Menu Close

Articles on Superbugs vs Antibiotics

Displaying 1 - 20 of 29 articles

Drug-resistant strains of gonorrhoea, once easily dispatched with penicillin, are spreading across the globe resulting in chronic pain and sterility. (Shutterstock)

Canada could lead the fight for life in a post-antibiotic world

Without leading edge innovations and coordination, Canadians will die from the epidemic of antibiotic resistant infections.
A quantum dot: A high-resolution transmission electron micrograph of cadmium telluride nanoparticles. (The scale bar in the lower right is 2 nanometers long, or two millionths of a millimeter.) Nagpal Group, University of Colorado

Fighting superbugs with nanotechnology and light

Quantum dots - minuscule semiconductor particles with specific light-absorption properties - can kill drug-resistant superbugs without harming the surrounding healthy tissue.
Tests on mice have shown certain antibiotic-resistant gut bacteria can be treated with faecal transplants. Rick Eh/flickr

Poo transplants can eliminate two superbugs from the gut: mice study

Two of the most common antibiotic-resistant bacteria circulating in hospitals can be wiped out by transplanting faeces from a healthy animal into the gut of an infected one, a study on mice has found.
Superbug breeding ground? It’s not just hospitals that have to battle the threat of antibiotic-resistant microbes. Wong Wentong/Shutterstock.com

The water industry needs to join the fight against superbugs

The fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria – so-called “superbugs” – is a huge challenge, one that the World Health Organization has described as a grave global problem. When superbugs hit the headlines…
Not so super now, eh? Graham Beards

Bacteria-eating viruses return, this time to fight superbugs

Bacteria-eating viruses that kill the hospital superbug C. difficile have been isolated by scientists. The use of these kinds of viruses, known as phages, to tackle bacterial infection was employed before…
Time to shelve our overuse of antibiotics. Elsamu

Superbugs move faster than governments can act

Infections and deaths caused by superbugs are increasing every year. So the government’s five-year strategy to tackle the problem, if a little tardy, is a welcome step. In January, Chief Medical Officer…
It’s a big world out there. Ronaldhole

Marine compound first new natural antibiotic in decades

A new antibiotic that is effective at killing anthrax and superbug MRSA bacteria could be a weapon in the fight against antibiotic resistance - and terrorism. Anthracimycin, a chemical compound derived…
A microscopic version of this kills bacteria. Ed Schipul

Silver bullets kill bacteria, not werewolves or witches

The use of silver in medicine is as old as western medicine itself. Hippocrates is known to have used it to treat ulcers and wounds, the Romans almost certainly knew of its healing properties, its use…
The drugs don’t work. But a swifter way of identifying bacteria could reduce the need for antibiotics. AAP

Teasing out harmful bacterial genes to reduce resistance to antibiotics

Researchers have taken the first step towards designing a rapid way of identifying harmful bacteria in infections, demonstrating the potential for faster patient treatment and decreased reliance on antibiotics…
Unregulated antibiotic use in many Asian farms can lead to widespread resistance, which is passed to humans through the food chain. http://www.flickr.com/photos/andjohan

China, India travel boosts risk of antibiotic resistant cystitis

Experts have warned of the growing risk of travellers to India, China and South East Asia bringing home E.coli infections that are immune to treatment with a normal course of antibiotic tablets. People…
Widespread and unmonitored use of antibiotics in commercial Chinese pig farms may pose a risk to human health worldwide, the study said. podchef, http://www.flickr.com/photos/86571141@N00

China’s farms pose growing antibiotic resistance risk

Unchecked use of antibiotics in Chinese farms had led to widespread antibiotic resistance, a new study has found, with researchers warning the problem may spread worldwide through manure and fertiliser…

Top contributors

More