Browsing by Subject "Drug Resistance, Microbial"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Antibiotic resistance needs global solutions.
    (The Lancet. Infectious diseases, 2014-07) Jenks, Jeffrey
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    Antibiotic resistance-the need for global solutions.
    (Lancet Infect Dis, 2013-12) Laxminarayan, Ramanan; Duse, Adriano; Wattal, Chand; Zaidi, Anita KM; Wertheim, Heiman FL; Sumpradit, Nithima; Vlieghe, Erika; Hara, Gabriel Levy; Gould, Ian M; Goossens, Herman; Greko, Christina; So, Anthony D; Bigdeli, Maryam; Tomson, Göran; Woodhouse, Will; Ombaka, Eva; Peralta, Arturo Quizhpe; Qamar, Farah Naz; Mir, Fatima; Kariuki, Sam; Bhutta, Zulfiqar A; Coates, Anthony; Bergstrom, Richard; Wright, Gerard D; Brown, Eric D; Cars, Otto
    The causes of antibiotic resistance are complex and include human behaviour at many levels of society; the consequences affect everybody in the world. Similarities with climate change are evident. Many efforts have been made to describe the many different facets of antibiotic resistance and the interventions needed to meet the challenge. However, coordinated action is largely absent, especially at the political level, both nationally and internationally. Antibiotics paved the way for unprecedented medical and societal developments, and are today indispensible in all health systems. Achievements in modern medicine, such as major surgery, organ transplantation, treatment of preterm babies, and cancer chemotherapy, which we today take for granted, would not be possible without access to effective treatment for bacterial infections. Within just a few years, we might be faced with dire setbacks, medically, socially, and economically, unless real and unprecedented global coordinated actions are immediately taken. Here, we describe the global situation of antibiotic resistance, its major causes and consequences, and identify key areas in which action is urgently needed.
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    Assessing the nonlinear association of environmental factors with antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the Yangtze River Mouth, China.
    (Scientific reports, 2023-11) Miao, Jiazheng; Ling, Yikai; Chen, Xiaoyuan; Wu, Siyuan; Liu, Xinyue; Xu, Shixin; Umar, Sajid; Anderson, Benjamin D
    The emergence of antibacterial resistance (ABR) is an urgent and complex public health challenge worldwide. Antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs) are considered as a new pollutant by the WHO because of their wide distribution and emerging prevalence. The role of environmental factors in developing ARGs in bacterial populations is still poorly understood. Therefore, the relationship between environmental factors and bacteria should be explored to combat ABR and propose more tailored solutions in a specific region. Here, we collected and analyzed surface water samples from Yangtze Delta, China during 2021, and assessed the nonlinear association of environmental factors with ARGs through a sigmoid model. A high abundance of ARGs was detected. Amoxicillin, phosphorus (P), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), calcium (Ca), and strontium (Sr) were found to be strongly associated with ARGs and identified as potential key contributors to ARG detection. Our findings suggest that the suppression of ARGs may be achieved by decreasing the concentration of phosphorus in surface water. Additionally, Group 2A light metals (e.g., magnesium and calcium) may be candidates for the development of eco-friendly reagents for controlling antibiotic resistance in the future.
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    Classification and genetic characterization of pattern-forming Bacilli.
    (Mol Microbiol, 1998-02) Rudner, R; Martsinkevich, O; Leung, W; Jarvis, ED
    One of the more natural but less commonly studied forms of colonial bacterial growth is pattern formation. This type of growth is characterized by bacterial populations behaving in an organized manner to generate readily identifiable geometric and predictable morphologies on solid and semi-solid surfaces. In our first attempt to study the molecular basis of pattern formation in Bacillus subtilis, we stumbled upon an enigma: some strains used to describe pattern formation in B. subtilis did not have the phenotypic or genotypic characteristics of B. subtilis. In this report, we show that these strains are actually not B. subtilis, but belong to a different class of Bacilli, group I. We show further that commonly used laboratory strains of B. subtilis can co-exist as mixed cultures with group I Bacilli, and that the latter go unnoticed when grown on frequently used laboratory substrates. However, when B. subtilis is grown under more stringent semiarid conditions, members of group I emerge in the form of complex patterns. When B. subtilis is grown under less stringent and more motile conditions, B. subtilis forms its own pattern, and members of group I remain unnoticed. These findings have led us to revise some of the mechanistic and evolutionary hypotheses that have been proposed to explain pattern growth in Bacilli.
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    Collective action and individual choice: rethinking how we regulate narcotics and antibiotics.
    (J Med Ethics, 2013-12) Anomaly, Jonny
    Governments across the globe have squandered treasure and imprisoned millions of their own citizens by criminalising the use and sale of recreational drugs. But use of these drugs has remained relatively constant, and the primary victims are the users themselves. Meanwhile, antimicrobial drugs that once had the power to cure infections are losing their ability to do so, compromising the health of people around the world. The thesis of this essay is that policymakers should stop wasting resources trying to fight an unwinnable and morally dubious war against recreational drug users, and start shifting their attention to the serious threat posed by our collective misuse of antibiotics.