An experimental antibiotic is under development that is capable of neutralizing a wide range of drug-resistant, Gram-positive bacteria—pathogens that protect themselves in a slimy shield, called a biofilm, designed by nature ...
Vaccines that boost immunity against bacteria can protect the immunized from contracting drug-resistant infections, according to a team of scientists in the U.K. who also underscore that the shots can slow the spread of resistant ...
Researchers led by the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, have tested the impact of a digital clinical decision support algorithm (CDSA) called ePOCT+ on managing acutely ill children under 15 in Tanzanian primary care ...
For the first time in the world: a team of researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Israel Institute for Biological Research have developed an mRNA-based vaccine that is 100% effective against a type of bacteria that ...
Mar 9, 2023
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The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks antibiotic resistance as one of the top ten threats to global health. There is therefore a great need for new solutions to tackle resistant bacteria and reduce the use of antibiotics. ...
Jan 26, 2023
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A team of researchers at Duke University has developed a vaccine against uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC), the type of bacteria that cause urinary tract infections (UTIs) in humans. In their paper published in the journal Science ...
A new antibiotic, synthesized at The Rockefeller University and derived from computer models of bacterial gene products appears to neutralize even drug-resistant bacteria. The compound, named cilagicin, works well in mice ...
May 26, 2022
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A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in Germany and one in Canada has found that it is possible to reprogram heart muscle to repair damaged tissue. In their paper published in the journal Science, the ...
The list of diseases and conditions complicated by obesity is a long one; it includes heart disease, cancer, diabetes and impaired wound healing, as well as skin infections. It is not always clear, however, in what way this ...
A new treatment for eliminating surface bacteria using blue light and carvacrol, a phenol derived from edible oils, creates a photoxic, bacteria-specific reaction that does not contribute to antibiotic resistance. The technique, ...
In common usage, an antibiotic (from the Ancient Greek: ἀντί – anti, "against", and βίος – bios, "life") is a substance or compound that kills bacteria or inhibits their growth. Antibiotics belong to the broader group of antimicrobial compounds, used to treat infections caused by microorganisms, including fungi and protozoa.
The term "antibiotic" was coined by Selman Waksman in 1942 to describe any substance produced by a microorganism that is antagonistic to the growth of other microorganisms in high dilution. This original definition excluded naturally occurring substances that kill bacteria but are not produced by microorganisms (such as gastric juice and hydrogen peroxide) and also excluded synthetic antibacterial compounds such as the sulfonamides. Many antibiotics are relatively small molecules with a molecular weight less than 2000 Da.[citations needed]
With advances in medicinal chemistry, most antibiotics are now semisynthetic—modified chemically from original compounds found in nature, as is the case with beta-lactams (which include the penicillins, produced by fungi in the genus Penicillium, the cephalosporins, and the carbapenems). Some antibiotics are still produced and isolated from living organisms, such as the aminoglycosides, and others have been created through purely synthetic means: the sulfonamides, the quinolones, and the oxazolidinones. In addition to this origin-based classification into natural, semisynthetic, and synthetic, antibiotics may be divided into two broad groups according to their effect on microorganisms: those that kill bacteria are bactericidal agents, while those that only impair bacterial growth are known as bacteriostatic agents.
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