Antibiotic resistance News

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has reported 702 confirmed cases of typhoid and its cousin, paratyphoid fever, in 2024 alone. That is an 8% jump from the year before.

Resistant infections are harder to treat, leading to prolonged illnesses, increased healthcare costs, and, in some cases, higher mortality rates It is important to understand that antibiotics are effective against bacterial infections, not viral ones Overuse of antibiotics for viral illnesses, like the common cold or flu, contributes to antibiotic resistance

The highest levels of antibiotic resistance are found in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia Levels of antibiotic resistance in Europe and North America are low China and India are thought to be the countries where changes in PM2.5 have the greatest impact on premature death toll from antibiotic resistance

WHO report shows more than 50 % resistance in bacteria, which frequently causes bloodstream infections that require treatment with last-resort antibiotics More than 60% of Neisseria gonorrhoea isolates, a common sexually transmitted disease, have shown resistance to the common oral antibacterial ciprofloxacin The report shows that bloodstream infections due to resistant E. coli, Salmonella, and gonorrhoea increased by at least 15 per cent compared to 2017

Bacteria are so microscopic that they cannot be seen with the naked eye. Crores of people die every year due to bacteria. According to the report of THE LANCET, bacterial infection is the biggest killer of people in the world after heart related diseases.

ICMR has told through a report that even the patients admitted in ICU are no longer being affected by antibiotics and this is a matter of big concern. According to an ICMR report, there is an apprehension that many patients in the country will no longer be affected by the drug Carbapenem.

The researchers from Rockefeller University in New York used a gene sequencing technique to analyse more than 1,000 soil samples, the BBC reported on Tuesday. 

Doctors are often quick to prescribe strong antibiotics for mild infections, helping bacteria evolve resistance to even the most potent drugs.

The lung is so significantly damaged that patients often die or need to have a lung transplant. Permanent treatment with inhaled antibiotics play a considerable part in this.   

Bacteria that becomes resistant to drug uses a system called efflux pumps that act as tiny motors to flush out the antibiotic from the cells.  

Findings imply that if chemicals could be developed to inhibit beta-lactamase enzymes, a significant proportion of antibiotic resistance could successfully be reversed.

The increasing number of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a rapidly growing global problem. 

There are also very few oral antibiotics in the pipeline, yet these are essential formulations for treating infections outside hospitals or in resource-limited settings.

Overall total antibiotic resistance genes were "30 times more abundant in river sediments from the city compared to upstream sites."

 Delayed prescriptions or shorter courses of treatment could be a potential way of fighting antibiotic resistance, suggest two studies led by University of Southampton in Britain.

Researchers identified 11 genetic markers in blood that accurately distinguished between viral and bacterial infections.

Triclosan has been the cause for some concern which has led to a ban across the EU and US in its use in hygiene products (hand, skin and body washes), researchers said.

The global health body said every year, an estimated 35.2 million people were infected by the disease in the WHO's Western Pacific Region and 11.4 million in the South-East Asian Region, which includes India.

Triclosan is an antibacterial and antifungal agent found in domestic products like toothpaste, soaps, detergents, toys etc.

The WHO Model list of essential medicines for 2017 also came out with recommendations on which antibiotics to use for common infections and which to preserve for the most serious circumstances.