News tagged with antimicrobials
Common food preservative may slow, even stop tumor growth
Nisin, a common food preservative, may slow or stop squamous cell head and neck cancers, a University of Michigan study found.
Cancer
Oct 31, 2012 |
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An alternative to antibiotics
Antibiotics are among the greatest achievements of medical science. But lately the former multi-purpose weapon fails in the battle against infectious diseases. Bacteria are increasingly developing resistance ...
Medical research
Jun 08, 2011 |
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Gene therapy reduces HIV levels in small trials
(Medical Xpress) -- This weekend at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in Chicago, Illinois, researchers from two different study groups, one on the east coast and one on the west coast, ...
HIV & AIDS
Sep 20, 2011 |
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Closer to a cure for eczema
Scientists have found that a strain of yeast implicated in inflammatory skin conditions, including eczema, can be killed by certain peptides and could potentially provide a new treatment for these debilitating skin conditions. ...
Medical research
Nov 23, 2011 |
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Scientists use nature against nature to develop an antibiotic with reduced resistance
A new broad range antibiotic, developed jointly by scientists at The Rockefeller University and Astex Pharmaceuticals, has been found to kill a wide range of bacteria, including drug-resistant Staphylococcus (MRSA) bacter ...
Medications
Apr 10, 2013 |
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Honey can reverse antibiotic resistance
Manuka honey could be an efficient way to clear chronically infected wounds and could even help reverse bacterial resistance to antibiotics, according to research presented at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring ...
Medical research
Apr 13, 2011 |
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Why some fats are worse than others
All dietary fats are not created equal. Some types of fats have been linked to ailments like heart disease and diabetes, while others, like those often found in plants and fish, have well documented health benefits. So why ...
Medical research
Aug 27, 2012 |
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Copper reduces infection risk by more than 40 percent
Professor Bill Keevil, Head of the Microbiology Group and Director of the Environmental Healthcare Unit at the University of Southampton, has presented research into the mechanism by which copper exerts its ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Jul 01, 2011 |
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Researchers closer to the super bug puzzle
Infectious diseases specialists from Austin Health are working closely with Microbiologists from the University of Melbourne to understand how Staph is becoming resistant to all antibiotic therapies.
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Nov 11, 2011 |
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Rare emerging disease claims Texas girl’s leg
A 14-year-old Texas girl was finally cured of an oft-fatal emerging disease when doctors amputated her lower leg, where the infection arose, after various antimicrobials proved ineffective. The culprit was Pythium insidiosum, ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Apr 17, 2012 |
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New bio-adhesive polymer demonstrated in JoVE
A new video-article in JoVE, Journal of Visualized Experiments, details the use of a new laser-activated bio-adhesive polymer. The chitosan-based polymer, SurgiLux, was developed by scientists at the Univer ...
Medical research
Oct 25, 2012 |
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Antibiotics resistance a 'catastrophic' global threat, UK warns
Resistance to antibiotics is a 'catastrophic' global threat and should be ranked alongside terrorism as one of the biggest risks Britain faces, the government's chief medical officer said Monday.
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Mar 11, 2013 |
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New study on UTIs suggests flagellin is key in stimulating body's natural defences
A new study by British scientists reveals that motile Escherichia coli isolates demonstrated significant activation of NF-κB signaling suggesting that flagellin plays a key role in up-regulating the host innate defences agains ...
Medical research
Mar 15, 2013 |
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New study identifies unique mechanisms of antibiotic resistance
As public health authorities across the globe grapple with the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, Tufts University School of Medicine microbiologists and colleagues have identified the unique resistance mechanisms ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Mar 26, 2013 |
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A DNA-made trap may explain amyloidosis aggravation
Amyloidosis is a group of clinical syndromes characterized by deposits of amyloid fibrils throughout the body. These fibrils are formed by aggregates of proteins that have not been properly folded. Deposits of amyloid fibrils ...
Medical research
Oct 09, 2012 |
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Antimicrobial
An antimicrobial is a substance that kills or inhibits the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, or protozoans, as well as destroying viruses. Antimicrobial drugs either kill microbes (microbicidal) or prevent the growth of microbes (microbistatic). Disinfectants are antimicrobial substances used on non-living objects.
The history of antimicrobials begins with the observations of Pasteur and Joubert, who discovered that one type of bacteria could prevent the growth of another. They did not know at that time that the reason one bacterium failed to grow was that the other bacterium was producing an antibiotic. Technically, antibiotics are only those substances that are produced by one microorganism that kill, or prevent the growth, of another microorganism. Of course, in today's common usage, the term antibiotic is used to refer to almost any drug that cures a bacterial infection. Antimicrobials include not just antibiotics, but synthetically formed compounds as well.
The discovery of antimicrobials like penicillin and tetracycline paved the way for better health for millions around the world. Before 1941, the year penicillin was discovered, no true cure for gonorrhea, strep throat, or pneumonia existed. Patients with infected wounds often had to have a wounded limb removed, or face death from infection. Now, most of these infections can be cured easily with a short course of antimicrobials.
However, the future effectiveness of antimicrobial therapy is somewhat in doubt. Microorganisms, especially bacteria, are becoming resistant to more and more antimicrobial agents. Bacteria found in hospitals appear to be especially resilient, and are causing increasing difficulty for the sickest patients–those in the hospital. Currently, bacterial resistance is combated by the discovery of new drugs. However, microorganisms are becoming resistant more quickly than new drugs are being made available; thus, future research in antimicrobial therapy may focus on finding how to overcome resistance to antimicrobials, or how to treat infections with alternative means, such as species-specific phages.
For more information about Antimicrobial, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
