Onderzoeksbureau Berenschot heeft in
opdracht van het ministerie van LNV onderzocht of het antibioticumgebruik in de
dierhouderij omlaag zal gaan als de dierenarts die diergeneesmiddelen voorschrijft, deze
niet zelf mag leveren. De dierenartsen zijn tevreden met de conclusies van het onderzoek.
Het rapport ondersteunt de visie van de dierenartsen dat een dergelijk verbod onvoldoende
effect zal hebben en dat andere maatregelen noodzakelijk zullen zijn.
Ook ondersteunt het rapport het plan van de
KNMvD, de koepel van dierenartsen, voor een Veterinaire Diergeneesmiddelen Autoriteit
(VDA) die als onafhankelijk toezichthouder de gegevens over antibioticagebruik in
Nederland analyseert, beoordeelt en die in het uiterste geval straffen kan opleggen.
Voorzitter prof. dr. Ludo Hellebrekers van
de KNMvD: "Het gaat om registratie en toezicht en dat is de kern van het reeds in
gang gezette plan van aanpak van de KNMvD. Ons plan komt uit de bus als een kansrijke
oplossingsrichting, zeker als je bedenkt dat het merendeel van praktijken die de
intensieve veehouderijsector begeleiden al het traject is ingegaan om
diergeneesmiddelenstromen centraal te registreren."
De dierenartsen zijn ervan overtuigd dat
het gebruik van antibiotica verminderd dient te worden om zo antibioticaresistentie tegen
te gaan. Doordat bacteriën resistent worden tegen antibiotica dreigen er grote risico's
voor de gezondheid van mensen en dieren. De inzet van antibiotica moet daarom zorgvuldig,
selectief en correct gebeuren en de dierenartsen nemen hierin hun verantwoordelijkheid.
Een relatief klein deel van de dierenartsen
is verantwoordelijk voor een groot deel van het antibioticumgebruik. Berenschot betwijfelt
dan ook of een verbod voor alle dierenartsen zou moeten gelden.
Antibioticagebruik groeit gestaag
Het gebruik van antibiotica in Nederland
vertoont sinds 2005 een opwaartse lijn. Grootste stijger in het afgelopen jaar is
nitrofurantoïne tegen urineweginfecties. Het gebruik van moxifloxacine is met 45%
afgenomen nadat begin 2008 veiligheidsrisico's zijn geconstateerd.
Van oudsher ligt het antibioticagebruik in
Nederland op een laag niveau in vergelijking met andere Europese landen. Antibiotica
worden geacht behoudend te worden voorgeschreven, omdat bij overmatig gebruik de kans op
resistentie toeneemt. Het gebruik van de door de openbaar apothekers verstrekte
antibiotica lag tot 2005 steeds onder de tien standaarddagdoseringen (DDD's) per duizend
inwoners per dag. Vanaf 2005 is het gebruik telkens licht verder gestegen tot 11,2 DDD per
duizend inwoners per dag in 2009.
Gematigde groei
Het afgelopen jaar verstrekten openbare apotheken 7,1 miljoen keer een antibioticum voor
systemisch gebruik, 2% meer dan het jaar daarvoor. In de periode 2000 tot 2005 nam het
gebruik van antibiotica ieder jaar een beetje af. In 2005 steeg het aantal verstrekkingen
met 6,6%. Deze stijging is niet toe te schrijven aan een specifieke groep antibiotica. Met
uitzondering van de groep sulfonamiden en trimethoprim nam het aantal voorschriften van
antibiotica over de hele linie destijds sterk toe. Vanaf 2006 temperde de groei in
antibioticagebruik weer en sindsdien stijgt het aantal verstrekkingen jaarlijks met zo'n
2%.
Antibiotica zijn in te delen in een aantal
groepen met een overeenkomstige chemische structuur en werkingsmechanisme. Bacteriën die
resistent zijn tegen één antibioticum in een bepaalde groep zijn meestal ook ongevoelig
voor de andere antibiotica in dezelfde groep. Penicillines, tetracyclines en macroliden
worden vooral gebruikt bij bacteriële infecties van de luchtwegen. Trimethoprim en
nitrofurantoïne zijn de meest gebruikte middelen voor de behandeling van
urineweginfecties. Chinolonen kunnen worden toegepast bij diverse bacteriële infecties.
Nitrofurantoïne (957.000 voorschriften in 2009) is absoluut de hardste stijger, met 13%
meer voorschriften dan in 2008. Binnen de macroliden (912.000 voorschriften) neemt het
gebruik van azitromycine gestaag toe. Dit gaat ten koste van claritromycine, dat tot 2007
het meest afgeleverde geneesmiddel binnen de groep macroliden was. Afgelopen jaar zijn
azitromycine en claritromycine 442.000 respectievelijk 334.000 keer verstrekt.
Ook het gebruik van chinolonen (584.000
voorschriften) neemt al jaren toe. Chinolonen worden beschouwd als 'reserve' antibiotica.
Om resistentieontwikkeling te voorkomen is het de bedoeling om ze alleen te gebruiken als
andere antibiotica onvoldoende soelaas bieden. Het meest verstrekte middel binnen deze
groep, ciprofloxacine (336.000 voorschriften), stijgt al jaren bovengemiddeld. De
Stichting Werkgroep Antibiotica Beleid (SWAB) meldt dat gelet op de verder toenemende
resistentie voor ciprofloxacine, hierbij sprake is van een zorgwekkende ontwikkeling.
Moxifloxacine onder vuur
Het meest recent geïntroduceerde geneesmiddel binnen de groep chinolonen is moxifloxacine
(Avelox) van Bayer. Nederlandse openbare apotheken leveren dit middel sinds 2003 af. Vanaf
de introductie is het gebruik van moxifloxacine sterk gestegen, ten koste van
norfloxacine, levofloxacine en ofloxacine. Begin 2008 is moxifloxacine echter in opspraak
geraakt. Toen werd bekend dat patiënten die dit antibioticum gebruiken, risico lopen op
dodelijke bijwerkingen. Wereldwijd is bij dertien patiënten een verband gevonden tussen
hun overlijden en het gebruik van moxifloxacine. Dit was aanleiding voor Bayer om na
overleg met de Europese geneesmiddelenautoriteiten medische beroepsbeoefenaren informatie
toe te sturen over ernstige reacties op moxifloxacine en veiligheidsmaatregelen
betreffende het middel. Sinds het alarm over moxifloxacine is het gebruik van het middel
bijna gehalveerd, van 42.000 voorschriften in 2007 tot 23.000 voorschriften in 2008.
Sindsdien is het aantal verstrekkingen op dit niveau blijven liggen.
Preventieve antibiotica voorkomen
geen infectie met Pseudomonas
Behandeling met preventieve antibiotica bij
kinderen met taaislijmziekte voorkomt geen infecties met Pseudomonas-bacterien. Dat
concludeert Gerdien Tramper-Stranders in haar proefschrift. Chronische longinfecties met
de Pseudomonas-bacterie zijn erg ongunstig voor patienten met taaislijmziekte.
Tramper-Stranders onderzocht 65 kinderen met taaislijmziekte zonder Pseudomonas-infectie.
De helft kreeg gedurende 3 jaar regelmatig preventieve antibiotica, de andere helft een
placebo. Na afloop van deze periode bleek dat de preventieve antibiotica een infectie niet
kon voorkomen.
Doordat chronische longinfecties met de
Pseudomonas-bacterie erg ongunstig voor patienten met taaislijmziekte zijn, is het van
belang om meer over de eigenschappen van deze Pseudomonas-bacterie te weten te komen. Het
promotieonderzoek van Gerdien Tramper-Stranders wees uit dat de Pseudomonas-bacterien die
bij veel taaislijmziektepatienten werden gevonden opvallende gelijkenis hadden (een
zogenaamde kloon); dit was niet het geval bij bacterien van kinderen met
Pseudomonas-infecties zonder taaislijmziekte.
Een eerste Pseudomonas-infectie bij
patienten met taaislijmziekte wordt intensief met antibiotica behandeld maar dit is niet
altijd succesvol. Uit het onderzoek van Tramper-Stranders bleek het helaas onmogelijk om
aan de hand van bacteriele eigenschappen te bepalen welke Pseudomonas-bacterien succesvol
behandeld konden worden. Het voorkomen van infectie zou daarom nog beter zijn. Dit werd
onderzocht bij 65 kinderen met taaislijmziekte zonder Pseudomonas-infectie. De helft kreeg
gedurende 3 jaar regelmatig preventieve antibiotica, de andere helft een placebo. Wat
bleek: de preventieve antibiotica konden een infectie niet voorkomen.
Wanneer een chronische Pseudomonas-infectie
optreedt, wordt vaak behandeld met het antibioticum azithromycine. Dit antibioticum doodt
de Pseudomonas-bacterie niet, maar remt de uitscheiding van kwalijke stoffen door de
bacterie. Dit onderzoek wees uit dat langdurige behandeling met azithromycine de
longfunctie tijdelijk verbetert. Echter, een andere veroorzaker van longinfecties bij
taaislijmziektepatienten, de Staphylococ-bacterie, werd snel resistent voor het
antibioticum. Een mogelijk vervelend gevolg voor gezinsleden van patienten, omdat deze
Staphylococ-bacterien van patienten naar overige gezinsleden worden overgedragen en soms
veroorzaker kunnen zijn van huid- of wondinfecties. Gelukkig bleek de overdracht van deze
resistente bacterien niet voor te komen. Een groter risico tot deze ongewenste resistentie
bleek het gebruik van antibiotica door het gezinslid zelf.
Universiteit Utrecht
Antibiotics and Food Supply
More than 80 years after the discovery of
penicillin, Katie Couric previews an upcoming CBS News investigation on antibiotics in
factory farming and the effect on future resistance in humans.
Steeds meer bodemorganismen
resistent
Steeds meer organismen die in de bodem
leven, raken resistent tegen antibiotica.
Weerstand tegen antibiotica kan
nadeel zijn voor bacteria
Neisseria meningitidis (de meningokok) is
een bacterie die ziektes met een hoge kans op sterfte kan veroorzaken en er is daarom
aanzienlijke bezorgdheid geweest dat deze (net als andere bacteria) resistent zou kunnen
worden tegen antibiotica. Maar nu heeft een studie aan de Rebro Universiteit en het Rebro
Universiteitsziekenhuis in Zweden aangetoond dat er geen toename van restistente
meningokokken is geweest in de laatste vijftien jaar Volgens onderzoekster Sara Thulin
Hedberg, zou de reden hiervoor kunnen zijn dat het niet per se voordelig voor bacteria
hoeft te zijn om restistentie te
ontwikkelen. Meningokokken zijn meestasl onschadelijke bacteria, en één op de tien
mensen draagt hem bij zich in de keel of in de luchtwegen zonder het te weten. Maar ze
kunnen ook in het bloed terechtkomen en door de bloed-hersenbarriëre heen gaan and
bloedvergiftiging of hersenvliesontsteking veroorzaken, en dan stijgt de kans op sterfte
naar zo'n tien procent.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota found antibiotic residues in corn, potatoes,
green onions, cabbage and lettuce after only six weeks of greenhouse propagation with
manure from treated livestock says Environmental Health Service--much less time than the
typical growing season.
Did Diet Politics Corrupt World
Cancer Research Fund Recommendations?
Antibiotics are so widely used by Americans that scientists have begun to find the
products in waterways, raising concerns about whether the medications are reaching
drinking supplies.
UR reports findings on antibiotics
and tooth extraction
Researchers at the University of Rochester's Eastman Dental Center have concluded that
patients who take antibiotics before having wisdom teeth extracted rather than afterward
are less likely to have infections as complications.
Study shows crops absorb
antibiotics from livestock
Environmentalists and health-conscious consumers are always voicing their worries about
antibiotics in meat and milk. But now these folks have even more reason to be concerned -
A new study shows that antibiotics can also show up in crops like corn, lettuce, potatoes
and onions.
Antibiotics injected into poultry and eggs to reduce the spread of infection may be making
people less susceptible to important antibiotic treatment, says the Public Health Agency
of Canada.
Antibiotics Take Toll on Beneficial
Microbes in Gut
It’s common knowledge that a protective navy of bacteria normally floats in our
intestinal tracts. Antibiotics at least temporarily disturb the normal balance. But
it’s unclear which antibiotics are the most disruptive, and if the full array of
“good bacteria” return promptly or remain altered for some time. In studies in
mice, University of Michigan scientists have shown for the first time that two different
types of antibiotics can cause moderate to wide-ranging changes in the ranks of these
helpful guardians in the gut. In the case of one of the antibiotics, the armada of
“good bacteria” did not recover its former diversity even many weeks after a
course of antibiotics was over. The findings could eventually lead to better choices of
antibiotics to minimize side effects of diarrhea, especially in vulnerable patients. They
could also aid in understanding and treating inflammatory bowel disease, which affects an
estimated 500,000 to 1 million Americans, and Clostridium difficile, a growing and serious
infection problem for hospitals. Normally, a set of thousands of different kinds of
microbes lives in the gut – a distinctive mix for each person, and thought to be
passed on from mother to baby. The microbes, including many different bacteria, aid
digestion and nutrition, appear to help maintain a healthy immune system, and keep order
when harmful microbes invade. “Biodiversity is a well-known concept in the health of
the world’s continents and oceans. Diversity is probably important in the gut
microsystem as well,” says Vincent B. Young, M.D., Ph.D., senior author of the study,
which appears in the June issue of Infection and Immunity. The study results suggest that
unless medical research discovers how to protect or revitalize the gut microbial
community, “we may be doing long-term damage to our close friends,” says Young,
assistant professor in the departments of internal medicine and microbiology and
immunology at the U-M Medical School.
Antibiotics take toll on beneficial
microbes in gut
It’s common knowledge that a protective navy of bacteria normally floats in our
intestinal tracts. Antibiotics at least temporarily disturb the normal balance. But
it’s unclear which antibiotics are the most disruptive, and if the full array of
“good bacteria” return promptly or remain altered for some time. In studies in
mice, University of Michigan scientists have shown for the first time that two different
types of antibiotics can cause moderate to wide-ranging changes in the ranks of these
helpful guardians in the gut. In the case of one of the antibiotics, the armada of
“good bacteria” did not recover its former diversity even many weeks after a
course of antibiotics was over.
Einstein Researchers Develop Novel
Antibiotics That Don't Trigger Resistance
Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is one of medicine's most vexing challenges. In a
study described in Nature Chemical Biology, researchers from Albert Einstein College of
Medicine of Yeshiva University are developing a new generation of antibiotic compounds
that do not provoke bacterial resistance. The compounds work against two notorious
microbes: Vibrio cholerae, which causes cholera; and E. coli 0157:H7, the food contaminant
that each year in the U.S. causes approximately 110,000 illnesses and 50 deaths. Most
antibiotics initially work extremely well, killing more than 99.9% of microbes they
target. But through mutation and the selection pressure exerted by the antibiotic, a few
bacterial cells inevitably manage to survive, repopulate the bacterial community, and
flourish as antibiotic-resistant strains.Vern L. Schramm, Ph.D., professor and Ruth Merns
Chair of Biochemistry at Einstein and senior author of the paper, hypothesized that
antibiotics that could reduce the infective functions of bacteria, but not kill them,
would minimize the risk that resistance would later develop. Dr. Schramm's collaborators
at Industrial Research Ltd. earlier reported transition state analogues of an enzyme that
interferes with "quorum sensing" — the process by which bacteria
communicate with each other by producing and detecting signaling molecules known as
autoinducers. These autoinducers coordinate bacterial gene expression and regulate
processes — including virulence — that benefit the microbial community. Previous
studies had shown that bacterial strains defective in quorum sensing cause less-serious
infections.
Studying The Effects That Livestock
Antibiotics Have On Water And Soil?
To keep them healthy, farm animals such as cattle, pigs, and even farmed fish are usually
fed agricultural antibiotics. These can be excreted in the animal’s faeces and, after
time, and wash into water courses, which can cause environmental problems.
Nasal allergies, family history, frequent respiratory infections and exposure to tobacco
smoke (pre- or postnatal) are risk factors - as is antibiotic use during the first year of
life, according to a recent study published in the March issue of the peer-reviewed
medical journal Pediatrics.
About 40 per cent of the time that my children or I have seen a doctor, we have left with
a prescription for antibiotics. Antibiotics may be wonderful, life-saving tools, but their
overuse is dangerous.
In the first study of its kind University of Sydney researchers have found proof that some
honeys can be more effective than antibiotics in treating surface wounds and infections.
Spreading antibiotics in the soil
affects microbial ecosystems
Antibiotics used extensively in intensive livestock production may be having an adverse
effect on agricultural soil ecosystems. In a presentation to the Society for General
Microbiology meeting at Harrogate International Centre, today (Monday 30 March), Dr Heike
Schmitt from the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands described how antibiotics passed
from the animals in manure that was then spread on farmland. Although higher organisms,
such as earthworms, would only be affected at unrealistic concentrations of antibiotics,
changes in soil bacterial communities have been found repeatedly using molecular
microbiological techniques. Bacteria involved in the nitrogen cycle, which replenishes
nutrients in the soil, seem to be particularly affected. The effects persisted over
several weeks and were still seen even when the antibiotics had broken down significantly.
In addition the microbial population of the soil changed as fungi replaced the bacteria
suppressed by the antibiotics. "The antibiotic concentrations that to date have been
found in agricultural soils are smaller than the concentrations at which the adverse
effects start occurring", said Dr Schmitt, "However, this might not be the case
for 'hot spots", for example, when manure is not mixed thoroughly in the soil."
Researchers Examine Animal
Antibiotic Resistance, Possible Human Link
Kansas State University researchers are investigating some pathogens in the animal food
supply that become resistant to antimicrobials used to fight animal disease, and whether
that might lead to more human resistance to the benefits of antibiotics.
Bacterial 'battle for survival'
leads to new antibiotic
MIT biologists have provoked soil-dwelling bacteria into producing a new type of
antibiotic by pitting them against another strain of bacteria in a battle for survival.
For years, antibiotic resistance has been a problem in hospitals, where the heavy use of
the drugs can breed resistant bacteria, resulting in infections that are difficult—or
impossible—to treat.
How Bacteria Gain Resistance To
Multiple Types Of Antibiotics
A team of scientists from the University Paris Descartes has solved the structure of two
proteins that allow bacteria to gain resistance to multiple types of antibiotics,
according to a report in EMBO reports this month.
The problem of antibiotic resistance is severe enough that many experts believe the value
of existing antibiotic therapies over the next 100 years is now uncertain.
Newly discovered reactions from an
old drug may lead to new antibiotics
A mineral found at health food stores could be the key to developing a new line of
antibiotics for bacteria that commonly cause diarrhea, tooth decay and, in some severe
cases, death. The trace mineral selenium is found in a number of proteins in both
bacterial cells and human cells called selenoproteins. University of Central Florida
Associate Professor William Self's research shows that interrupting the way selenoproteins
are made can halt the growth of the super bug Clostridium difficile and Treponema
denticola, a major contributor to gum disease. Infections of Clostridium difficile
(commonly known as C-diff) lead to a spectrum of illnesses ranging from severe diarrhea to
colitis, which can cause death. It's a life-threatening problem in hospitals and nursing
homes worldwide, and the number of cases is on the rise. There are an estimated 500,000
cases per year in the United States alone. Between 15,000 to 20,000 people die each year
while infected with this superbug. Treponema denticola is one of leading causes of gum
disease and costs individuals thousands of dollars in dental care each year. Self's
findings are published in the May and June editions of the Journal of Biological Inorganic
Chemistry and the Journal of Bacteriology. The National Institutes of Health and the
Florida Department of Health funded the research, which was conducted at UCF during the
past three years. "It's the proof of principle that we are excited about," Self
said from his research lab at UCF. "No one has ever tried this approach, and it could
potentially be a source for new narrow spectrum antibiotics that block bacteria that
require selenium to grow." The key discovery occurred when the team found that the
gold drug Auranofin, used to treat arthritis, impacted selenium's metabolism process. The
chemical reaction changes the selenium, which prevents bacteria from using it to grow.
Auranofin is an FDA-approved gold salt compound that is used to control inflammation and
is already known to inhibit the activity of certain selenoproteins. Since certain
bacteria, such as C. difficile, require selenoproteins for energy metabolism, the drug
acts as a potent antimicrobial halting the growth of the bacteria.
New viruses to treat bacterial
diseases -- 'My enemies' enemy is my friend'
Viruses found in the River Cam in Cambridge, famous as a haunt of students in their punts
on long, lazy summer days, could become the next generation of antibiotics
Groundbreaking Discovery May Lead
to Stronger Antibiotics
The last decade has seen a dramatic decline in the effectiveness of antibiotics, resulting
in a mounting public health crisis across the world. A new breakthrough by University of
Virginia researchers provides physicians and patients a potential new approach toward the
creation of less resistant and more effective antibiotics. "As bacteria become more
resistant to our current classes of antibiotics, there also has been a general lack of new
targets for developing novel antibiotics," says John H. Bushweller, Ph.D., who led a
new study appearing in the September 26, 2008, issue of Molecular Cell. "This is a
dangerous situation, but our discovery provides a starting point for a completely novel
class of antibiotics, acting via a different mechanism." What Dr. Bushweller,
professor of molecular physiology and biological physics, and fellow researchers at the
UVA Health System and Harvard Medical School have determined is the structure of a
particular integral membrane enzyme, called DsbB - one of the many proteins that reside in
cell membranes. These so-called integral membrane proteins are important, because they
account for roughly one-third of any genome in the human body and are the targets of more
than half of all currently used drugs.
Genetic switch potential key to new
class of antibiotics
Researchers have determined the structure of a key genetic mechanism at work in bacteria,
including some that are deadly to humans, in an important step toward the design of a new
class of antibiotics, according to an accelerated publication that appeared online today
as a "paper of the week" in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Information
stored in genes is translated or expressed into proteins, the workhorse molecules that
make up the body's structures and carry its messages. In the classical view of gene
expression, instructions stored in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) chains are copied into
messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNAs). The mRNAs are then transported to ribosomes that pair
them with transfer RNAs that contribute amino acids into a protein chain, thereby decoding
the gene. In recent years, groundbreaking work has revealed that RNA is much more than a
passive middleman, and instead exerts decisive control over expression. Researchers in the
Breaker lab at Yale and Nudler lab at NYU reported in 2002 that regulatory mechanisms
arising from riboswitches regulate gene expression at the level of the mRNA by changing
shape in ways that govern the genetic decoding process. Clarifying the principles of how
riboswitches change their spatial organization, which entails binding to a small signaling
partner, promises to inform the design of a new class of antibiotics. The current study
clarified for the first time the exact structure of nature's smallest known riboswitch,
and detailed how its structures control life processes in bacteria. "The work has
gained attention because interfering with riboswitches in bacteria known to cause major
human infections may provide a new generation of antibiotics at a time when bacteria have
become frighteningly capable of resisting current drugs," said Joseph E. Wedekind,
Ph.D., associate professor with the Department of. Biochemistry & Biophysics at the
University of Rochester Medical Center, and the study's senior author. "Among the
bacteria now known to contain riboswitches are E. coli and streptococcus, as well as the
bacteria behind forms of anthrax, gonorrhea, meningitis and dysentery. Riboswitches have
not yet been found in human cells, and the hope is future riboswitch drugs will kill
bacteria without side effects."
Eventually antibiotics are going to be seen as one of the worst things to ever come out of
pharmaceutical science because in the end, they have made us only weaker in the face of
ever increasingly strong super bugs that are resistant to all the antibiotics doctors have
at their disposal. When we look at how deep the rabbit hole goes with antibiotics, we will
get sick in our souls. Antibiotics have fulfilled their anti–biotic anti-life role
leaving a long trail of death and suffering in the wake of their use.
“Antibiotics Are Not Automatic
Anymore”—The French National Campaign To Cut Antibiotic Overuse
In a new study published in this issue of PLoS Medicine, Didier Guillemot and colleagues
analyze the impact of a similar campaign in France, which used to be known for the highest
rates of antibiotic use and pneumococcal resistance in Europe [8],[9]. In 2001, French
policy makers and public health authorities launched a coordinated and multifaceted
strategy for the control of antimicrobial resistance. One of the key interventions was a
yearly campaign targeting the public via mass media, conveying the message that
“Antibiotics Are Not Automatic” (especially for viral respiratory tract
infections).
Antibiotics and alcohol - Should I
avoid mixing them?
A few antibiotics — such as metronidazole (Flagyl), tinidazole (Tindamax) and
trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim) — should not be mixed with alcohol because
this may result in a more severe reaction. Drinking any amount of alcohol with these
medications can result in side effects such as flushing, headache, nausea and vomiting,
rapid heart rate, and shortness of breath. Keep in mind that some cold medicines and
mouthwashes also contain alcohol. So check the label and avoid such products while taking
these antibiotics.
Using evolution, UW team creates a
template for many new therapeutic agents
By guiding an enzyme down a new evolutionary pathway, a team of University of
Wisconsin-Madison researchers has created a new form of an enzyme capable of producing a
range of potential new therapeutic agents with anti-cancer and antibiotic properties.
Could Carbon Dioxide Replace
Antibiotics in Surgery?
The paper explains that wound infection is a serious surgical complication leading to
longer stays in hospital and greater risk of death. Problems include bacterial
contamination of the wound, drying of body tissues and heat loss. The authors suggest that
a wound could continuously be flooded with carbon dioxide gas (CO2) during surgery. Carbon
dioxide could prevent airborne bacteria from reaching the wound and would also suffocate
germs. CO2 is already used for this purpose in the food packaging business. Humidified CO2
would also keep the wound warm and moist, which should reduce tissue damage and speed-up
healing. The authors have already tested their idea in the laboratory, and the next step
should be a proper clinical trial in humans.
Biological warfare in bacteria
offers hope for new antibiotics
Scientists are to study a group of proteins that are highly effective at killing bacteria
and which could hold the key to developing new types of antibiotics. Researchers from the
Universities of York and Leeds have been awarded £3.3m from the Biotechnology and
Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to find out how a family of proteins known as
colicins force their way into bacterial cells before destroying them. The team, led by
Professor Colin Kleanthous, from the University of York's Department of Biology, will
develop earlier research that suggests colicins use decoys to mimic key parts of the
cells' own protein machinery to evade their defences. Professor Kleanthous said:
"Colicins are the weapon used in the biological warfare that takes place between
competing bacteria. Understanding how this group of proteins work could help scientists
develop new drug delivery methods to target the bacteria that cause diseases in
people."
Alternative methods proposed to
detect pesticides and antibiotics in water and natural food
Research by the department of analytical chemistry at the UGR has developed new systems to
achieve sensitive detection of pesticide and antibiotic residues in water, vegetables,
milk and meat using innovative techniques. Presence of antibiotics in foods of animal
origin or fresh water can cause bacterial resistance or allergic reactions, as well as
industrial problems in fermentation processes.
Time to end the abuse of
antibiotics in industrial animal production
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists perhaps as much as 70% of all antibiotics
sold in the U.S. is given to cattle, swine, and poultry on industrial animal farms for
reasons other than disease.
GPs are unnecessarily giving patients antibiotics for respiratory tract infections which
would clear up on their own. Doctors tend to overemphasise symptoms such as white spots in
the throat, rather than looking at factors such as old age and comorbidity, which would
affect a patient's recovery, according to an article published in the online open access
journal, BMC Family Practice.
New antibiotics could come from a
DNA binding compound that kills bacteria in 2 minutes
A synthetic DNA binding compound has proved surprisingly effective at binding to the DNA
of bacteria and killing all the bacteria it touched within two minutes. The DNA binding
properties of the compound were first discovered in the Department of Chemistry at the
University of Warwick by Professor Mike Hannon and Professor Alison Rodger (Professor Mike
Hannon is now at the University of Birmingham). However the strength of its antibiotic
powers have now made it a compound of high interest for University of Warwick researchers
working on the development of novel antibiotics.Dr Adair Richards from the University of
Warwick said ; "This research will assist the design of new compounds that can attack
bacteria in a highly effective way which gets around the methods bacteria have developed
to resist our current antibacterial drugs. As this antibiotic compound operates by
targeting DNA, it should avoid all current resistance mechanisms of multi-resistant
bacteria such as MRSA." The compound [Fe2L3]4+ is an iron triple helicate with three
organic strands wrapped around two iron centres to give a helix which looks cylindrical in
shape and neatly fits within the major groove of a DNA helix. It is about the same size as
the parts of a protein that recognise and bind with particular sequences of DNA. The high
positive charge of the compound enhances its ability to bind to DNA which is negatively
charged.
From Farm to Pharma - How Animals
Ended Up Living in Confined Feedlots Guzzling Antibiotics
So maybe "organic" yogurt is now on Wal-Mart's shelves, but that doesn't mean
outdated, inhumane practices like factory farming will not persist. They'll just call it
something else. It's a common thing, historically -- big business trying to blind the
masses with our own beacons.
Study shows how antibiotic sets up
road block to kill bacteria
Scientists have taken a critical step toward the development of new and more effective
antibacterial drugs by identifying exactly how a specific antibiotic sets up a road block
that halts bacterial growth. The antibiotic, myxopyronin, is a natural substance that is
made by bacteria to fend off other bacteria. Scientists already knew that this antibiotic
inhibited the actions of an enzyme called RNA polymerase, which sets gene expression in
motion and is essential to the life of any cell. But until now, researchers did not know
the mechanism behind how the antibiotic actually killed the bacteria. Key to investigating
this mechanism is the use of the powerful imaging technique X-ray crystallography, which
allows researchers to see the fine details of the complex between the antibiotic and its
target. In the case of myxopyronin, the antibiotic binds to RNA polymerase in a way that
interferes with the enzyme's ability to use DNA to start the process of activating genes
so they can make proteins. "This is the first antibiotic that we know that inhibits
polymerase before it even starts RNA synthesis," said Irina Artsimovitch, a coauthor
of the study and an associate professor of microbiology at Ohio State University.
Theory shows mechanism behind
delayed development of antibiotic resistance
Inhibiting the "drug efflux pumps" in bacteria, which function as their defence
mechanisms against antibiotics, can mask the effect of mutations that have led to
resistance in the form of low-affinity drug binding to target molecules in the cell. This
is shown by researchers at Uppsala University in a new study that can provide clues to how
the development of resistance to antibiotics in bacteria can be delayed. The introduction
of antibiotics as drugs in the treatment of bacterial infections in the post-WWII years
was a revolutionized medicine, and dramatically improved the health condition on a global
scale. Now, 60 years later, growing antibiotic resistance among pathogens has heavily
depleted the arsenal of entailed effective antibiotic drugs. Antibiotics function by
attacking vital molecules in bacteria. Bacteria, in turn, protect themselves either by
using "drug efflux pumps" for antibiotics or through mutations that reduce the
binding of the antibiotic to its target molecules inside the bacteria cell. Through these
changes, bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics. The new study is published in the
journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the US. Professor Måns
Ehrenberg's research team at Uppsala University has shown experimentally and theoretically
explained how the inhibition of these drug efflux pumps can completely mask the resistance
effect of mutations that reduce the affinity of antibiotics to their target molecules in
the bacteria cell. The effect of the mutations is entirely hidden when the pumps are
unable to remove the antibiotic sufficiently quickly in relation to the dilution of the
antibiotic through cell growth and cell division.
Researchers find new chemical key
that could unlock hundreds of new antibiotics
Chemistry researchers at The University of Warwick and the John Innes Centre, have found a
novel signalling molecule that could be a key that will open up hundreds of new
antibiotics unlocking them from the DNA of the Streptomyces family of bacteria. With
bacterial resistance growing researchers are keen to uncover as many new antibiotics as
possible. Some of the Streptomyces bacteria are already used industrially to produce
current antibiotics and researchers have developed approaches to find and exploit new
pathways for antibiotic production in the genome of the Streptomyces family. For many
years it was thought that the relatively unstable butyrolactone compounds represented by
"A-factor" were the only real signal for stimulating such pathways of possible
antibiotic production but the Warwick and John Innes teams have now found a much more
stable group of compounds that may have the potential to produce at least one new
antibiotic compound from up to 50% of the 1000 or so known Streptomyces family of
bacteria. Colonies of bacteria such as Streptomyces naturally make antibiotics as a
defence mechanism when those colonies are under stress and thus more susceptible to attack
from other bacteria. The colonies need to produce a compound to spread a signal across the
colony to start producing their natural antibiotic weapons.
Patients with Inflammatory Bowel
More Susceptible to Dangerous Infection
The Clostridium difficile bacterium, which causes infectious diarrhea, is nearly four
times more likely to kill patients with inflammatory bowel disease, according to a report
published in the journal Gut.
Egyptian scientists say drinking green tea helps make antibiotics three times more
effective, even against so-called superbugs. "We tested green tea in combination with
antibiotics against 28 disease-causing micro-organisms belonging to two different
classes," Dr. Mervat Kassem of the Alexandria University in Egypt said in a
statement. "In every single case green tea enhanced the bacteria-killing activity of
the antibiotics."
PEOPLE taking antibiotics, especially those being treated in hospitals should take a daily
probiotic drink, according to a report released today. Antibiotics have many benefits, but
they can also destroy many of the normal bacteria that live in the gut, making it easier
for "bad" bacteria to build up.
A variety of factors – including treatment with antibiotics, comorbid conditions and
prolonged hospital stays – may be associated with an increased risk for Clostridium
difficile infection.
Antibiotics Can Cause Pervasive,
Persistent Changes to the Microbial Community in the Human Gut, MBL and Stanford
Scientists Report
Using a novel technique developed by Mitchell Sogin of the Marine Biological Laboratory
(MBL) to identify different types of bacteria, scientists have completed the most precise
survey to date of how microbial communities in the human gut respond to antibiotic
treatment. Sogin, director of the MBL’s Josephine Bay Paul Center, and Susan Huse of
the MBL, along with David Relman and Les Dethlefsen of Stanford University, identified
pervasive changes in the gut microbial communities of three healthy humans after a
five-day course of the antibiotic Ciprofloxacin. Their results are reported in the Nov. 18
issue of PloS Biology. Using very conservative criteria, the scientists identified at
least 3,300 to 5,700 different taxa (genetically distinct types) of bacteria in the human
distal gut, and antibiotic treatment influenced the abundance of about a third of those
taxa. “You clearly get shifts in the structure of the microbial community with
antibiotic treatment,” says Sogin. “Some bacteria that were in low abundance
prior to treatment may become more abundant, and bacteria that were dominant may decrease
in abundance. When you get these shifts, they may be persistent. Some individuals may
recover quickly, and others won’t recover for many months.”
