Klebsiella pneumoniae, the bacterium in which the the metallo-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) gene was identified. The World Health Organisation last month issued a fresh warning over NDM-1, as it enables some micro-organisms to be highly resistant to almost all antibiotics.
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WASHINGTON: Serious public health risks due to a lack of new antibiotics at a time of rising antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs’ will be the main focus of an upcoming top microbiology conference in Boston.
"We are increasingly concerned about the decline in antibiotic discovery," said Lindsay Grayson of Austin Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, who is program chair at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) at its 50th annual conference, running from September 12-14.
For Grayson, the key reason of the marked decline in discoveries "is a changing of focus of drugs companies away from antibiotics," he said, saying the lack of new drugs means people are seeing more "infections that are untreatable with antibiotics because we don't have new drugs to treat them."
WHO warns of resistant micro-organisms
Drug resistance in bacteria, blamed on excessive and improper use of antibiotics, is not new, and health experts warn of an increasingly dangerous environment where the problem can flourish.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) last month issued a fresh warning over the metallo-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) gene that enables some micro-organisms to be highly resistant to almost all antibiotics.
The Lancet said bacteria containing the NDM-1 gene had been found in 37 Britons who had received medical treatment in South Asia in recent months.
“Very serious” threat to be addressed
To fight the rising microbial resistance, Grayson - who described the NDM-1 bug as a "very serious" threat - called for a focus on wiser use of antibiotics.
"We need to improve the control of antibiotics, we need to improve the control of counterfeit drugs, and the government regulations for the use of antibiotic needs to be improved," he said.
Grayson also said the sale of antibiotics needs to be better controlled by requiring a prescription and not sold over the counter.
Still time to fix things
Grayson said research in the field would be highlighted at the ICAAC meeting, to be attended by 12,000 members and three Nobel laureates.
"There is still time and plenty of opportunities to fix things," he said, noting that another key measure is the more controlled use of antibiotics in animals for human consumption, notably poultry.
experienced non fiction
there is a link between missing part of immune system, streptokok killed by antibiotics, and ilnesses
Antibiotic Resistant People
If one looks at the link between elevated iron levels in the body and the incidence of latex allergy then one can simply look at the number of nurses WITH latex allergy and test THEM to see if they have a higher tolerance to antibiotics BECAUSE of their elevated iron levels. They have already decided it "might" be a good way to forstall antibiotic resistance BY targeting the iron.
"Loading cells with Fe-D increased their response to latex"
"Availability of iron for bacterial multiplication plays a critical role in infection. This has major implications for clinical disease"
"Chelator-Induced Dispersal and Killing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Cells
in a Biofilm"