An affordable <keyword id="9107118" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tuberculosis-testing" source="Orion">tuberculosis testing</keyword> technology that can detect the disease using a patient's sputum for just Rs 35 has been developed by apex medical research body <keyword id="19918794" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ICMR" source="keywords">ICMR</keyword>'s regional centre in Assam's Dibrugarh. The 'A <keyword id="19986036" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="CRISPR" source="keywords">CRISPR</keyword> case-based TB detection system' is light, portable and involves three steps of testing. Over 1,500 samples can be tested in one single run in around two-and-half hours, ICMR sources said. <br /><br />Conventional diagnostic techniques for TB commonly rely on culture, which requires 42 days to confirm as TB negative, microscopy, and nucleic acid-based methods. These are also time-consuming and may require sophisticated equipment. <br /><br />An official said, "<keyword id="19992404" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tuberculosis" source="keywords">Tuberculosis</keyword> (TB) remains a global health challenge, necessitating the development of accurate and rapid diagnostic tools for effective disease management. Current <keyword id="22921102" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="diagnostic-methods" source="keywords">diagnostic methods</keyword> often exhibit limitations in terms of sensitivity, specificity, speed and cost, emphasising the need for innovative approaches". <br /><br />Additionally, some molecular diagnostic methods, while offering improved sensitivity, may lack the desired specificity or face challenges associated with cost and ease of handling. <br /><br />"Considering these problems, the CRISPR-Cas12a-based molecular diagnostic system 'GlowTBPCRKit' coupled with an amplification step (using thermal cycler) and the '<keyword id="22921103" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="RapidGlow-device" source="keywords">RapidGlow device</keyword>' provides a promising solution," the official said. <br /><br />The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has now invited Expression of Interest (EoI) from eligible organisations, companies, manufacturers for undertaking 'Transfer of Technology' for commercialisation of the 'A CRISPR case-based TB detection system' for the detection of <keyword id="20115212" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mycobacterium-tuberculosis" source="keywords">Mycobacterium tuberculosis</keyword>. <br /><br />The ICMR-RMRCNE institute will provide expert guidance and technical support for the production of 'A CRISPR Cas based TB detection system' in all phases. <br /><br />Such technical oversight by the institute would accelerate the development of the product and its commercialisation. <br /><br />The ICMR would also provide technical support through its team of experienced scientists in study, planning, product development, development of study protocol, results or data analysis, outcome assessment, safety and efficacy assessment, product improvement, etc., if deemed fit upon the mutual understanding between ICMR and collaborative company. <br /><br />The apex health research body through its institutes would provide support and facilitation to conduct the research and development or clinical study of new technology or product in India through its affiliates or institutes, in collaboration with the company and institutions in a professional and mutually agreed upon manner and timelines.

ICMR's regional centre develops technology that can test for tuberculosis in just Rupees 35!

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In a rare attack, an iguana bit a child for her cake in Costa Rica. </li><li>Five months later, a strange cyst began to grow on the site the girl was bitten. </li></ul><p>A girl's rare infection could have been linked to an encounter with an iguana that had a craving for cake, scientists suspect. </p><p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/31/health/iguana-cake-infection/index.html">CNN</a> reported that a scientific presentation on the unidentified 3-year-old girl's case will be given at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases this month. </p><p>Last March, the unnamed girl was on vacation with her parents in Costa Rica. Her parents gave her a cake as she hung out by the water. A wild iguana ran up to her, bit her finger and stole her cake. </p><p>"It was trying to mark its territory or something like that," Dr Jordan Kit Mah, a medical microbiologist at Stanford University told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/mar/31/toddlers-mystery-infection-traced-back-to-cake-snatching-iguana">the Guardian. </a></p><p>Iguanas are typically harmless and herbivores, but this one appears to have developed a liking for sweets, CNN reported. </p><p>Her parents noticed that the bite was superficial but still took her to a local clinic, which disinfected the wound and gave her antibiotics. The wound healed, but five months later, they noticed a bump in the same spot.</p><p>While the girl said the bump did not hurt, it had grown to the size of a coin, and was a reddish-bluish color, the Guardian reported. The family took the child to the doctor.</p><p>At first, the parents hadn't thought the iguana bite had anything to do with it. Doctors suspected it might be a cyst but as it continued to grow, the parents realized the bump was in the same spot as the iguana bite, CNN reported. </p><p>The bump continued to grow and began causing mild pain, which sent the girl to an orthopedist. She has a biopsy which revealed a rare infection. </p><p>The little girl had developed <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441883/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mycobacterium marinum,</a> which typically causes tuberculosis-like illness in fish but rarely infects humans. Humans usually get this infection if they have open wounds and come into contact with contaminated water. Mah told CNN that he believes this is the first time a human has gotten this infection from an iguana bite. </p><p>"There is we know a lot about animal bites and bacteria, infections, following, let's say, dogs or cats, but there really isn't much for lizards, let alone iguana," he said. "I don't think people should be afraid, but doctors should be aware of the possibility."</p><p>He told the Guardian that he's not surprised it took this long for the girl to develop symptoms since the bacteria is very slow to grow and has a long incubation period. </p><p>The infection doesn't respond well to typical antibiotics but the little girl was put on rifampin, an antimicrobial, and clarithromycin, an antibiotic and according to Mah, is improving. </p><p>"Typically, with these infections, because they take a very long time to grow and they're a little bit more fastidious, you need to treat them for a longer period of time, sometimes several months," Mah told CNN. "So she's doing better. I wouldn't say 100%, but she's doing a lot better than she was initially."</p>

A wild iguana in Costa Rica bit a little girl as it tried to steal her piece of cake. Now, doctors say she has developed a rare bacterial infection.

