Medical research

Using phages to eradicate Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections

A new study describes the use of phage therapy to eradicate multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in a living organism (in vivo) with important new implications for antibiotic resistance.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Surge in gonorrhea cases in Denmark: Up by 46% between 2021 and 2022

Across the European continent, sexually transmitted infections (STI) caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae have gone up in recent years, according to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. New data from ...

Gastroenterology

Fecal microbiota transplants: Past, present and future

The premise of fecal microbiota transplants (FMT) is, admittedly, not the most pleasant. The process involves transferring donor stool (or derivatives thereof) to a recipient for a therapeutic purpose—namely, to restore ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Using machine learning to battle COVID-19 bacterial co-infection

University of Queensland researchers have used machine learning to help predict the risk of secondary bacterial infections in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The research is published in The Lancet Microbe.

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Antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic resistance is the ability of a microorganism to withstand the effects of antibiotics. It is a specific type of drug resistance. Antibiotic resistance evolves via natural selection acting upon random mutation, but it can also be engineered by applying an evolutionary stress on a population. Once such a gene is generated, bacteria can then transfer the genetic information in a horizontal fashion (between individuals) by plasmid exchange. If a bacterium carries several resistance genes, it is called multiresistant or, informally, a superbug. The term antimicrobial resistance is sometimes used to explicitly encompass organisms other than bacteria.

Antibiotic resistance can also be introduced artificially into a microorganism through transformation protocols. This can aid in implanting artificial genes into the microorganism. If the resistance gene is linked with the gene to be implanted, the antibiotic can be used to kill off organisms that lack the new gene.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA