Bottom Line: We Can Stop Hearing Loss in Many TB Patients
Health Equity Blog By Hyejeong Hong The cure for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is the same in the United States as it is in South Africa. Yet the drug regimen’s most severe and permanent potential side effect, hearing loss, occurs up to four times as often in South Africa. The reason is simple and stark: a
The post Bottom Line: We Can Stop Hearing Loss in Many TB Patients appeared first on Johns Hopkins Nursing Magazine. (Source: Nursing Blogs at Johns Hopkins University)
Source: Nursing Blogs at Johns Hopkins University - October 19, 2017 Category: Nursing Authors: Editor Tags: New On the Pulse Bedaquline Deaf hearing MDR-TB multidrug-resistant tuberculosis South Africa Source Type: blogs
Modular, Scalable Synthesis of Group A Streptogramin Antibiotics
JacsModular, Scalable Synthesis of Group A Streptogramin Antibiotics: Streptogramin antibiotics are used clinically to treat multidrug-resistant bacterial infections, but their poor physicochemical properties and narrow spectra of activity have limited their utility. New methods to chemically modify streptogramins would enable structural optimization to overcome these limitations as well as to combat growing resistance to the class. Here we report a modular, scalable synthesis of group A streptogramin antibiotics that proceeds in 6 –8 linear steps from simple chemical building blocks. (Source: Organometallic Current)
Source: Organometallic Current - September 19, 2017 Category: Chemistry Tags: Total synthesis Source Type: blogs
Explore the behavioral factors behind antibiotic misuse
None of us wants to live in a world without access to lifesaving antibiotics. No patient should be subject to an allergic reaction or organ dysfunction from these drugs. No one wants to contract a potentially deadly form of diarrhea, claiming roughly 30,000 lives a year in the U.S., that can take hold after antibiotics wipe out healthy gut bacteria.
Yet, every day, patients are prescribed antibiotics that they did not need or that are not clinically indicated, exposing them to the risk of these harms. In clinics, 30 percent of prescriptions are unnecessary. In hospitals, 20 percent to 50 percent of antibiotic use is c...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 1, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/peter-pronovost" rel="tag" > Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD < /a > Tags: Meds Medications Source Type: blogs
Antimicrobial Resistance: Where to from Here?
Conclusion
Newer tools capable of informing these early decisions are under development, but integrating an awareness of AMR into both hospital and GP practice is a key component of winning the fight against superbugs. Throughout the development process, discussion between clinicians and researchers will ensure that diagnostic tools are effective, and also meet the needs of frontline staff.
In the mean-time, cultivating an AMR aware mind-set is the best defence against over-prescription. Understanding and accepting the systematic, ubiquitous biases which affect our judgement of risk is particularly helpful. For example, do...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - May 16, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Jarrad Hall Tags: Clinical Research Microbiology AMR Antimicrobial resistance ESBL MROs multi-resistant organisms multidrug resistant organisms (MROs) Source Type: blogs
Antimicrobial Resistance: Where to from Here?
Conclusion
Newer tools capable of informing these early decisions are under development, but integrating an awareness of AMR into both hospital and GP practice is a key component of winning the fight against superbugs. Throughout the development process, discussion between clinicians and researchers will ensure that diagnostic tools are effective, and also meet the needs of frontline staff.
In the mean-time, cultivating an AMR aware mind-set is the best defence against over-prescription. Understanding and accepting the systematic, ubiquitous biases which affect our judgement of risk is particularly helpful. For example, do...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - May 16, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Jarrad Hall Tags: Clinical Research Microbiology AMR Antimicrobial resistance ESBL Joanna Tedeschi MROs multi-resistant organisms multidrug resistant organisms (MROs) Source Type: blogs
Research and Reviews in the Fastlane 180
This article reviews lavage cases called in to a state poison center and finds that while numbers are down, many of the ones performed were inappropriate. Bottom line, better education needs to be done to stress when and where it’s useful. Ingestions within 60 minutes of presentation of enough drug to have a serious toxic effect and where there’s no available antidote should prompt consideration for lavage in conjunction with a toxicologist when possible.
Recommended by: Anand Swaminathan
Toxicology Nelson CJ et al. Morbidity and mortality associated with medications used in the treatment of depression: an ...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - May 4, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Nudrat Rashid Tags: Education General Surgery Infectious Disease Intensive Care Microbiology R&R in the FASTLANE Resuscitation Social Media Toxicology Toxicology and Toxinology critical care Emergency Medicine literature recommendations research a Source Type: blogs
A rare clay used by B.C. aboriginals kills bacteria resistant to antibiotics
Wow. First of all, I would like to thank a blog reader, D., for the bit of news that I “announced” in the title of my post. Here’s the link to the Vancouver Sun’s article: goo.gl/5x8zCf.
And I quote: “The grey-green clay, known as Kisolite, has been used for centuries by the Heiltsuk First Nations to treat a range of ailments, including ulcerative colitis, arthritis, neuritis, phlebitis, skin irritation, and burns. Locals have also historically used the clay for eczema, acne and psoriasis. Now, UBC researchers say the clay exhibits potent antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant pat...
Source: Margaret's Corner - February 14, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll kisolite Source Type: blogs
What Is The ‘Relative Value’ Of An Infectious Disease Physician?
Infectious diseases (ID) physicians may be disappearing. In the 2016 internal medicine fellowship match, in which residents were matched with sub-specialty training programs, 35 percent of available ID training positions nationwide were left unfilled. By comparison, just 0.9 percent of gastroenterology and cardiology positions were not filled that year (Figure 1). Although trainees’ career choices are influenced by many complex factors, the driving force behind residents’ aversion to ID is likely quite simple: money.