(Eds: Adding details) <p>New Delhi, Jul 3 () The World Health Organisation (WHO) has endorsed tests by three research bodies, including ICMR, for initial diagnosis of tuberculosis and detection of resistance to a drug most commonly used to treat the disease. </p><p>The three research bodies said their tests -- "rapid molecular Truenat assays -- have been endorsed by the global health body for initial diagnosis of tuberculosis and subsequent detection of rifampicin resistance in adults and children. </p><p>Rifampicin is a standardized drug and the most commonly used first-line treatment of tuberculosis. </p><p> The three research bodies -- the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), Molbio Diagnostics and the Indian Council of Medical Research said drug-resistant tuberculosis poses a particular challenge, with growing resistance to rifampicin and other drugs that treat the disease. </p><p> Truenat is a novel molecular test that rapidly detects tuberculosis and rifampicin-resistance. All the three tests are run on the portable, battery-operated Truenat device and provide results in less than an hour, the bodies said in a joint statement. </p><p>"Both Truenat MTB and Truenat MTB Plus (tests) detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria for TB diagnosis, while Truenat MTB-RIF Dx (test) identifies resistance to rifampicin, they said in the statement. </p><p>Truenat MTB, Truenat MTB Plus  and Truenat MTB-RIF  are names of the tests endorsed by WHO.  </p><p>Noting that tuberculosis remains the leading cause of death from an infectious disease worldwide, with around 10 million cases and 1.5 million deaths in 2018, they said drug-resistant tuberculosis poses a particular challenge, with growing resistance to rifampicin and other drugs that treat the disease. </p><p>"In 2018, around half-a-million new cases of rifampicin resistant TB were diagnosed. Urgent action is needed to close the gap in tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment, particularly in low-resource settings, to reach the WHO target of ending tuberculosis by 2030," the statement said. </p><p>To that end, bringing sensitive TB diagnosis and drug susceptibility testing closer to patients is a key priority for global TB control, but requires robust point-of-care diagnostic tests that are easily implementable at lower levels of the healthcare system, it said. </p><p>"This is a matter of pride for ICMR, Department of Health Research (DHR), New Delhi. It was a long journey to advance indigenous diagnostic technologies for diagnosis of tuberculosis and MDR/XDR-TB. Truenat is already accepted for use under the NTEP (National TB Elimination Program) in India. </p>"Endorsement of Truenat by WHO will enable other low-and middle-income countries to procure Truenat for diagnosis of tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance, thus supporting tuberculosis elimination in developing countries," the statement quoting Balram Bhargava, Secretary DHR and Director General - ICMR said. UZM TDS TDS

WHO endorses tests by ICMR, 2 others for TB diagnosis, drug resistance detection

New Delhi, Jul 3 () The World Health Organization (WHO) has endorsed rapid molecular Truenat assays by three research bodies, including ICMR, for initial diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) and subsequent detection of rifampicin resistance in adults and children. <p>Rifampicin is a standardized drug that is used to treat Tuberculosis. </p><p>In a joint statement, the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), Molbio Diagnostics and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said the WHO has now endorsed three of their rapid molecular Truenat TM assays for initial diagnosis of TB and subsequent detection of rifampicin resistance in adults and children. </p><p> "Both Truenat MTB and Truenat MTB Plus detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria for TB diagnosis, while Truenat MTB-RIF Dx identifies resistance to rifampicin, the most commonly used first-line treatment. </p><p>"All three tests are run on the portable, battery-operated Truenat device and provide results in less than an hour," they said in a statement. </p><p>Noting that TB remains the leading cause of death from an infectious disease worldwide, with around 10 million cases and 1.5 million deaths in 2018, they said drug-resistant TB poses a particular challenge, with growing resistance to rifampicin and other drugs that treat the disease. </p><p>"In 2018, around half-a-million new cases of rifampicin resistant TB were diagnosed. Urgent action is needed to close the gap in TB diagnosis and treatment, particularly in low-resource settings, to reach the WHO target of ending TB by 2030," the statement said. </p><p>To that end, bringing sensitive TB diagnosis and drug susceptibility testing closer to patients is a key priority for global TB control, but requires robust point-of-care diagnostic tests that are easily implementable at lower levels of the healthcare system, it said. </p><p>"This is a matter of pride for ICMR, Department of Health Research (DHR), New Delhi. It was a long journey to advance indigenous diagnostic technologies for diagnosis of TB and MDR/XDR-TB. Truenatis already accepted for use under the NTEP in India. </p>"Endorsement of Truenat by WHO will enable other low-and middle-income countries to procure Truenat for diagnosis of TB and rifampicin resistance, thus supporting TB elimination in developing countries," the statement quoting Balram Bhargava, Secretary DHR and Director General - ICMR said. UZM TDS TDS

