News • Assessing infection risk
Predicting neonatal sepsis with vaginal microbial swabs
A new study shows that analyzing bacteria from vaginal swab samples taken at delivery could help predict the risk of neonatal sepsis.
Search for: "Escherichia coli" - 57 articles found
News • Plasmid-specific ecological adaptation
How antimicrobial resistance spreads from gut bacteria to hospital superbugs
Researchers have uncovered how a high-risk class of genetic vectors can efficiently spread antibiotic resistance within the gut, enabling even highly virulent bacteria to acquire drug resistance.
News • When good bacteria fight back
Klebsiella strain to protect against IBD gut infections
New research shows that a harmless strain of Klebsiella – discovered by chance in laboratory experiments – can eliminate infections and reduce gut inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
News • Research into immunocompetence
Early infection defense mechanism discovered in embryos
New research shows how embryos can protect themselves from bacterial infections even before forming their immune system. The findings could provide new insights into the origin of immunity.
News • Healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use
HAI: study reveals serious gaps in infection prevention and control
Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are a threat to residents of long-term care facilities in Europe. A new study points to serious gaps in infection prevention and control measures.
News • Exploring the role of colibactin
Research links bacterial toxin to colorectal cancer
The incidence of colorectal cancer in young adults has doubled over the last 20 years, with no known reason. Now, a new study links this mysterious trend to childhood exposure to a bacterial toxin.
News • Tackling bacterial infections
Personalised phage therapy as alternative to antibiotics
The current rise in antibiotic resistance is once again sparking interest in phage therapy. Now, scientists developed a new tool that recommends the best possible phage cocktail for a given patient.
News • Emergence of E. coli
Studies reveal circulation of multidrug-resistant Enterobacterales in Europe
Two studies indicate warning signs about spread of bacteria resistant to the same group of antibiotics (carbapenems) in both healthcare and community settings across Europe.
News • Hidden habitat for Listeria, E. coli and more
Microplastics help pathogens survive wastewater treatment
Wastewater treatment fails to kill several human pathogens, such as Listeria or E. coli, when they hide out on microplastics in the water, according to a new study.
News • Antibiotic resistance control
Better tracking of AMR hospital bacteria
Infections caused by antibiotic-resistant (AMR) bacteria are a major issue in hospitals. A new technique aims to effectively track all types of relevant microorganisms simultaneously.
News • Infection control
Study highlights transmission risk of resistant bacteria in hospital sinks
A new study identifies hospital sinks as a source of bacterial outbreaks, highlighting the vulnerability for contamination. The researchers also point out the difficulties in stopping such outbreaks.
News • Trends for different bloodstream infections
AMR: age and sex identified as risk factors
A person’s age, sex and location are correlated with the chance that they have a bloodstream infection that is resistant to antibiotics, according to a new study.
News • Persistence of K. pneumoniae and E. coli
Exploring long-time colonization with resistant enterobacteria
Once a patient’s body has been colonized by resistant bacteria, they can persist for a long time, a new study by the University and University Hospital of Basel shows.
News • Research on resistant bacteria
Emergence of 'superbugs' is not just because of antibiotics
Researchers have analysed the rise of antibiotic resistance over the last 20 years in the UK and Norway, highlighting that antibiotic use is not the only factor in the increase.
News • Susceptibility detection in Escherichia coli
How AI can detect antibiotic resistance in 30 minutes
A new deep-learning approach to AMR testing has been shown to detect antimicrobial susceptibility within as little as 30 minutes - significantly faster than current gold-standard approaches.
News • Model organisms evolved too far
How lab bacteria became 'estranged' from their real-life counterparts
A model organism used in laboratories for the past 100 years has evolved so extensively that it may no longer be fit for purpose, according to a new study on bacterial strain Escherichia coli K-12.
News • Unexpected reactivation
BYOB (Bring your own bacteria) as cause of hospital infections?
Some hospitalized patients’ infections may develop from their own bacteria, new research results suggest. The study in mice indicates that medical interventions can awaken dormant, hidden bacteria.
News • Driving genes of AMR in focus
Tracking the global spread of antimicrobial resistance
An international research team has provided valuable new information about what drives the global spread of genes responsible for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacteria.
News • Live bacterial therapeutics
Engineering the microbiome to potentially cure disease
Development of effective live bacterial therapeutics may depend more on using and re-introducing native microbes that can stick around than how the microbes are modified.
News • Greenhouse gas emissions
How climate change impacts human pathogenic diseases
A comprehensive assessment of scientific literature has uncovered empirical evidence that more than 58% of human diseases caused by pathogens, such as dengue, hepatitis, pneumonia, malaria, Zika, have been aggravated by climatic hazards.
