pirke/Shutterstock Rebecca A. Drummond, University of Birmingham Fungal infections kill around the same number of people each year as tuberculosis. They mostly take hold in people who are vulnerable because they have a defective immune system caused by an underlying disease, such as cancer, or a viral infection, such as HIV or COVID. Our new study shows that antibiotics can …
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Antimicrobial resistance now causes more deaths than HIV/AIDS and malaria worldwide – new study
Some estimates suggest antimicrobial resistance could cause 10 million deaths per year by 2050. Fahroni/ Shutterstock Jonathan Cox, Aston University Antimicrobial resistance is spreading rapidly worldwide, and has even been likened to the next pandemic – one that many people may not even be aware is happening. A recent paper, published in Lancet, has revealed that antimicrobial resistant infections caused …
Read More »COVID is caused by a virus – so why are researchers treating it with antibiotics?
i viewfinder/Shutterstock Mostafa Rateb, University of the West of Scotland If you have a cold, don’t ask your doctor for antibiotics – that’s the golden rule. They’re for bacterial infections, not viral ones. We’re told not only that they won’t work, but that by using antibiotics when they aren’t needed, we’re helping bacteria become resistant to them. Yet in a …
Read More »Antibiotic resistance is at a crisis point – government support for academia and Big Pharma to find new drugs could help defeat superbugs
Bacteria that are resistant to every available antibiotic in the U.S. already exist. Rodolfo Parulan Jr/Moment via Getty Images Andre Hudson, Rochester Institute of Technology Antibiotic resistance poses one of the most important health challenges of the 21st century. And time has already run out to stop its dire consequences. The rise of multidrug-resistant bacteria has already led to a …
Read More »Bacteria ‘shuffle’ their genetics around to develop antibiotic resistance on demand
To stop antibiotic resistance, scientists need to know how bacteria become resistant. Jarun Ontakrai/ Shutterstock Celia Souque, University of Oxford Antibiotic resistance – the ability of harmful bacteria to survive treatment by antibiotics – is a growing threat. It is making it harder to treat life-threatening infections, including tuberculosis, MRSA, and gonorrhoea – and increasing the risks of even minor …
Read More »Kombucha, kimchi and yogurt: how fermented foods could be harmful to your health
Fermented foods such as yogurt, kimchi, and sauerkraut, are all popular sources of probiotics. Nina Firsova/ Shutterstock Manal Mohammed, University of Westminster Fermented foods have become very popular, thanks to claims about their nutritional properties and reported health benefits, such as improving digestion, boosting immunity and even helping people lose weight. Some of the most popular fermented foods include kefir, …
Read More »Antibiotics could be repurposed as a treatment for depression
People with depression have higher levels of inflammation in their brains – which antibiotics might be able to treat. tadamichi/ Shutterstock Eleftheria Kodosaki, Cardiff Metropolitan University Depression is common, affecting an estimated 264 million people of all ages worldwide. While the causes of depression are varied and complex, genetics, changes in brain chemistry, and environmental factors (such as stress or …
Read More »Scientists around the world are already fighting the next pandemic
Riccardo Mayer/Shutterstock.com David W Graham, Newcastle University and Peter Collignon, Australian National University If a two-year-old child living in poverty in India or Bangladesh gets sick with a common bacterial infection, there is more than a 50% chance an antibiotic treatment will fail. Somehow the child has acquired an antibiotic resistant infection – even to drugs to which they may …
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