WHO endorses Truenat tests by ICMR, 2 others for TB diagnosis, rifampicin resistance detection

Patna, Jun 21 () A sophisticated COVID-19 testing machine has been installed by the ICMR at the Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences (RMRIMS) here for carrying out faster testing of samples. <p>The COBAS 6800 machine, capable of conducting up to 1,500 tests per day, would help ramp up testing facility in Patna, a top official of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said in a press release. </p><p>The machine, enabled with robotics, minimises the chance of contamination as well as the risk of infection to healthcare workers since it can be operated remotely with limited human intervention. </p><p>"This is the first facility of its kind in Bihar and will help in capacity building of COVID-19 diagnostic laboratory in the institute," Prof Balram Bhargava, Director General, ICMR, said in the release. </p><p>The move will help increase the testing capacity in Bihar, which needs testing in high numbers as migrants are coming to the state from different parts of the country, said Bhargava. </p><p>At present the RMRIMS is testing around 2,000 samples per day with the help of 4 RT-PCR machines, with 25 people working 24 x 7 in three shifts. </p><p>After the COVID-19 spread is controlled, the machine can also be used to detect other pathogens such as viral hepatitis B and C, HIV, mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), cytomegalovirus (CMV), chlamydia, neisseria and dengue, the release said. </p>The RMRIMS, so far, has tested close to 65,000 samples. AR MM MM

ICMR installs sophisticated COVID-19 testing machine to ramp up tests in Patna

London, Jun 24 () The COVID-19 pandemic may lead to 95,000 additional tuberculosis (TB) related deaths in India over the next five years, due to disruptions to health services, and delays in diagnosis and treatment, according to a study published on Wednesday. <p> The modelling study, published in the European Respiratory Journal, found that the COVID-19 pandemic could significantly increase the global burden of TB. </p><p> It estimates at least 110,000 additional deaths from TB in India, China, and South Africa unless health services maintained and strengthened. </p><p> The researchers from the London School of Hygiene &amp; Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Lancaster University in the UK noted that before COVID-19 outbreak, over 4,000 people were dying from TB every day. </p><p> They estimated additional TB deaths and cases in China, India and South Africa over the next five years by examining the impact of various reductions in social contacts and on health services due to COVID-19. </p><p> They hypothesised that social distancing might reduce TB incidence as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria which causes the disease, is transmitted via droplets in the air -- similar to the coronavirus. </p><p> However, even after taking into account this potential reduced TB transmission, the most likely scenario was estimated to result in more than 110,000 additional TB deaths, according to the researchers. </p><p> In the worst case scenario where the impact of COVID-19 on health services is severe, this number could rise to up to 200,000 additional deaths, they said. </p><p> The most probable scenario, based on the current information and distancing measures, suggests 6,000 additional deaths could occur in China, 95,000 in India and 13,000 in South Africa, according to the researchers. </p><p> "There is concern that the COVID-19 pandemic is resulting in decreased TB clinic attendance, delayed diagnosis and treatment," said study first author Finn McQuaid, Assistant Professor in Infectious Disease Epidemiology at LSHTM. </p><p> "This is especially so in low- and middle-income countries where health services, or access to them, might be substantially disrupted," McQuaid said. </p><p> He noted that early anecdotal information from India, China, and South Africa suggests that the number of people being diagnosed and treated for TB has fallen significantly. </p><p> The team measured the effect of these factors on TB incidence and deaths in these three countries which make up about 40 per cent of the global TB cases. </p><p> The researchers modelled different scenarios with various implementations of social distancing measures and health service disruption lasting for six months to estimate the impact of COVID-19 on global TB burden. </p><p> They found that if there is substantial health service disruption, such as a 50 per cent reduction in TB cases detected and successfully treated, there would be an increase in both incidence and deaths from TB over the subsequent five years, regardless of the level of social contact. </p><p> However, if social distancing measures are minimal and there is substantial health care disruption -- based on 80 per cent reduction in case detection and treatment success -- the model predicts an 8-14 per cent increase in cumulative deaths from TB over the next five years. </p><p> "We need to act now to ensure innovative approaches to people-centric TB care are the focus, so that the fight to end this pandemic does not overwrite the hard-won gains made against this disease," McQuaid explained. </p> "Given that health service disruption far outweighs the benefit of social distancing, it is crucial to maintain and strengthen TB-related health services during, and after, COVID-19," he said. SAR SAR

