Tag: Superbugs

Are we one giant step closer to the end of antibiotics?

Bacteria Resistant to ALL Drugs Shows up in Denmark

superbug image
Bacteria resistant to ALL antibiotics have arrived in Europe, and experts fear it could be the start of a global epidemic of untreatable infections.

Agricultural use of antibiotics is by far the greatest threat to us, promoting drug resistance on a grander scale than hospital use. We must get all countries to agree to eliminate colistin and carbapenem antibiotics, in particular, from animal use. They are our last ditch antibiotics at a time when there is little drug development. This, and limiting some types of food imports, will slow the tide of this latest superbug threatening us. Its arrival is inevitable though, given global travel and trade. We’ll just need to keep our finger in the dike for now while hoping that the government will restrict the importation of foods likely to be carriers of this gene, greatly reduce or bar the use of critical antibiotics in agriculture, and will allocate new resources to the development of treatments for these resistant organisms.

  • Continue reading New Superbug Resistant To All Antibiotics Linked To Imported Meat, forbes, DEC 10, 2015.
  • Statement by Antibiotic Resistance Action Center on spread of dangerous superbug gene from China to Denmark, publichealth, December 3, 2015.

GeneWEAVE Biosciences Inc. bought by Roche for up to $425 million

Roche acquires GeneWEAVE to strengthen offerings in microbiology diagnostics

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Roche acquires GeneWEAVE to strengthen offerings in microbiology diagnostics.

Roche has signed a definitive agreement under which it will acquire GeneWEAVE BioSciences, Inc. Roche has been buying the company focused on innovative, clinical microbiology diagnostics solutions, for up to $425 million. With the deal, Roche has further strengthened its commitment to fight superbugs.

Sources and more information
  • Roche acquires GeneWEAVE to strengthen offerings in microbiology diagnostics, geneweave news, August 13, 2015.
  • Roche buys ‘superbug’ diagnostics firm for up to $425 million, Reuters, Aug 13, 2015.

Factory farms, antibiotics and superbugs

Lance Price at TEDxManhattan, 2014

How antibiotics are being used to compensate for the overcrowded, stressful conditions on industrial farms and how that’s creating superbugs that threaten public health.

More information
  • Lance Price is a public health researcher who works at the interface between science and policy to address the growing crisis of antibiotic resistance. In the laboratory, Dr. Price uses cutting-edge DNA sequencing to trace the origins of new antibiotic-resistant pathogens. By analyzing the genomes of bacteria found in humans, food, and livestock, Dr. Price and his colleagues have traced the origins of new superbugs to industrial livestock production. Dr. Price and his colleagues have also begun to broaden the scope of foodborne disease to include urinary tract infections caused by foodborne E. coli.In the policy arena, Dr. Price works with grassroots organizations, NGOs, and policymakers to develop science-based policies to curb antibiotic abuse in food-animal production and stem the emergence of new superbugs. Dr. Price’s work was selected by Discover Magazine as one of the top 100 science stories of 2012. His research has also been covered by top-tier media around the world, including the BBC, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Scientific American, Men’s Journal, and Fitness Magazine, among others.
  • Video published on 11 Mar 2014 by TEDx Talks.
  • Watch more farming, livestock videos on @DES_Journal YT channel.

The spread of antimicrobial resistance

Antibiotic resistance genes are passed from one bacterium to another

antibiotic-resistance-comic
Antibiotic resistance genes are passed from one bacterium to another.

Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria that cause infection are not killed by the antibiotics taken to stop the infection. The bacteria survive and continue to multiply, causing more harm. Widespread use of antibiotics promotes the spread of antibiotic resistance. Smart use of antibiotics is the key to decreasing, or even reversing, the spread of resistance.

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Do you have the next antibiotic?

Is the Next Antibiotic Just Sitting on a Shelf?

superbugs-cartoon
Katie McKissick @beatricebiology is a former high school biology teacher turned science writer and cartoonist.

The Community for Open Antimicrobial Drug Discovery (CO-ADD) was set up by scientists at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, in response to the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance.

Stop the superbugs linked to antibiotics daily use in livestock

Tell the meat industry to clean up its act

0% of all antibiotics are used on factory farm animals which eventually leads to antibiotic resistant super-bugs. We can fix this problem. Support meat without drugs and help stop the superbugs.

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New antibiotic kills pathogens without detectable resistance, might help fight future superbugs

U.S. scientists have discovered a new class of antibiotics that can kill a wide range of dangerous, drug-resistant bacteria

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U.S. scientists have discovered a new class of antibiotics that can kill a wide range of dangerous, drug-resistant bacteria. Image via Lee Maguire.

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is spreading faster than the introduction of new compounds into clinical practice, causing a public health crisis. Most antibiotics were produced by screening soil microorganisms, but this limited resource of cultivable bacteria was overmined by the 1960s. Synthetic approaches to produce antibiotics have been unable to replace this platform. Uncultured bacteria make up approximately 99% of all species in external environments, and are an untapped source of new antibiotics. We developed several methods to grow uncultured organisms by cultivation in situ or by using specific growth factors. Here we report a new antibiotic that we term teixobactin, discovered in a screen of uncultured bacteria. Teixobactin inhibits cell wall synthesis by binding to a highly conserved motif of lipid II (precursor of peptidoglycan) and lipid III (precursor of cell wall teichoic acid). We did not obtain any mutants of Staphylococcus aureus or Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistant to teixobactin. The properties of this compound suggest a path towards developing antibiotics that are likely to avoid development of resistance.

Sources and more information
  • A new antibiotic kills pathogens without detectable resistance, Nature (2015) doi:10.1038/nature14098, 07 January 2015 – full article.
  • A New Drug in the Age of Antibiotic Resistance, theatlantic, Jan 7 2015.
  • Antibiotics: US discovery labelled ‘game-changer’ for medicine,
    BBC News, 7 January 2015.
  • Revolutionary New Antibiotic Kills Drug-Resistant Germs,
    livescience, 7 January 2015.

Antibiotics daily use in livestock help superbugs spread from farms into our communities

When the meat industry routinely misuses and overuses antibiotics, it threatens public health when essential drugs no longer work to treat infections, making us all less safe

Did you know that superbugs — dangerous bacteria resistant to antibiotics — are spreading from farms and into our communities? When antibiotics are used day after day to raise animals, drug resistant bacteria flourish, making antibiotics less effective for people. Take a look at a day in the life of this pig to learn why this is happening on industrial farms around the country.

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Antibiotics, Arsenic, Diseases and Human Drugs in your Turkey for Thanksgiving

Turkey at $1.38 a pound sounds great, until you know what that means…

Prozac, Arsenic and Beer in Your Turkey? 9 Creepy Things To Know About Your Holiday Meal
Martha Rosenberg confirms that the extreme production methods used to deliver plump turkeys in time for Thanksgiving are enough to make you lose your appetite: with Antibiotics, Arsenic, Diseases and Human Drugs in it…

Regarding U.S. turkey growers, we asked you: “do you know why our modern super turkeys cannot mate?” and warned you about turkey farmers once using the DES hormone for faster growth. Martha Rosenberg confirms that the extreme production methods used to deliver plump turkeys in time for Thanksgiving are enough to make you lose your appetite:

  • Antibiotics
  • Arsenic and Other Feed Additives
  • Clostridium difficile or “C Diff”
  • Human Drugs…and Drinks
  • Resistant Salmonella and Other Superbugs
  • Diseases From Fast Growth Production
  • Degraded Meat Quality From Fast Growth Production
  • Extreme Cruelty To Animals
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How Drugs pumped into SuperMarket Chickens pose a terrifying Threat to our Health

Chicks are “vaccinated” as soon as their eggs are laid and before they even hatch

How Drugs pumped into SuperMarket Chickens pose a terrifying Threat to our Health
Scientists are particularly concerned that the overuse of a certain type of antibiotic is linked to a drug resistant strain of E. Coli

Today, large-scale poultry production has precious little to do with green fields and ruddy-cheeked farmers. Every year, more than 40 billion chickens are slaughtered worldwide for meat, the vast majority of them intensively factory-farmed.

They are often also dosed up with antibiotics — a preventative measure that is easier and cheaper than dealing with individual illnesses at a later date. Now experts are warning that the overuse of antibiotics in poultry farms around the world is creating a generation of superbugs that are resistant to treatment by virtually every drug in the medical establishment’s armoury.

With up to 80 per cent of the raw chicken on sale in some countries carrying these resistant bacteria, they can be transferred to humans during the handling of infected meat or the eating of undercooked produce.

Read How drugs pumped into supermarket chickens pose a terrifying threat to our health
by Tom Rawstorne, London Daily Mail, 10 August 2013.

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