Personalized medicine is a promising treatment for recurrent cancer and superbugs, but it is labour-intensive and expensive, and pathways for its regulatory approval and reimbursement are complicated.
There are many ways to kill microbes that cause dangerous infections. Combining genetic screening with machine learning can help researchers identify new antimicrobials.
Most infection prevention guidelines center on the hospital environment rather than the patient. But the source of antibiotic-resistant microbes is often from the patient’s own body.
The contrasting realities of antimicrobial resistance between high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries demands international co-operation to effectively fight superbugs.
Australia is one of the highest users of antibiotics in the developed world. So when do we actually need antibiotics to treat an infection? And when should we avoid them?
We’ve all heard of antibiotic resistance. The same thing is happening with other causes of infections in humans: fungi, viruses and parasites. This is making thrush and other infections hard to treat.
Developing new antibiotics is important in the fight against antibiotic resistance. But we also need to use the antibiotics we already have much more wisely – GPs play a major role in this.
From the frontline battle against antibiotic resistance in Nigeria, to the techniques being used to find new antibiotics. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.
Up to 20% of Australians admitted in hospital say they have a penicillin allergy. But not everyone who thinks they’re allergic to penicillin actually is.
Antibiotics have been around for less than a century. But as resistant bacteria become increasingly difficult to treat, we risk a greater number of deaths from infections.
David Ackerley, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
Bacterial DNA extracted from soil includes many genes whose function remains unknown. The novel enzymes these genes code for could be useful in efforts to clean up persistent pollutants.