COVID-19 pandemic may lead to 95,000 additional TB deaths in India: Study

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6369335" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="antibiotic">Antibiotic</keyword> resistance happens when bacteria develop a defense against one, or multiple antibiotic drugs.</li><li>Antibiotic resistance is dangerous because it can make infections, like UTIs, harder to treat.</li><li>The overuse of antibiotic drugs in agriculture and medicine has is the main cause of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.</li><li>T<strong>his article <a href="https://www.insider.com/insider-medical-review-board" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">was medically reviewed</a> by <a href="https://nyulangone.org/doctors/1598924243/tania-mucci-elliott" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Tania Elliott</a>, MD, who specializes in infectious diseases related to allergies and immunology for internal medicine at <a href="https://nyulangone.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">NYU Langone Health</a>.</strong></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/health-reference" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Insider's Health Reference library for more advice.</a></li></ul><p>In 1942, a patient named Anne Miller made medical history. She was on the brink of death from a bacterial infection in her blood, called septicemia, when doctors treated her with a new drug, penicillin.</p><p>Penicillin is the world's first mass-produced antibiotic drug, and Miller's life was the first of many it has saved. It's not an understatement to say that mass-produced antibiotics are one of the greatest life-saving developments in human history.</p><p>However, Alexander Fleming, the scientist who <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1945/fleming/biographical/">discovered penicillin</a> in a moldy Petri dish in 1928, quickly recognized that the drug may spawn a catastrophic problem — antibiotic resistance.</p><h2><strong>What is antibiotic resistance?</strong> </h2><p>Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria evolve defense mechanisms against one, or multiple, types of antibiotics. Bacteria are simple organisms that generally reproduce every few hours, and therefore can quickly adapt and mutate. </p><p>So, when an antibiotic doesn't eliminate 100% of bacteria from an infection, the remaining survivors may evolve protective genes against the drug. They can then pass these genes on during reproduction. But they can also pass the genes amongst each other through a process called <a href="https://www.niaid.nih.gov/research/antimicrobial-resistance-causes">horizontal gene transfer</a>. </p><p>Bacteria have had <a href="https://mmbr.asm.org/content/74/3/417#sec-17">hundreds of millions</a> of years to evolve ways to deal with naturally occurring antibiotics. "We discovered antibiotics, but we did not invent antibiotics," said <a href="https://molecularbiosciences.ku.edu/joanna-slusky">Joanna Slusky</a>, a molecular biologist at the University of Kansas. In her research, she looks for ways to disable drug resistance in cells so existing antibiotics can still work. </p><p>As soon as most antibiotics were introduced, scientists discovered bacteria resistant to those drugs almost immediately. For example, the antibiotic methicillin and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Methicillin was introduced in 1960, and resistance was <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378521/">detected in 1962</a>. This is not unique: There are bacterial pathogens that are resistant to nearly every single antibiotic in existence.</p><p>Well-known pathogens like Mycobacterium tuberculosis — the bacteria that cause the disease tuberculosis — are now resistant to many antibiotics commonly used to treat it. As a result, this has led to a more deadly, albeit rare, form of the disease <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/factsheets/drtb/xdrtb.htm">called extensively drug-resistant TB</a>. </p><p>Between 1993 and 2011, there were 63 cases of extensively drug-resistant TB in the US. But there is another specific drug-resistant bacteria responsible for almost 13,000 deaths a year: Clostridium difficile. </p><p>This bacteria, commonly known as C. diff, causes life-threatening intestinal issues and is one of five pathogens classified as an "<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/pdf/threats-report/2019-ar-threats-report-508.pdf">urgent threat</a>" by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, this pathogen alone was responsible for an estimated $1 billion in healthcare costs in 2017.</p><h2><strong>Why is antibiotic resistance a problem?</strong> </h2><p>Even though deaths related to antibiotic resistance have decreased over the past decade, according to the CDC, it remains one of the most significant public <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> issues in the US and beyond. In the US, over 2.8 million people are infected with antibiotic-resistant pathogens each year and over 35,000 people die from these infections. </p><p>Unlike the novel coronavirus pandemic, which struck suddenly and unexpectedly, antibiotic resistance has been a growing problem for decades. In a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/pdf/threats-report/2019-ar-threats-report-508.pdf">2019 report</a> on antibiotic resistance, CDC director Robert Redfield plainly states: "Stop referring to a coming post-antibiotic era — it's already here."</p><p>Antibiotic resistance is not only deadly, it also makes common infections, like UTIs, harder to treat. "E. coli causes 80% to 90% of urinary tract infections, so we are seeing more antibiotic-resistant E. coli causing simple UTIs," says <a href="https://www.pharmacy.umn.edu/bio/pharmacy-faculty-a-z/elizabeth-hirsch">Elizabeth Hirsch</a>.</p><p>Hirsch is an experimental and clinical pharmacologist at the University of Minnesota who runs a lab that studies mult-drug resistant Gram negative pathogens, like E. coli. Gram negative bacteria have an outer cell membrane that makes it difficult for antibiotics to penetrate, says Hirsch. </p><p>Now that E. coli is no longer susceptible to many commonly-prescribed antibiotics, healthcare providers may need to take extra steps toward prescribing the right antibiotic. In the past, a healthcare provider would prescribe an antibiotic for UTI without culturing the bacteria in the urine, she said. Now, they may want to find out the specific bacteria causing the infection so they can be sure the prescribed drug will be effective.