Antimicrobial resistance is an epidemic that kills close to 5 million people annually. The solutions are complex and must take into account the needs of the poor.
Sacha Pidot, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
Scientists are racing to discover new antibiotics that can defeat these drug-resistant superbugs. So how is the newly developed antibiotic clovibactin different?
Most medicines are safe for most breastfed babies, while serious harm to infants is rare.
Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock
Not enough data is being collected about the impact taking prescription medication has on breastfeeding.
Quaternary ammonium compounds can linger on surfaces and in indoor air and dust long after the disinfectant has dried.
Guido Mieth/DigitalVision via Getty Images
Quaternary ammonium compounds, also known as QACs or quats, are commonly used antimicrobials also found in many household products. Soap and water may be a safer bet when cleaning surfaces.
Candidiasis is a severe fungal infection that can spread easily in medical facilities.
Atlas of Pulmonary Pathology/Flickr
Multidrug-resistant fungal infections are an emerging global health threat. Figuring out how fungi evade treatments offers new avenues to counter resistance.
Antimicrobial use in poultry is threatening the health of consumers in Nigeria.
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
Indiscriminate antimicrobial use in Nigeria’s poultry value chain is putting people at risk of developing resistance to medicines.
While ivermectin was originally used to treat river blindness, it has also been repurposed to treat other human parasitic infections.
ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP via Getty Images
Ivermectin has been a lifesaving drug for people with parasitic infections like river blindness and strongyloidiasis. But taking it for COVID-19 may result in the opposite effect.
High-tech ways to scan nature’s own creations.
Caleb Foster/Shutterstock.com
Pharmaceutical companies focus on small molecules they’ve devised – and can easily patent. But nature’s already come up with many antibacterial compounds that drug designers could use to make medicines.
A giant ant carries a dead fellow in the name of cleanliness.
Dupont/Wikipedia
The US Centers for Disease Control has reported a woman in her 70s has died of overwhelming sepsis caused by a bacterium that was resistant to all available antibiotics.
Any antimicrobial chemicals in there?
Home image via www.shutterstock.com.
Karin Sauer, Binghamton University, State University of New York
The vast majority of the bacteria that surround us are not free-floating but prefer to band together in cooperative communities called biofilms. How do biofilms form and cooperate?
Bloodletting was treatment for infection in the past.
Wellcome Library, London
While some ancient therapies proved effective enough that they are still used in some form today, on the whole they just aren’t as good as modern antimicrobials at treating infections.
A pharmacist dispensing drugs at Nairobi’s Mater Hospital. Resistance to antibiotics is high in Africa.
Reuters/Thomas Mukoya
Antibiotics are used extensively in Africa because of the continent’s high disease burden. This also means that resistance is high. Steps are being taken to raise awareness and encourage prudent use.
The author, collecting dust via vacuum for lab analysis.
Clarisse Betancourt Román
We spend much of our time inside buildings. What chemicals and microbes are in here with us? And how do they affect each other? One scientist collects dust to find out.
Staph aureus bloodstream infection has a 12-month death rate of between 20 and 35%.
Joe Techapanupreeda/Shutterstock
Which of the following conditions would you prefer to have during your next stay in hospital? A. Staphylococcus aureus (Golden Staph) bloodstream infection; or B. a heart attack?
Silver can be an effective antibacterial when treated in special ways.
Silver image via www.shutterstock.com.
Joint replacement surgery comes with a big risk of infection. New implant technology that can release silver ions inside the body could help – and without increasing antibiotic resistance.