superbug

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'Superbug' Infections Could Kill Almost 40M by 2050

Researchers warn antimicrobial resistance is a growing concern

(Newser) - A disturbing new study finds that almost 40 million people could be killed by "superbug" infections from antimicrobial-resistant pathogens between 2025 and 2050. The study, published in the Lancet , looked at the projected global impact of antimicrobial resistance, which occurs when bacteria, fungi, or other pathogens develop a resistance...

Superbug Spread by Eyedrops Has Shown Up in 2 Dogs: CDC

Drug-resistant bacteria could spread, investigator says

(Newser) - Two dogs treated last year in New Jersey have tested positive for a drug-resistant strain of bacteria blamed for a fatal outbreak tied to eyedrops used by people, a CDC investigator reported Friday. The bacteria found—carbapenemase-producing carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa—is "highly genetically related" to the germs linked to...

Drug-Resistant Superbug May Have Met Its Match

Zosurabalpin targets superbug with 'novel approach'

(Newser) - Scientists believe they've made a major breakthrough in the battle against a superbug that topped a World Health Organization list of the bacteria most dangerous to humans . In a study published in the journal Nature , researchers say they have discovered a new class of antibiotic that can kill carbapenem-resistant...

CDC Says Pandemic Caused Rise in Superbug Infections

Overprescribed antibiotics and overburdened health-care system to blame

(Newser) - Superbugs got an unfortunate boost during the pandemic. Per Reuters, the bad news comes in a recent CDC report, which says antimicrobial-resistant bacteria killed 15% more people in 2020 compared to 2019. It's a reversal of what was a good trend, as deaths from superbugs had fallen since 2012....

Superbug Fungus Spreading in 2 US Cities

CDC says drug-resistant 'Candida auris' is moving from person to person in Dallas and DC

(Newser) - US health officials said Thursday they now have evidence of an untreatable fungus spreading in two hospitals and a nursing home, per the AP . The "superbug" outbreaks were reported in a Washington, DC, nursing home and at two Dallas-area hospitals, the CDC reported. A handful of the patients had...

On an Isolated Island Beach, Researchers Find Superbug

Researchers suspect global warming has helped organism jump to humans

(Newser) - For the first time, a drug-resistant hospital superbug has been found in the wild—on an isolated beach in the Andaman Islands. The organism has been in hospitals for about a decade, but its origin remains "a medical mystery," said Dr. Arturo Casadevall of Johns Hopkins, who wrote...

A Powerful New Antibiotic Is Found in a Novel Way
A Powerful New Antibiotic
Is Found in a Novel Way
new study
Feb 21, 2020 10:30 AM CST

A Powerful New Antibiotic Is Found in a Novel Way

MIT researchers use artificial intelligence and report a breakthrough

(Newser) - The rise of superbugs means the world needs powerful new antibiotics. A team at MIT says it has just made a major breakthrough using artificial intelligence for the first time. They discovered a compound that looks able to conquer some of the most dangerous bacteria in existence, including some that...

Drug-Resistant Germ Threat Is Worsening, Puzzling: CDC

Trends are more worrisome, and scientists lack answers

(Newser) - Drug-resistant germs have long been known to be a serious health threat, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says the problem is worse, and more baffling, than previously thought. Someone in the US contracts an antibiotic-resistant infection every 11 seconds, the Washington Post reports, and someone dies...

Superbug Fungus Has Sickened Hundreds in US, CDC Reports

Most vulnerable are those with weakened immune systems

(Newser) - A drug-resistant superbug fungus has sickened nearly 600 people in the US in recent years, half of them in New York, the CDC says. Those with weakened immune systems are the most vulnerable to Candida auris; an elderly man infected last year after unrelated surgery died in the hospital, CBS...

STD You May Not Have Heard of Could Be Next Superbug

Mycoplasma genitalium can develop resistance to antibiotics if not treated properly

(Newser) - A little-known sexually transmitted disease carries the potential to become the next superbug. Per the BBC , health officials in the UK have set new guidelines regarding the bacterial infection Mycoplasma genitalium, or MG, out of fear improper treatment could lead to antibiotic resistance. Huffington Post UK reports the British Association...