</p><p>It's not just simple infections — surgeries and other invasive procedures that increase a person's risk of infection could reach a tipping point. According to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/hai/eip/antibiotic-use.html">CDC</a>, a growing number of healthcare-associated infections are caused by antibiotic resistant pathogens.</p><p>"Hospitals will be much scarier places. You might get infections that can't be treated," Slusky said. Deaths from antibiotic-resistant infections in hospitals have decreased according to the CDC, but healthcare settings still need to take rigorous measures to make sure the problem does not overwhelm hospitals in the future.</p><h2>What causes antibiotic resistance?</h2><p>The overuse of antibiotics is what causes antibiotic resistance. From hospitals to agricultural fields, entire industries need to reconsider how they use antibiotics to curb the proliferation and creation of resistant bacteria. </p><p>In 2014, <a href="https://nam.edu/antibiotic-resistance-in-humans-and-animals/">17,000 tons</a> of antibiotics were used in US agriculture, alone, which was 80% of total antibiotic use in the country. While these antibiotics are given to livestock, experts say this impacts humans because drug-resistant bacteria spillover into waterways and soil, and also infect those who work on farms. Slusky put it plainly: "More antibiotics that are out there means there are more opportunities for bacteria to develop resistance."</p><p>People also need to stop using antibiotics to treat viruses and other conditions — antibiotics only help on bacterial infections. The CDC estimates that in up to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/antibiotic-use/community/programs-measurement/measuring-antibiotic-prescribing.html">50%</a> of cases where antibiotics are prescribed unnecessarily. </p><p>Just in the ICU alone, studies show 30% to 60% of antibiotics prescribed are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4281952/">"unnecessary, inappropriate, or suboptimal."</a> In some states, the number of antibiotic prescriptions per year averages out to more than one prescription <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/antibiotic-use/community/programs-measurement/state-local-activities/outpatient-antibiotic-prescriptions-US-2017.html">per person</a>. </p><h2>The future</h2><p>Countries in Europe are taking action against antibiotic resistance through the <a href="https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/about-us/partnerships-and-networks/disease-and-laboratory-networks/ears-net">European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network</a>. The program has been tracking antibiotic use for the past 20 years in countries throughout Europe, and allows epidemiologists to examine trends in antibiotic use to better understand the scope of the problem. The US has no such surveillance system for antibiotics.</p><p>As for developing new antibiotics to take the place of old ones that are no longer effective — that prospect is grim. There are not many new antibiotics on the horizon. Most classes of antibiotics were introduced <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2095020/">before 1970</a>, and there is not much of a financial incentive for pharmaceutical companies to invest in new drugs that are meant to be used sparingly to reduce the evolution of <a href="https://wellcome.ac.uk/news/why-is-it-so-hard-develop-new-antibiotics">resistance</a>. </p><p>There are<a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2020/04/tracking-the-global-pipeline-of-antibiotics-in-development"> 41 antibiotic drugs</a> in various stages testing and development, and over 95% of them are being studied by <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2020/04/tracking-the-global-pipeline-of-antibiotics-in-development">small pharmaceutical companies</a>. According to the <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/330420/9789240000193-eng.pdf">World Health Organization</a>, there are not enough drugs in development to deal with the spread of antibiotic resistance. </p><p>Researchers are turning towards solutions that don't involve new antibiotics — but rather use existing drugs in new ways. Hirsch said that in serious cases, doctors may try a specific combination of antibiotics instead of a single drug. </p><p>In Slusky's lab, they design proteins that can disable antibiotic resistance by targeting what are called efflux pumps embedded in a bacterium's cell membrane. These pumps do exactly that: they <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3879458/">pump out</a> harmful invaders — like from an antibiotic drug — before the drug can take effect. So, if researchers can develop a molecule that inhibits these pumps, then the antibiotic can enter and kill the pathogen. </p><p>Slusky says that this is an ongoing area of research, but hopes it's not insurmountable. "Their superpower is that they can evolve super quickly but our superpower is that we can come up with ways to stop them."</p><h2>Related articles from our <a href="https://www.insider.com/health-reference" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Health Reference</a> library:</h2><ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.insider.com/how-antibiotics-work">Antibiotics treat infections by either killing or sterilizing bacteria</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.insider.com/can-you-take-probiotics-with-antibiotics">Can you take probiotics with antibiotics? Yes, here's why some doctors recommend it</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.insider.com/does-hand-sanitizer-expire">Hand sanitizer does expire — here's whether it's still worth using</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.insider.com/how-to-make-hand-sanitizer-at-home">How to make your own hand sanitizer at home — and whether it can be effective</a></strong></li></ul>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.insider.com/what-is-antibiotic-resistance">Insider</a>