Study suggests antibiotic may
prevent dreaded brain fever
Two researchers from National Brain Research Center suggest that a common antibiotic
called minocycline may prevent children from death due to Japanese encephalitis, or
commonly known as brain fever.
study led by researchers from King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia showed use of antibiotics increased risk of breast cancer by 50 to 79
percent, depending upon the number of prescriptions an individual received during one to
15 years prior to the diagnosis of the disease.
The End of Antibiotics and the Rise
of Iodine as an Effective Alternative
Antibiotics do not kill yeast. Many women find after taking antibiotics, they get vaginal
yeast infections (because their normal bacterial balance has been lost). Antibiotics bring
on fungal and yeast infections thus will eventually be seen as a major cause of cancer
since more and more oncologists are seeing yeast and fungal infections as an integral part
of cancer and its cause. With upwards of 40 percent of all cancers thought to be involved
with and caused by infections, the subject of antibiotics and the need for something
safer, more effective and life serving is imperative.
Study Finds Antibiotics Fed to
Swine in Groundwater
A recent study by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has linked the routine
use of the antibiotic tetracycline, popular in swine production, to the presence of
antibiotics resistance genes in groundwater.
New insight into how antibiotics
kill might make them deadlier
Scientists have what could be some very bad news for disease-causing bacteria. All three
major classes of antibiotics that kill infectious bacteria do so in part by ramping up the
production of harmful free radicals, researchers report in the Sept. 7, 2007, issue of
Cell, a publication of Cell Press. Because those different types of antibiotics each
initially hit different targets, it had been believed they worked by independent means.
With the consumer spotlight on contaminated Asian seafood, Australia's quarantine
watchdog, AQIS (Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service), has discovered almost
one-third of the samples of prawns, fish, crabs and eels from Asia contained banned
antibiotics, including new antibiotic groups which have never been dealt with before.
Abuse of Antibiotics at Factory
Farms Threatens the Effectiveness of Drugs Used to Treat Disease in Humans
he routine, medically unnecessary use of antibiotics to promote the enhanced growth of
livestock is making disease-causing bacteria more resistant to the drugs, which diminishes
their power to treat life-threatening diseases in humans.
By creating "Teflon" versions of natural antibiotics found in frog skin, a
research team led by biological chemist E. Neil Marsh has made the potential drugs better
at thwarting bacterial defenses, an improvement that could enhance their effectiveness.
Marsh will discuss the work Aug. 20 at the 234th national meeting of the American Chemical
Society in Boston. Marsh and collaborators work with compounds called antimicrobial
peptides (AMPs), which are produced by virtually all animals, from insects to frogs to
humans. AMPs are the immune system's early line of defense, battling microbes at the first
places they try to penetrate: skin, mucous membranes and other surfaces. They're copiously
produced in injured or infected frog skin, for instance, and the linings of the human
respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts also crank out the short proteins in response to
invading pathogens. In addition to fighting bacteria, AMPs attack viruses, fungi and even
cancer cells, so drugs designed to mimic them could have widespread medical applications.
Scientists have been interested in exploiting these natural antibiotics since their
discovery in the 1980s, but they haven't been able to overcome some limitations. In
particular, AMPs are easily broken down by protein-degrading enzymes (proteases) that are
secreted by bacteria and are also naturally present in the body. Increasing the
concentration of AMPs in an effort to get around that problem can cause toxic side
effects, such as the destruction of red blood cells---those critical carriers of oxygen in
the bloodstream. That seems to happen because sticky parts of the AMP molecule interact
with the cell membrane in a harmful way.
Team tracks antibiotic resistance
from swine farms to groundwater
The routine use of antibiotics in swine production can have unintended consequences, with
antibiotic resistance genes sometimes leaking from waste lagoons into groundwater. In a
new study, researchers report that some genes found in hog waste lagoons are transferred
-- "like batons" -- from one bacterial species to another. The researchers found
that this migration across species and into new environments sometimes dilutes -- and
sometimes amplifies -- genes conferring antibiotic resistance.
Researchers discover new strategies
for antibiotic resistance
With antibiotic resistance on the rise, LA BioMed researchers report in the September
issue of Nature Reviews Microbiology on new clues they have uncovered in immune system
molecules that defend against infection and hold hope of helping develop new
anti-infectives.
UIC researchers find promising new
targets for antibiotics
University of Illinois at Chicago researchers have identified new sites on the bacterial
cell's protein-making machinery where antibiotics can be delivered to treat infections.
As bacteria resistant to commonly used antibiotics continue to increase in number,
scientists keep searching for new sources of drugs. In this week's JBC, one potential new
bactericide has been found in the tiny freshwater animal Hydra. The protein identified by
Joachim Grötzinger, Thomas Bosch and colleagues at the University of Kiel, hydramacin-1,
is unusual (and also clinically valuable) as it shares virtually no similarity with any
other known antibacterial proteins except for two antimicrobials found in another ancient
animal, the leech. Hydramacin proved to be extremely effective though; in a series of
laboratory experiments, this protein could kill a wide range of both Gram-positive and
Gram-negative bacteria, including clinically-isolated drug-resistant strains like
Klebsiella oxytoca (a common cause of nosocomial infections). Hydramacin works by sticking
to the bacterial surface, promoting the clumping of nearby bacteria, then disrupting the
bacterial membrane.
Antibiotics - They’re wrongly
prescribed in 80 per cent of cases
A new review reveals that doctors prescribe an antibiotic for up to 80 per cent of cases
of sore throat, the ear infection otitis media, sinusitis and the common cold.
Free Antibiotics - The Wrong
Prescription for Cold and Flu Season
With an epidemic of antibiotic-resistant infections growing, experts are warning
grocery-store pharmacies that antibiotics giveaways are an unhealthy promotional gimmick.
If grocery stores want to help customers and save them money during cold and flu season,
the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) says, they should offer free influenza
vaccinations instead. Giant, Stop & Shop, and other grocery stores have recently begun
offering free antibiotics at their pharmacies. Most concerning are promotions such as
Wegmans’ that link antibiotics to the winter cold-and-flu season—despite the
fact that antibiotics will have no effect on these viral illnesses and carry risks of
serious side effects. “While it may make good marketing sense, promoting antibiotics
at a time when we are facing a crisis of antibiotic resistance does not make good public
health sense,” said IDSA President Anne Gershon, MD. “On the other hand, grocery
stores would be doing a tremendous service if they help more people get their flu
shots.”
