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Close window Published online: 4 April 2007; | doi:10.1038/news070402-6 Weak drug combos find new useAntibiotics that don't work could beat back resistant bacteria.John Whitfield You would think that a combination of antibiotics that is less effective than either drug on its own would be fairly useless. But researchers now say that such ineffectual mixes could be used in the campaign against resistance to the drugs. The counterintuitive conclusion comes from the observation — so far seen only in the lab — that less-effective drug mixes allow bacteria that are sensitive to drugs to out-compete those that are resistant them....

Tie ban for doctors to stop spread of MRSA By Alex Berry Last Updated: 2:35am GMT 18/12/2006 Doctors have been ordered to ditch their ties over fears they are spreading the deadly hospital superbug MRSA. An NHS trust has also told all its staff involved in direct patient care not to wear jewellery, wrist watches, scarves or any "superfluous clothing". Even consultants have been warned that being smartly-dressed when giving patients bad news could present an infection risk. The move, by Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, follows a report by the British Medical Association calling for doctors to...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An outbreak of E. coli in eight states has left at least one person dead and 50 others sick, federal health officials said Thursday in warning consumers not to eat bagged fresh spinach. The death occurred in Wisconsin, where 20 others were also sickened, said Dr. David Acheson of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. The outbreak has sickened others -- eight of them seriously -- in Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah. FDA officials do not know the source of the outbreak other than it appears to...

It all began with what looked like a spider bite on Eileen Moore's left thigh. ...Within 24 hours, the "bite" became a 6-inch welt with a bubble of pus that eventually ripened into a black wound. Over the next few months, scabs dotted her face. A hangnail caused her middle finger to bloat like a sausage. Her pierced ears oozed pus. The cause of Moore's ordeal was a bacterium known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which in its most severe form can turn into a fatal flesh-destroying scourge. For decades, the infections were found only in hospitals, where the constant use...

POSTED: 12:01 am PST February 21, 2006 UPDATED: 9:25 am PST February 21, 2006 SEATTLE -- A 6-year-old Bellingham boy is fighting to survive a deadly infection that's killing the tissue in his face. Jake Finkbonner has necrotizing faciitis, a ravaging bacteria. Finkbonner was airlifted from Bellingham to Children's Hospital a week ago. He's had three surgeries so far to try to save his life. The problem started when the boy received a fat lip from a fall at a basketball game. Jake's father, Donny Finkbonner, said surgeons worked on his son the night he was brought to Children's Hospital...

Survey of bacteria reveals an array of antibiotic-resistance. Bacteria that live in soil have been found to harbour an astonishing armoury of natural weapons to fight off antibiotics. The discovery could help researchers anticipate the next wave of drug-resistant 'superbugs'. Researchers have long known that soil-dwelling bacteria make natural antibiotics, and that they have inbuilt ways to survive their own and other bugs' toxins; in some cases, the genes that help them dodge antibiotics have transferred into infectious bugs that plague humans. Microbiologists have identified a few of the ways that soil microbes neutralize antibiotics. But Gerard Wright and his...

Significant numbers of chickens on sale in UK shops are contaminated with superbugs, a scientific survey commissioned by BBC One's Real Story suggests.Of the British-grown chickens analysed, over half were contaminated with multi-drug resistant E.coli which is immune to the effects of three or more antibiotics. More than a third of the 147 samples, which included overseas and UK produced chicken, had E.coli germs resistant to the important antibiotic Trimethoprim which is used to treat bladder infections. The Health Protection Agency scientists testing the meat also found 12 chickens had antibiotic resistant Campylobacter. And VRE, or Vancomycin Resistant Enteroccci, were...

Amazon advocate warns of 'superbugs' September 27 2002 at 08:47AM By Maggie Fox Washington - It was reported on July 5 - no surprise to doctors but an unpleasant revelation nonetheless - that a patient was infected with a bacteria that shrugged off vancomycin, the "antibiotic of last resort". It was the first case of vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in the United States. Called VRSA for short, this bacteria was a real "superbug", oblivious to virtually all antibiotics on the market. It is a real-life example of how the over use and abuse of antibiotics has diminished the power of what...