Antibiotic resistance is a dangerous consequence of our tendency to overuse drugs

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5390ca4eeab8eabf3f6ba573-1200-900/bi_sciencegraphics_pills-01.jpg" border="0" alt="Pill bottle with pills and medicine spilling out of it"><p class="source"><span>Skye Gould/Business Insider</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>As far as medical technology goes, there's never been a better time to be alive than the present.</p><p>Before antibiotics were discovered, diseases caused by bacteria (like tuberculosis, diphtheria, pneumonia, and various infections) <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4829a1.htm">were the leading causes of death in America.</a></p><p>What if all those people who died had somehow been able to benefit from our modern technology?</p><p>Today, some people are <a href="http://cryogenics.nist.gov/AboutCryogenics/about%20cryogenics.htm">freezing their bodies or heads at death</a> in hopes of future cures for what ails them. Their goal is to be revived and cured. While several companies will take your money to freeze your body or head, there isn't solid <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> showing that this will work.</p><p>We know it's even crazier to think that we could have successfully cryogenically frozen people in the past, when medical technology was far behind what we have today, but let's have a little fun, shall we?</p><p>Here are seven historic people (of thousands - likely millions) who died of things we could treat today, theoretically, if we had their thawed, freshly-dead and somehow rejuvenated bodies to work with:</p><h2>Jane Austen</h2><p>Jane Austen, that beloved author of "Pride and Prejudice" and five other novels, <a href="http://www.jasna.org/info/about_austen.html">died in 1817</a> at the age of 41. She'd been ill for quite a while, according to letters she sent in the last year of her life. Sir Zachary Cope was the <a href="http://www.orchard-gate.com/bmj.htm">first to diagnose Austen</a> with Addison's disease, in a 1964 article in the British Medical Journal. Interpreting the weakness, back pain, stomach upset, faintness, and skin discoloration Austen described in her letters (and symptoms she didn't mention), Cope thought Addison's disease was probably what killed her.</p><p>In people with <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/addisons-disease/basics/definition/con-20021340">Addison's disease</a>, the adrenal glands don't produce enough of the hormones cortisol and aldosterone. These hormones help coordinate metabolism and blood pressure to keep the body running smoothly. When there's not enough of them in the body, people with Addison's suffer from weak and painful muscles, blood pressure low enough to faint, discolored skin, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. If the hormone levels get low enough, it <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/addisons-disease/basics/treatment/con-20021340">can trigger a life-threatening "addisonian crisis"</a> as blood pressure and blood sugar drop, which may have been what happened to Austen.</p><p>If she did indeed die in an addisonian crisis, today doctors would treat Austen with an IV of hydrocortisone, saline, and sugar to bring her back, then she'd have to keep taking the hormones her adrenal glands weren't producing. Perhaps she would be able to <a href="http://www.jasna.org/info/about_austen.html">finish a seventh novel</a>, "Sanditon," that she'd started but didn't finish before she died. We'll never know how that one ends.</p><h2>Vivien Leigh</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/4f7744e9eab8ead41900004a-400-300/gone-with-the-wind.jpg" border="0" alt="gone with the wind"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1514060032/tt0031381">www.imdb.com</a></span></p><p class="caption">Vivien Leigh with Clark Gable as Rhett Butler in "Gone with the Wind."</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Vivien Leigh is perhaps best known for her Oscar-winning performance as Scarlett O'Hara opposite Clark Gable as Rhett Butler in "Gone with the Wind."</p><p>Before she <a href="http://life.time.com/culture/vivien-leigh-on-her-100th-birthday-portraits-of-a-movie-legend/#1">died of tuberculosis</a> in 1967 at age 53, she'd had the disease for several years. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is <a href="http://report.nih.gov/nihfactsheets/ViewFactSheet.aspx?csid=31">to blame for tuberculosis' symptoms</a>: fever, a flushed complexion, and a dry, persistent cough that brings up blood.</p><p>Though drug-resistant tuberculosis is a concern today, it's likely Leigh's historical case could be treated with antibiotics, if we were able to bring her back.</p><p>Before Leigh's time,<a href="http://www.cmnewsletter.com/article/S0196-4399(09)00048-8/fulltext">tuberculosis also did in Emily Bronte</a>, Edgar Allen Poe, Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, and John Keats. It's not that the disease was especially popular among authors in the 19th century, it was just that common for everyone. Thanks to effective antibiotics and changes in living conditions, deaths from tuberculosis have <a href="http://report.nih.gov/nihfactsheets/ViewFactSheet.aspx?csid=31">gone down steadily</a> since the beginning of the 20th century.</p><h2>James Garfield</h2><p>America's 20th president didn't even hold the office a full year before he was <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/jamesgarfield">assassinated in 1881</a>. But it wasn't really the assassin's bullet that killed him - it was the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/books/review/destiny-of-the-republic-by-candice-millard-book-review.html?_r=0">doctors who didn't wash their hands</a> or instruments before they tried to remove the bullet from his back. Garfield's wound became infected, and he hung around 11 excruciating weeks before dying. It's more a change in medical practice to sterilize wounds and medical tools with antiseptics (which were around at the time) than an actual technological advance that could've saved Garfield. Still, he'd have a better shot today with modern antibiotics.</p><p>Though Garfield's case is one-of-a-kind, he's not too different from the thousands of <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0891552004000236">Civil War soldiers who died from wound infections</a>. Antibiotics, antiseptics, and sterile operating and examining procedures would have saved a lot of lives.