Agricultural Antibiotics May Be The
Cause Of Super-Bugs
According to recent research, farms may be more effective sources of transmission of
antibiotic-resistant bacteria to the community than hospitals. Fresh poultry from animals
not treated with antibiotics will probably pose a smaller risk to your health. If you
catch any disease from it, antibiotics will really work for you if you need them.
Study shows rise in antibiotic
resistant pediatric head and neck infections
A report by researchers in the Jan. 19, 2009 Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck
Surgery shows that there was nationwide increase in the prevalence of pediatric
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) head and neck infections from January
2001 to December 2006. The increase in antibiotic-resistant infections has become a big
concern for researchers and clinicians over the years. MRSA was once a condition that was
only found in hospital settings; however, over the last decade MRSA outbreaks have
increasingly been found in patients without risk factors. In an attempt to identify trends
in the susceptibility of antibiotic-resistant infections, researchers from Emory
University School of Medicine and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta studied data on
pediatric patients from nationwide hospitals. "The growing concern about the recent
worldwide MRSA epidemic has fueled the curiosity of the scientific community to gain
insight into the clinical and epidemiologic manifestations of this microbe," says
Steven E. Sobol, MD, MSc, primary investigator of the study and director of Pediatric
Otolaryngology in the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery at Emory.
"Previous studies have established that skin and soft tissue infections in some
communities are due to MRSA," he says. "However, it has been observed in several
institutions that there is a significant rise in pediatric head and neck infections as
well." The researchers reviewed a total of 21,009 pediatric head and neck S. aureus
infections from 300 hospitals nationwide that occurred between Jan. 1, 2001 and Dec. 31,
2006. Patients ranged in ages from birth to 18.
The headlines about staph infections are spreading awareness that overuse of antibiotics
has made some bacteria resistant to drugs. The trend poses a threat to everyone, as
dangerous infections become increasingly prevalent and challenging to treat.
The overuse of antibiotics in livestock production is cited as a main cause of the
increase in antibiotic resistance in bacteria. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates
that 70 percent of all antibiotics in the U.S. are used as feed additives for pigs,
poultry and cattle. The American Medical Association went on record in 2001 opposing the
routine feeding of medically important antibiotics to livestock and poultry.
The Preservation of Antibiotics for
Medical Treatment Act of 2007
Mounting scientific evidence shows that the routine feeding of antibiotics to farm animals
that are not sick promotes development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can be
transferred to people, making it harder to treat bacterial infections in humans.
Antibiotic feed additives are used to promote slightly faster growth and to compensate for
crowded, stressful, and often unsanitary animal-husbandry conditions. The Union of
Concerned Scientists estimates that 70 percent of antibiotics and related drugs in the
United States are given as feed additives to chickens, hogs, and beef cattle; such use
occurs without a prescription.
Adverse reactions to antibiotics
send thousands of patients to the ER
Adverse events from antibiotics cause an estimated 142,000 emergency department visits per
year in the United States, according to a study published in the Sept. 15, 2008, issue of
Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Modern agriculture is rushing us into an unintended but dangerous form of genetic
engineering, including antibiotics, how bacteria become resistant, livestock, the
animal-human link, regulatory stonewall.
Antibiotics - Single largest class
of drugs causing liver injury
Antibiotics are the single largest class of agents that cause idiosyncratic drug-induced
liver injury (DILI), reports a new study in Gastroenterology, an official journal of the
American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute. DILI is the most common cause of
death from acute liver failure and accounts for approximately 13 percent of cases of acute
liver failure in the U.S. It is caused by a wide variety of prescription and
nonprescription medications, nutritional supplements and herbals. "DILI is a serious
health problem that impacts patients, physicians, government regulators and the
pharmaceutical industry," said Naga P. Chalasani, MD, of the Indiana University
School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "Further efforts are needed in
defining its pathogenesis and developing means for the early detection, accurate
diagnosis, prevention and treatment of DILI." In this prospective, ongoing,
multi-center observational study — the largest of its kind — patients with
suspected DILI were enrolled based upon predefined criteria and followed for at least six
months. Those with acetaminophen liver injury were excluded. Researchers found that DILI
was caused by a single prescription medication in 73 percent of the cases, by dietary
supplements in 9 percent and by multiple agents in 18 percent. More than 100 different
agents were associated with DILI; antimicrobials (45.5 percent) and central nervous system
agents (15 percent) were the most common. Of the dietary supplements causing DILI,
compounds that claim to promote weight loss and muscle building accounted for nearly 60
percent of the cases. The study found that at least 20 percent of patients with DILI
ingest more than one potentially hepatotoxic agent. DILI remains a diagnosis of exclusion
and thus detailed testing should be performed to exclude competing causes of liver
disease; importantly, acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection should be carefully excluded
in patients with suspected DILI by HCV RNA testing. Researchers found no relationship
between gender and severity of DILI, but individuals with diabetes experienced more severe
DILI.
Every year, in the United States, there are more than 140,000 incidences of bad reactions
to antibiotics which result in visits to the Emergency Department (ED), a study carried
out by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated.
Considering the number of prescriptions written for these products, antibiotic-associated
tendon damage appears to be relatively rare. The risk may be higher in those taking
corticosteroids such as prednisone, particularly elderly people.
Physicians ask EPA, 'Antibiotics to
cure sick apples, or sick children?
Arlington, VA—A federal decision to permit the State of Michigan to spray the state's
apple orchards with gentamicin risks undermining the value of this important antibiotic to
treat blood infections in newborns and other serious human infections, according to the
Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
on Wednesday granted the state of Michigan "emergency" permission to use
gentamicin to fight a tree disease called fire blight.
