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C. difficile spore in gold emerges from a bacterium in turquoise

New antibiotic may clear Clostridium difficile and stop reinfection

8 May 2023

Clostridium difficile kills 13,000 people each year in the US alone. A new antibiotic tested in mice works better than our first-line treatments against infection – and prevents reinfection too

MRSA could be prevented with genetically engineered antibodies

3 May 2023

Genetic mutations to an antibody prevented MRSA infections in mice, and boosted the effectiveness of antibiotics for fighting the infection

Curbing fatty acid production in bacteria lowers antibiotic resistance

1 May 2023

Bacteria are more susceptible to antibiotics when they can't produce fatty acids, suggesting that drugs inhibiting this process could help us overcome antibiotic resistance

Antimicrobial drug derived from tree sap could treat chronic wounds

14 September 2022

A compound derived from the sap of the blushwood tree was found to improve wound healing in mice and dairy calves

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Genetic test for mutation that leads to antibiotic-induced deafness

31 March 2022

A genetic test gives results in half an hour to show if a person may become deaf in response to certain antibiotics, so can be used for babies with suspected sepsis who need treatment fast

Mother Care. Unrecognizable mom holding newborn baby on her laps

RSV vaccine in pregnancy lowers antibiotic use in babies

14 March 2022

Babies whose mothers were vaccinated against respiratory syncytial virus had less need for drugs against bacterial infections

Antibiotic-resistant superbug has a protein coat like chain mail

25 February 2022

The outer coat of the antibiotic-resistant bacterium Clostridium difficile has a structure similar to chain mail that stops drugs and immune system cells from killing it

This is a medical illustration of drug-resistant, Shigella sp. bacteria, presented in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publication entitled, Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2019 (AR Threats Report)

Antibiotic resistance killed more people than malaria or AIDS in 2019

20 January 2022

About 1.3 million deaths were directly caused by drug-resistant bacterial infections in 2019, a global study estimates

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A type of MRSA evolved in hedgehogs long before the first antibiotics

5 January 2022

A strain of the antibiotic-resistant bacterium MRSA seems to have colonised the skin of hedgehogs more than 200 years ago – and many other similarly evasive bugs might exist in nature

People who travel abroad can unknowingly spread antibiotic resistance

7 June 2021

People who travel to countries with a higher prevalence of antibiotic resistance are unwittingly bringing genes for resistance home in their gut bacteria