CDC: 'Nightmare' Superbugs Are Here

Hunt found more than 200 cases of antibiotic-resistant bacteria last year

(Newser) - "Nightmare bacteria" with unusual resistance to antibiotics of last resort were found more than 200 times in the US last year in a first-of-a-kind hunt to see how much of a threat these rare cases have become. That's more than health officials expected to find, and the true...

NASA Is Sending a Drug-Resistant Superbug Into Space

And that's hopefully less scary than it sounds

(Newser) - NASA and a biomedicine company are sending a drug-resistant superbug into outer space, where it will be researched aboard the International Space Station. And while Gizmodo notes the plan sounds like "Elon Musk's idea for a science fiction spec he's working on," it will—hopefully—have...

Woman Dies of Superbug No Antibiotic Could Treat

Experts are calling it a 'harbinger of future badness'

(Newser) - This is the kind of case researchers warned about for years: A Nevada woman in her 70s died months ago from an infection that no antibiotic in America could have defeated, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Thursday. The woman was hospitalized in August last...

Drug-Resistant Superbug Loose in Colorado

Six recent CRE infections appear to have happened outside hospitals

(Newser) - "Nightmare" superbugs on the loose in Colorado! That's the alarmist gist of a CDC report published this week. Bacteria known as CRE are resistant to powerful antibiotics and fatal to up to 50% of people infected, Live Science reports. Fortunately, infections in the US had almost entirely been...

Tasmanian Devil Might Hold the Kryptonite to Superbugs
Superbugs No Match
for Tasmanian Devil Milk
NEW STUDY
Oct 23, 2016 6:31 AM CDT

Superbugs No Match for Tasmanian Devil Milk

And that could be good news for humans

(Newser) - Forget mother's milk, the real good stuff is devil's milk. A study published this month in Scientific Reports has found that Tasmanian devil milk contains certain chemical compounds that could help humans in their battle against drug-resistant bacterial infections. WHO has called so-called superbugs "a fundamental threat...

Uh-Oh: Seagulls Carrying Drug-Resistant Superbug

'The good news is we found it; the bad news is, it's here'

(Newser) - As if the news surrounding the continued emergence of drug-resistant superbugs isn't already dire enough, scientists are now reporting in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy that seagulls, which thanks to their enormous migratory reach are great vehicles for carrying resistant bacteria to new places, are carrying a dangerous superbug....

Superbug Just Found in US Could Mean the End of Antibiotics

'Routine operations could become deadly; minor infections could become life-threatening'

(Newser) - The director of the CDC says we're close to living in a "post-antibiotic world" after an antibiotic-resistant superbug was discovered in the US for the first time last month, Reuters reports. “It basically shows us that the end of the road isn’t very far away for...

'Phantom Menace' Superbug Has Alarming Ability

Antibiotic resistance travels between bacteria

(Newser) - The latest strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria to give researchers sleepless nights aren't the most common—or even the most antibiotic-resistant—but they have an ability that could make them a serious danger to public health. They contain enzymes known as "OXA-48-like carbapenemases" that can break down antibiotics and...

Cigarette Smoke Makes Superbugs Even Stronger

Bacteria exposed to it become harder to kill

(Newser) - Superbugs such as MRSA are already bad enough. But it turns out that something can make them even nastier: cigarette smoke. Researchers found that antibiotic-resistant bacteria exposed to the smoke became more aggressive and far more difficult to kill, they explain at Eureka Alert . It's almost as if the...

Superbugs May Be in the Air: Study

Texas findings 'made me not want to breathe,' says researcher

(Newser) - Antibiotic-resistant bacteria now infect some 2 million Americans every year, the Texas Tribune reports, and experts have long been aware of the presence of so-called "superbugs" in tainted food and drink. New findings offer an even bleaker picture: We might be inhaling DNA from such bacteria, researcher Phil Smith...

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