News • Model to predict efficacy
Phage therapy: a viable alternative to antibiotics?
Bacteriophages – viruses that kill bacteria – could be a solution for fighting antibiotic-resistant pathogens, French researchers have developed a model to better predict their efficacy.
News • Connection between genes and disease severity
E. coli: How does an intestinal germ become a pathogen?
In the human intestine, Escherichia coli is mostly harmless, but in certain conditions causes bladder infections and even sepsis - but why? Researchers went to the bottom of this transformation.
News • Evolution tactics in E.coli
Antibiotic resistance: (Population) size matters
An international team of scientists have shown that small and large bacterial populations follow qualitatively different evolutionary paths to develop antibiotic resistance.
News • COVID and E. coli
Futuristic coating for fabrics kills viruses
Researchers have developed an inexpensive, non-toxic coating for almost any fabric that decreases the infectivity of the virus that causes COVID-19 by up to 90 per cent.
Article • Mending medication mismanagement
Antibiotic resistance: Gaining back lost ground
For many years, antibiotic consumption in France was at an alarming level, resulting in a worryingly constant increase in antibiotic resistance However, a newly-enforced strict national plan appears to be having effect.
News • Microbiology
Using 3D printing technique to create biofilms
Researchers at the University of Rochester, and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands recently developed a 3D printing technique to engineer and study biofilms—three-dimensional communities of microorganisms, such as bacteria, that adhere to surfaces. The research provides important information for creating synthetic materials and in developing drugs to fight the negative effects of…
News • Sharper than ever
High-res image of bacterial bumps gives clues to antibiotic resistance
The sharpest images ever of living bacteria have been recorded by researchers at University College London, revealing the complex architecture of the protective layer that surrounds many bacteria and makes them harder to be killed by antibiotics.
News • Peptide synthesis
Making drug-resistant bacteria sensitive to antibiotics again
Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a synthetic peptide that can make multidrug-resistant bacteria sensitive to antibiotics again when used together with traditional antibiotics, offering hope for the prospect of a combination treatment strategy to tackle certain antibiotic-tolerant infections.
Article • Where are the infectiologists?
‘The hygiene plan is nothing but a fig leaf’
Nosocomial infections cause more deaths than traffic accidents – a stunning discovery made in a recent German study. Worse: infectious diseases long thought eradicated in Europe, such as measles, tuberculosis (TB) and, more recently, syphilis, are also implicated. The increasing number of patients places an additional financial burden on healthcare. But – and this might be the good news –…
News • Survival specialists
Systems biology of antibiotics
Bacteria have fascinating properties. They adapt excellently to their respective environment, and they existed long before humans. Their toughness has led to the fact that bacteria have successfully spread all over the world for three billion years – even in places where humans could not survive, for example in the hottest springs and in the coldest places on earth. However, they were only…
News • Antibiotic resistance
Antibacterial chemicals in consumer products backfire
Grocery store aisles are stocked with products that promise to kill bacteria. People snap up those items to protect themselves from the germs that make them sick. However, new research from Washington University in St. Louis finds that a chemical that is supposed to kill bacteria is actually making them stronger and more capable of surviving antibiotic treatment. The study, available online in…
News • Scientific breakthrough
New accelerated diagnosis of multi-resistant hospital pathogens
A team of researchers at the University of Cologne's Faculty of Medicine and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) use a novel immunochromatographic method to detect bacteria that are resistant to the antibiotic group carbapenemes within 20 to 45 minutes from blood cultures with 100 percent certainty.
News • New data
WHO: High levels of antibiotic resistance found worldwide
WHO’s first release of surveillance data on antibiotic resistance reveals high levels of resistance to a number of serious bacterial infections in both high- and low-income countries. WHO’s new Global Antimicrobial Surveillance System (GLASS) reveals widespread occurrence of antibiotic resistance among 500 000 people with suspected bacterial infections across 22 countries.
Interview • Multiresistant pathogens
'Antibiotics don’t generate large profits'
During our European Hospital interview with specialist in microbiology, virology and infection epidemiology Beniam Ghebremedhin MD, from the University Hospital Wuppertal, spoke about the impact of migration on infections, and ways to tackle the problem of multiresistant pathogens. ‘There is a lack of specialists in infectious diseases, for direct patient care on hospital wards as well as in…
News • Antibiotic resistance
A strain of multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli is on the rise
Antibiotic resistant bacteria lead to infections that are difficult to treat, particularly in hospitals. Multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli bacteria which have developed special enzymes that render antibiotics ineffective frequently cause such infections. DZIF scientists from Gießen University examined these bacteria more precisely and discovered a strain of Escherichia coli that has been…
News • Mutation Study
Influential gene neighbourhood
Genes do not exist in isolation. So far, little has been known about how the position of a gene on a chromosome affects its evolution.