ID specialists are among the lowest paid physicians in the United States. According to the 2016 Medscap...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - February 3, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Timothy Sullivan Tags: Costs and Spending Featured Health Professionals Payment Policy Quality Alternative Payment Models infectious disease Physicians RVU targets Source Type: blogs
Microscopic Peptide Polymers Kill Drug Resistant Bacteria Without Any Drugs
Drug resistant bacteria is showing its face around the world and causing worry that the golden age of antibiotics is coming to a close. At the University of Melbourne in Australia researchers have been working on something called structurally nanoengineered antimicrobial peptide polymers (SNAPPs), tiny microscopic devices that are able to damage bacterial walls without using any drugs. Shaped like tiny stars, it is their shape that seems to be the mechanism that helps destroy cell walls and let ions move across the membrane without any regulation, eventually leading to cell death.
Remarkably, the SNAPPs work equally well ...
Source: Medgadget - September 28, 2016 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Editors Tags: Medicine Nanomedicine Source Type: blogs
To Fight Antimicrobial Resistance, Allow FDA To Approve New Drugs For Limited Populations
Over the past several months, microbiologists and public health experts around the world have been alarmed by the discovery of a gene conferring resistance to colistin, a so-called “last resort” antibiotic.
The gene, MCR-1, was discovered in China last year, and thereafter quickly identified in E. coli samples from six continents. Because this type of gene is highly transferable, it will, in all likelihood, spread to other hard-to-treat bacteria. What global health leaders have been warning of for years has now become reality.
Now, more than ever, there is an urgent need for action to spur the innovation of antibiotics...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - April 5, 2016 Category: Health Management Authors: Allan Coukell Tags: Drugs and Medical Technology Featured Global Health Population Health Public Health Quality 21st Century Cures Act Antibiotic Resistance Antibiotics Congress FDA limited-population antibacterial drug MCR-1 PATH Act Research Source Type: blogs
Funding Zika But Forgetting Tuberculosis
On February 8, the day before the White House sent its Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 budget request to Congress, President Obama requested $1.8 billion in emergency funding to respond to the Zika virus at home and abroad. The World Health Organization (WHO) has proclaimed Zika a “public health emergency of international concern,” and governments have been in panic mode. But while there is certainly sufficient cause for alarm, let us not forget another grave threat to public health, which kills 4,400 people every single day and receives relatively little focus: Tuberculosis (TB).
TB has now surpassed HIV/AIDS as the leading cau...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - March 24, 2016 Category: Health Management Authors: True Claycombe Tags: Costs and Spending Featured Global Health Public Health 2017 budget infectious disease Obama TB tuberculosis USAID WHO Source Type: blogs
The dilemma of treating patients, based on their contributions to society
During my third-year internal medicine rotation, I was introduced to and helped care for a patient named Casey (name changed to protect privacy). I identified with Casey because we were the same age, and I felt empathetic toward her situation.
Casey was very sick, a direct result of her risky behavior. She was admitted for infective endocarditis secondary to intravenous opioid abuse. She had her second heart valve replacement eight days prior with the first replacement done nine months before. The valve replacement was done at another area hospital, and she was discharged to a skilled nursing facility for extended antibiot...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - July 28, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Kelsey Childress Tags: Physician Hospital Source Type: blogs
To Spur Medical Innovation, Make Corporate Cheaters Pay
The past decade has seen a relatively constant rate of newly approved drugs every year. The number has even jumped in the past few years. Yet, despite such encouraging trends, we are actually facing a crisis in drug innovation today. That is because many of these new products do not offer substantial improvements over already available alternatives.
At the same time, novel and effective treatments for many diseases---both rare and common---remain elusive. For example, there is widespread concern over the lack of development of new antibiotics aimed at multidrug-resistant infections. Therapeutic innovation for central nerv...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - April 30, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Aaron Kesselheim Tags: Drugs and Medical Technology Health Policy Lab Medicaid and CHIP Medicare corporations Cost FDA legislation Marketing medical innovation Medical Innovation Act NIH Pharma price Source Type: blogs
Whole issues of Genome Biology/Genome Medicine on "Genomics of Infectious Disease"
Wow this has really got some nice papers: BioMed Central | Article collections | Genomics of infectious diseases special issue. I note - this goes well as a follow up to the series I co-coordinated in PLOS a few years back: Genomics of Emerging Infectious Disease - PLOS CollectionsFrom their site:Infectious diseases are major contributors to global morbidity and mortality, and have a devastating impact on public health. The World Health Organization estimates that 1 in 3 deaths worldwide are due to an infectious disease, with a disproportionate number occurring in developing regions. While the completi...
Source: The Tree of Life - November 23, 2014 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Addressing The Threat Of Antibiotic Resistance: Policy Solutions To Fix A Broken Pipeline
Recently, the White House released a major new national strategy to combat antibiotic resistance. As efforts begin to translate that unprecedented announcement into action, it is critical that any strategy to address resistance contain a plan to ensure an adequate antibiotic development pipeline. The overall number of antibiotics reaching the market has declined over time, with 29 and 23 new antibiotics approved in the U.S. in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively, but only nine between 2000 and 2010.
Meanwhile, the evolution of drug-resistance has outpaced the development of new antibiotics. Doctors routinely encounter patien...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - November 6, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Rachel Zetts and Allan Coukell Tags: All Categories Pharma Policy Public Health Research Source Type: blogs
