRSA screening for all patients admitted to English hospitals is unethical and should be reconsidered, says Dr Michael Millar in an editorial published on http://www.BMJ.com. Testing all patients for MRSA began in April 2009 but Dr Millar, a microbiologist from Barts and The London NHS Trust, questions the validity of consent for screening when the levels of risk is not adequately explained to patients. MRSA / Drug Resistance Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/166816.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/166816.php An editorial published on bmj.com today reports that mandatory MRSA screening for all patients admitted to English hospitals is unethical and should be reconsidered. Since April 2009, all patients are tested for MRSA. Dr Millar, a microbiologist from Barts and The London NHS Trust, questions the validity of consent for screening when the levels of risk are not sufficiently explained to patients. He argues that consent is not genuine. MRSA / Drug Resistance Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/166471.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/166471.php The Chicago-based non-profit organization, MRSA Survivors Network launched the first inaugural World MRSA Day event on Oct. 1st at Loyola University Chicago with great success. MRSA activists came from across the U.S. to participate and included MRSA survivors and MRSA victim family members, world-renowned epidemiologists, nurses, infection preventionists, hospital association officials and state legislators. MRSA / Drug Resistance Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/166157.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/166157.php CNN examines a recent report by researchers that warns of increasing antibiotic resistance and appeals for governments to take action to develop new antibiotics to avert a health crisis. MRSA / Drug Resistance Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/166028.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/166028.php Drug resistance is a key public health problem and also a problem for makers of branded antibacterial products, according to the findings of a new report. Traditional antibiotics: quinolones, cephalosporins, and penicillins, have seen their market share erode due to loss of effectiveness, while at the same time they are facing heavy generic competition. MRSA / Drug Resistance Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/165394.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/165394.php A unique approach to understanding how cells develop resistance to drugs has won a scientist at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center a New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health. Gábor Balázsi, Ph.D., assistant professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Systems Biology, will receive $1.5 million over five years under the highly competitive program. MRSA / Drug Resistance Sat, 26 Sep 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/165296.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/165296.php Five genetic regions have been identified that are unique to the most virulent strain of Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), the hospital superbug. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Biology studied the genome of the bacterium, looking for genes relating to motility, antibiotic resistance and toxicity. MRSA / Drug Resistance Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/165276.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/165276.php The Chao Center for Industrial Pharmacy & Contract Manufacturing officials announced that they will donate about 1,800 bottles of a medication to help fight multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) to Cambodia and Ethiopia. The Chao Center, which is based in the Purdue Research Park, produces and manufactures drugs in smaller quantities that can't be produced in a cost-effective way by larger pharmaceutical companies. Tuberculosis Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/165223.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/165223.php On Wednesday, nine of the 10 countries in the WHO's Asia-Pacific region "that suffer most" from malaria pledged to phase out the use of artemisinin-only to treat malaria and use it in combination with other drugs by 2015, Reuters reports (Lyn, 9/23). Tropical Diseases Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/164729.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/164729.php Rice University biochemists are developing a system of "evolutionary forecasting" to better understand the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance. "Our goal is to show antibiotic makers which sets of genes a pathogen will modify to become drug-resistant," said Yousif Shamoo, the principal investigator on a new $1 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. MRSA / Drug Resistance