</p><h2>Prince Leopold</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/51ee8dce69bedd8136000000-1200-1715/queen victoria i.jpg" border="0" alt="Queen Victoria I"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Queen_Victoria_by_Bassano.jpg">upload.wikimedia.org</a></span></p><p class="caption">Queen Victoria.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Hemophilia <a href="https://www.hemophilia.org/Bleeding-Disorders/History-of-Bleeding-Disorders">ran in the genes of Europe's royal families</a> in the 19th and 20th centuries, likely because Queen Victoria of England was a carrier, had many children, and in those days royals had a tradition of marrying other royals. Her own son, Prince Leopold, had the disease, meaning his blood <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hemophilia/basics/definition/con-20029824">lacked the proteins to make it clot</a> after a cut. He <a href="https://www.hemophilia.org/Bleeding-Disorders/History-of-Bleeding-Disorders">died</a> in 1884, age 30, after a fall that caused him to bleed heavily.</p><p>We don't have a cure for hemophilia today, but we know <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hemophilia/basics/treatment/con-20029824">how to treat</a> it. Prince Leopold could get regular treatment that would help his blood clot, and he could get an emergency dose of clotting factors if he started bleeding profusely. He would have a much better chance of making it past 30.</p><h2>Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky</h2><p>Though there's controversy surrounding the death of the composer who brought us "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker," <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/tchaikovsky/atoz/tchaik_d_death.shtml">cholera is most likely what killed Tchaikovsky</a>. He probably got cholera from drinking water or eating food with Vibrio cholerae, the bacteria <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/cholera/general/index.html">responsible for the disease</a>, in it. Tchaikovsky reportedly took ill the evening of October 20, 1893, and was diagnosed with cholera the next day. His symptoms might have included diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps before dying of kidney failure as a complication of all the body fluids lost.</p><p>Today, cholera is treated primarily by drinking or getting an IV (if it's an emergency) of a solution of salts, sugars, and water to <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/cholera/general/index.html">replace the lost </a><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/cholera/general/index.html">bodily fluids and electrolytes</a>. Antibiotics would have also helped Tchaikovsky, if they had existed. But if he was actually killed by poisoning, as some <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/tchaikovsky/atoz/tchaik_d_death.shtml">conspiracy theories suggest</a>, all bets are off.</p><h2>René Descartes</h2><p>You probably know at least one thing Descartes said: "I think, therefore I am." The famous philosopher <a href="http://www.egs.edu/library/rene-descartes/biography/">died in 1650 of pneumonia</a>, apparently contracted as his health declined from living in Sweden's harsh climate and getting up at 5 a.m. to tutor the queen in philosophy.</p><p>We can't know whether it was bacteria, a virus, or a fungus that infected Descartes's lungs to <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pneumonia/basics/definition/con-20020032">make them fill up with fluid</a> so he couldn't breathe, but if was bacteria, <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pneumonia/basics/treatment/con-20020032">antibiotics could have helped</a> him. While pneumonia is still a concern today, especially for people over 65, we have a lot more resources to treat it than the likes of Charlemagne, Robert E. Lee, Victor Hugo, and Benjamin Franklin had when <a href="http://www.cmnewsletter.com/article/S0196-4399(09)00048-8/fulltext">they died</a> of it long ago.</p><h2>Wilbur Wright</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table Full"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/4feb14816bb3f77926000003-1200-750/206311main_wright_brothers_full.jpg" border="0" alt="wright brothers first flight famous photo"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_976.html">Nasa</a></span></p><p class="caption">The Wright brothers, </p></img></div><p></p></div></div>One of first men to fly <a href="http://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/wright-brothers/online/age/1914/typhoid.cfm">died</a> from a very common cause for his time: typhoid fever. <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/divisions/dfbmd/diseases/typhoid_fever/">Infection with the bacteria S</a><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/divisions/dfbmd/diseases/typhoid_fever/">almonella Typhi</a> not only causes the fever the disease is named for, but also weakness, stomach pains, headache, and a rash. Wilbur Wright was 45 when he died in 1912, but today doctors could treat him with antibiotics and he'd probably recover.</p><p>While we're dreaming big, let's also consider the 27,058 Union soldiers who <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0891552004000236">died of typhoid fever</a> during the Civil War, about 36% of all the Union soldiers diagnosed with the disease. Two thirds of the soldiers who died in the Civil War died from disease, not battle wounds. We'd be able to treat them much more effectively today.</p><p>All that's not to say no one dies of any of these diseases anymore, unfortunately.</p><p>The <a href="http://report.nih.gov/nihfactsheets/ViewFactSheet.aspx?csid=31">WHO reported</a> 1.8 million deaths from tuberculosis in 2008, making it one of the leading causes of death in the world. People with HIV are more vulnerable to infection by tuberculosis, and antibiotic-resistant strains of the bacteria responsible for the disease are increasingly problematic.</p><p>Really, antibiotic-resistant <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/antibiotic-resistant-superbugs-are-causing-bacterial-infections-2014-12">bacteria are a terrifying prospect</a> across the board. But at this moment in time, we should definitely appreciate how far we've come in the past century, and look forward to making a longer list in another 100 years.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-famous-youtube-superstar-bethany-mota-2015-1">This is what it takes to get famous on YouTube</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="F2YjZjcjqQw8BFVT6EJbzBGqNpt3nvOa" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'F2YjZjcjqQw8BFVT6EJbzBGqNpt3nvOa',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

