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Changing the way antibiotics are given to adult patients with sepsis will save thousands of lives a year globally, according to research. A clinical trial and systematic review have shown that intravenously administering commonly used penicillin-like antibiotics via continuous infusion—instead of multiple short infusions—cures infections and saves lives. The clinical trial of more than 7,000 patients tested findings from laboratory studies to deliver the best drug concentration for the bacteria causing the infection. "We found by delivering these antibiotic doses as a continuous infusion we can maintain the concentration of the antibiotic in a patient's blood and tissue, and kill...

Eczema, a skin inflammatory disease that causes dry, itchy and inflamed skin, affects millions worldwide. Eczema is associated with an altered skin microbiome and higher colonization by Staphylococcus aureus. A study by Anish R. Maskey, Ph.D., focuses on the natural compound berberine and its impact on eczema exacerbated by S. aureus. The findings shed light on berberine's ability to inhibit S. aureus colonization and alleviate eczema symptoms without adverse effects. Current treatments often fall short—topical antibiotics can give temporary relief, but risk development of antibiotic resistance, and steroid use can potentially result in topical steroid withdrawal (TSW) syndrome. This study...

The composition of the intestinal flora can predict the chances of developing serious infections such as pneumonia. Researchers followed more than 10,000 people for six years. More than 600 people who had less healthy intestinal flora developed a serious infection, with this leading in some cases to death. The 602 people who were hospitalized due to an infection showed at the start of the study that they had fewer butyrate-producing bacteria in their microbiome. Butyrate is a small fatty acid that is known to have a positive impact on the immune system of mice. It has also been seen before...

With the arrival of a new, highly contagious fungal infection in NYC, health experts are sharing what you need to know to keep yourself safe. An unidentified NYC man in his 30s was diagnosed with the first US-reported case of Trichophyton mentagrophytes type VII, a rare, sexually transmitted form of ringworm. Details of his infection were shared Wednesday in the journal JAMA Dermatology. “The first thing to note is that we do not have evidence this infection is endemic in the US or even widespread in the US,” Dr. Avrom S. Caplan, who led the study of the man’s case,...

Bioengineered bird flu souped up via gain-of-function lab work could be developed in a shockingly short period of time, former CDC Director Robert Redfield told News Nation recently: I think it puts our world at great risk. We have the risk of natural spillover, but there is a species barrier. I’m obviously most worried about bird flu. Right now, it takes five amino acid change for it to be effectively infecting humans. That’s a pretty heavy species barrier but this virus is already now in 26 mammal species, as you saw most recently in cattle. But in the laboratory, I...

London -- A team of scientists from the world’s leading universities have developed a new all-in-one vaccine that they hope can protect humans against a broad range of coronaviruses, including ones that are yet to emerge. The research published in ‘Nature Nanotechnology’ on Monday is based on a new approach to vaccine development called “proactive vaccinology”, where scientists build a vaccine before the disease-causing pathogen even emerges, which has shown promising results in mice. The study by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in the UK and Caltech in the US says the vaccine works by training the body’s immune...

Despite progress in combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the U.S. since its peak during the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital-acquired AMR infections remain well above pre-pandemic levels, according to a major new study examining AMR before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic in 120 US hospitals. The study was led by Dr. Christina Yek from the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and is being presented at this year's ESCMID Global Congress (formerly ECCMID) in Barcelona, Spain (27-30 April). It reveals that AMR rates remain high largely due to the persistence...

A new study demonstrates the use of a simple pre-surgical infection prevention protocol to prevent dangerous post-surgical infections. Surgical site infections (SSIs) are a type of health care-associated infection with deadly consequences for some patients. These infections lead to a high rate of morbidity and mortality, with a patient's estimated risk of death as much as 11 times higher than normal. Researchers aimed to evaluate the results of a protocol designed to reduce SSIs through a particular focus on the Staphylococcus aureus pathogen. The approach involved a pre-surgical intranasal application of povidone-iodine and skin antisepsis using chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG). The...

My computer keeps popping up messages from http://squipisioncha.co.in -- which I'm sure is a hacker site -- claiming to be McAfee (which I don't have) claiming it's trying to fix a virus & invasion. Also, every time I try to make an original post on Facebook, I get "Your post is being processed. We'll let you know when it's ready to view." I can share mems an memories. I can comment. I cannot type an original post. How do I fix these problems?

A study of two large European patient cohorts has found that for every 10% increase in butyrate-producing bacteria in a patient's gut, the risk of hospitalization for any infection falls by between 14 and 25% across two large national cohorts. Microbiota alterations are common in patients hospitalized for severe infections and preclinical models have shown that anaerobic butyrate-producing gut bacteria protect against systemic infections. These bacteria were investigated because they are commonly depleted in patients hospitalized for severe infections. Secondly, butyrate may have protective effects in several intestinal diseases (other than infections). The relationship between microbiota disruptions and increased susceptibility...

he nation's top public health agency is expanding a program that tests international travelers for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program asks arriving international passengers to volunteer to have their noses swabbed and answer questions about their travel. The program operates at six airports and on Tuesday, the CDC said it was adding two more — Chicago's O'Hare and Miami. Those locations should provide more information about respiratory infections coming out of South America, Africa and Asia, particularly, CDC officials said. "Miami and Chicago enable us to collect samples coming from areas of...