7 famous people who should have been cryogenically frozen when they died

<p><span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><span><span data-post-image="" class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54adc8e26da8114e67c7df73-1200-924/tuberculosis-bacteria-4.jpg" border="0" alt="tuberculosis bacteria"><span class="source"><span><a href="http://phil.cdc.gov">CDC</a></span></span><span class="caption">Rod-shaped Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria.</span></img></span><p></p></span></span>Scientists have discovered a new antibiotic, teixobactin, that can kill serious infections in mice without encountering any detectable resistance, offering a potential new way to get ahead of dangerous evolving superbugs.&#xa0;</p>
<p>The new antibiotic was discovered in a sample of soil.</p>
<p>The research is "ingenious," Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/health/from-a-pile-of-dirt-hope-for-a-powerful-new-antibiotic.html">told The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>Researchers said the antibiotic, which has yet to be tested in humans, could one day be used to treat drug-resistant infections caused by the superbug MSRA, as well as tuberculosis, which normally requires a combination of drugs that can have adverse side effects.</p>
<p>Antibiotic-resistant infections <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/superbugs-will-kill-10-million-a-year-by-2050-2015-1">already kill 700,000 people each year</a>, with those numbers expected to rise.</p>
<p>"The discovery of this novel compound challenges long-held scientific beliefs and holds great promise for treating an array of menacing infections," said Kim Lewis, a professor at Northeastern University and co-founder of the NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals, which has patented teixobactin.</p>
<p><span>Still, experts urged caution. <span>Though the researchers said they didn't see signs of poisoning in the mice treated with teixobactin, a</span><span>ntibiotics that show promise in mice are often toxic to humans.&#xa0;</span></span></p>
<p><span>"I</span><span>t's at the test-tube and the mouse level, and mice are not men or women,"&#xa0;Schaffner <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/health/from-a-pile-of-dirt-hope-for-a-powerful-new-antibiotic.html">told The Times</a>.&#xa0;"Moving beyond that is a large step, and many compounds have failed."&#xa0;</span></p>
<h3>A New Kind Of Antibiotic</h3>
<p><span>Lewis worked with researchers at Germany's University of Bonn and with Britain's Selcia Limited, and the finding was published in the journal&#xa0;</span><span></span><a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature14098.html">Nature</a><span>&#xa0;on Wednesday.</span></p>
<p>His co-researcher, Bonn's Tanya Schneider, explained in a teleconference that teixobactin belongs to a new class of compounds and kills bacteria by causing their cell walls to break down. It seems to work by binding to multiple targets, she said, which may slow down the development of resistance. (Lewis estimated that it would take target bacteria 30 years or more to develop resistance to teixobactin, though that timeframe likely depends on how widely the drug is prescribed if it ends up on the market.)</p>
<p>The problem of infections developing drug resistance - a feature of medicine since Alexander Fleming's discovery of the first antibiotic, penicillin, in 1928 - has worsened in recent years as multi-drug-resistant bugs have developed and drug companies have cut investment.</p>
<p>The World Health Organization warned last year that a post-antibiotic era, where even basic healthcare becomes dangerous due to risk of infection during routine operations, could come this century unless something drastic is done.</p>
<h3>More Where This Came From?</h3>
<p>Lewis and his NovoBiotic colleagues sought to address the problem by tapping into new potential sources of antibiotics.</p>
<p>"The new research is based on the premise that everything on earth - plants, soil, people, animals - is teeming with microbes that compete fiercely to survive," Denise Grady <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/health/from-a-pile-of-dirt-hope-for-a-powerful-new-antibiotic.html">explained in The Times</a>. "Trying to keep one another in check, the microbes secrete biological weapons: antibiotics."</p>
<p>The team behind the new discovery developed a way of growing such microbes in their natural environment using a miniature device called an iChip that can isolate and help grow single cells.</p>
<p>Researchers have had trouble growing most bacteria outside of their natural environment, which makes it hard to study potential new antibiotics. The iChip, which bring the natural environment into the lab, may end up being a more important innovation than teixobactin itself.</p>
<p>"The method has the potential to be truly transformative, giving us access to a much greater diversity of environmental bacteria than previously imagined,"&#xa0;Gautam Dantas, a Washington University&#xa0;scientist who specializes in antibiotic resistance,&#xa0;<a href="http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2015/01/07/antibiotic-resistance-teixobactin/">told science writer Ed Yong</a>.</p>
<p>The development of the iChip method means that Lewis and his team are well-positioned to discover even more good candidates for future antibiotics. "Teixobactin is a fish; the iChip is the rod," <a href="http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2015/01/07/antibiotic-resistance-teixobactin/">Yong explained</a>. "Having the rod guarantees that we'll get more fish - and we desperately need more."</p>
<p>NovoBiotic has so far collected about 50,000 strains of uncultured bacteria and discovered 25 new antibiotics, of which teixobactin is the latest and most interesting, Lewis said. "The rule of thumb in antibiotic discovery is if you have 50 good leads, from those you will get one drug," Lewis explained. "That's just the reality."</p>
<p>One recent discovery, for example, proved to be too toxic to be used as an antibiotic, and is now being tested as a potential anticancer agent.</p>
<h3>Proceed With Caution</h3>
<p>Scientists not involved in the work welcomed the finding, but cautioned that human trials of teixobactin would be key.</p>
<p>"The discovery of a potential new class of antibiotics is good news," said Richard Seabrook of Britain's Wellcome Trust medical charity. "Screening previously unculturable soil bacteria is a new twist in the search ... and it is encouraging to see this approach yielding results. However, we will not know whether teixobactin will be effective in humans until this research is taken ... to clinical trials."</p>
<p>Lewis hopes to begin those trials in about two years, and noted that even though the research has not been especially costly so far, they will need significant funding to bring the drug to market.</p>
<p>Even if all goes perfectly - and researchers could still discover problems that halt development - teixobactin won't be available in hospitals for at least five years. It will be more expensive than generic antibiotics, and would likely take the form of an injection, not a pill.&#xa0;<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">(Reuters by Kate Kelland; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)</span></p>

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