A rapid rise in reports from around the world of a deadly fungal infection is sounding alarm bells about the dangers of drug resistant diseases. First discovered in Japan in 2009, Candida auris is a type of yeast that can cause severe illness and spreads easily in healthcare facilities. Cases proliferated during the Covid-19 pandemic. Widespread infections in the United States led the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to label it an “urgent threat”. More recently, scientists in China called for closer monitoring of the potentially fatal fungus after a study found that almost all of the cases...

Health officials are warning that the rise of life-threatening sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is “out of control.” According to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, STIs are on a worrying rise putting millions of people’s lives at risk from entirely preventable infections. “STIs must be a public health priority,” the CDC warned on Tuesday. The health agency noted that “the most alarming concerns” revolve around syphilis cases — which are at the highest level they’ve been in more than seven decades. Reported chlamydia cases have remained at a record high level but gonorrhea cases did decline...

An IDF fighter who was seriously injured two weeks ago died on Tuesday after being infected by a dangerous fungus found in the soil of the Gaza Strip, Reshet Bet Radio reported. The fungus has infected ten other fighters. The deceased fighter arrived with serious injuries to his limbs at Asuta Hospital in Ashdod, where they identified that he had been infected with treatment-resistant fungi. The doctors tried every possible treatment, including experimental treatments from abroad, and brought in every specialist they could, but in the end, the fungus invaded vital organs in the soldier’s body and he died. Professor...

For patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), doxycycline is associated with a reduced risk for Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), according to a study. Ashley L. O'Leary, Pharm.D., from the Veterans Affairs Western New York Healthcare System in Buffalo, and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis in hospitalized patients in Veterans Affairs Hospitals across the United States to examine whether doxycycline is associated with reduced CDI risk. During the study timeframe, about 156,107 hospitalized patients received care at a Veterans Affairs Hospital and were diagnosed with CAP. The researchers found that compared with azithromycin, doxycycline used with ceftriaxone for the treatment of pneumonia...

A discarded mask lay on a sidewalk in Orange, Calif., on June 19, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)People who wore protective masks were found to be more likely to contract COVID-19 infections than those who didn't, according to a recent Norwegian study.The peer-reviewed study, published in the journal Epidemiology and Infection on Nov. 13, analyzed mask use among 3,209 individuals from Norway. Researchers followed them for 17 days, and then asked the participants about their use of masks. The team found that there was a higher incidence of testing positive for COVID-19 among people who used masks more frequently.Among individuals...

Antiviral drugs are generally considered to be a 20th century invention. But recent research has uncovered an unexpected facet to your immune system: It can synthesize its own antiviral molecules in response to viral infections. My laboratory studies a protein that makes these natural antiviral molecules. Far from a modern human invention, nature evolved cells to make their own “drugs” as the earliest defense against viruses. How antivirals work Viruses have no independent life cycle – they are completely dependent on the cells they infect to supply all the chemical building blocks needed to replicate themselves. Once inside a cell,...

The Biden administration has released thousands of illegal immigrant children infected with tuberculosis into 44 states without any attempt of treating the children.Close to 2,500 children who have been diagnosed with TB have potentially infected thousands of American children within the last year.The new numbers stem from a report from the US Health and Human Services Department.The new report revealed, “The government says it can’t treat the children because they are in custody for a short time and treatment requires three to nine months.”

Recurrent cystitis (RC) is a frequent infection of the urinary tract and bladder, which is highly prevalent among postmenopausal women. Under healthy circumstances, the human vagina is home to a host of beneficial intestinal bacteria, such as Lactobacilli. However, in the case of urinary tract infections (UTIs), there is a decrease in the abundance of Lactobacilli and an increase in pathogenic bacteria, such as Escherichia coli (E. coli). To bridge this gap, scientists demonstrated the relationship between vaginal microbiota and RC by comparing the vaginal microbiota of postmenopausal women with and without cystitis. When comparing the vaginal microbiome in the...

A Florida man nearly lost his leg when he contracted a nasty flesh-eating bacterial infection — after being bitten by a family member during a fight. Donnie Adams, of Tampa Bay, developed a small, painful bump after a relative sunk their teeth into his right thigh as he attempted to break up a tussle at a family gathering in February. Assuming it was just a harmless lesion, he took himself to get a tetanus shot and a course of antibiotics, the Tampa Bay Times reported. However, three days later, Adams could barely walk. The 52-year-old returned to Florida Northside Hospital...