Article • Hygiene guidelines
Hand washing: in hot or cold water?
‘The literature on hand washing, while extensive, often contains conflicting data, and key variables are only superficially studied, or not studied at all. Some hand washing recommendations are made without scientific support, and agreement between recommendations is limited,’ explained Professor Donald W Schaffner at Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA, who has led a team of researchers to…
News • Negative test
Symptoms of cystitis caused by bacterial infection?
The majority of women suffering with pain when urinating, or needing to urinate often or urgently probably do have a bacterial infection, even when nothing is detected by standard urine testing.
Article • Infections
Carbapenem resistant strains
The increasing numbers of bacteria resistant to the newer generations of antibiotics is a public health problem on a global scale. Bacteria have an extraordinary capacity for adaptation, mutating permanently to overcome the action of our increasingly impotent antimicrobial armamentarium. A situation further aggravated by the use of the powerful ‘large spectrum’ antibiotics, creating further…
News • Bacteria
Revolutionary antibiotics will save the world
An international team of including the Lomonosov Moscow State University researchers discovered which enzyme enables Escherichia coli bacterium (E. coli) to breathe.
Article • Resistance
Last resort antibiotic under treat
Data presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases diseases has highlighted how a recently-discovered mechanism could mean one of the last-resort antibiotics is under threat. Evidence put before ECCMID suggested the genetic mechanism allowing bacteria to develop and transfer resistance to colistin has been present in several countries around the world –…
News • mcr-1 gene
Antibiotic resistance mechanism continues to spread
Researchers presented findings on the prevalence of the mcr-1 gene, a transferable genetic mechanism of antimicrobial-resistance to colistin - the last resort antibiotic in a number of circumstances. At a session dedicated to late-breaking abstracts on colistin resistance, researchers presented evidence on the prevalence of the gene in bacteria (including Enterobacteriaceae such as Escherichia…
News • E. coli
Identify most dangerous strains of often-deadly bacteria
A multi-disciplinary group of researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM) have for the first time determined the genetic makeup of various strains of E. coli, which every year kills hundreds of thousands of people around the world.
First full genome of a living organism assembled
Researchers in Canada and the U.K. have for the first time sequenced and assembled de novo the full genome of a living organism, the bacteria Escherichia Coli, using Oxford Nanopore's MinIONTM device, a genome sequencer that can fit in the palm of your hand.
Now available: ESBL-Tool kit for handling beta-lactamase resistant Enterobacteriaceae
Doctor Véronique Mondain from Nice explains the ambitious project she and colleagues have put in place to help combat the rise of these resistant pathogens.
Neurorad 2011 - Europe’s largest gathering of neuroradiologists
neurorad 2011 recently drew over 1,000 German neuroradiologists to Cologne, Germany, making this annual congress the biggest of its kind in Europe, as Professor Olav Jansen, President of the German Society of Neuroradiology, pointed out in his opening speech. Report: Alex Viola
Copper: The relentless killer on our side
Professor Bill Keevil, Director of the Environmental Healthcare Unit at University of Southampton’s School of Biological Sciences, was among the first microbiological researchers to experiment on copper’s efficiency against pathogenic and nonpathogenic strains of E. coli bacteria and demonstrate the inherent anti-microbial property of the metal.
Well organised against EHEC
In late May, a particularly aggressive and new strain of enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) posed an enormous challenge for northern German hospitals. In Hamburg, the focus of the epidemic, more than 1,000 people fell ill, about 180 of them seriously, after getting into contact with the bacterium. Report: Meike Lerner
Healthy gut flora could prevent obesity
Poor gut flora is believed to trigger obesity. In the same way, healthy gut flora could reduce the risk. This has shown to be the case in tests on rats. Daily intake of a lactic acid bacteria, which has been given the name Lactobacillus plantarum HEAL19, appears to be able to prevent obesity and reduce the body’s low-level inflammation.
Insulin without patent protection
A new method to produce insulin cheaply has been developed by researchers at the Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, in a German-Indo collaboration. The group’s results are published in the open access online research magazine Microbial Cell Factories. The data is freely accessible by anyone and is not subject to patent law.
Surgical site infections
Post-operative wound infection occurs after an estimated 17% of surgical operations – sometimes with devastating consequences for the patient. The list of preventive measures is manifold and long. However, one strategy is increasingly moving into the spotlight: the use of antibacterial coated sutures. Ethicon Products is at the cutting edge in this field. Sandra Rasche, head of this Business…
Article • Enzyme extended-spectrum beta-lactimase
ESBL: A greater danger than MRSA?
In hospitals, MRSA is considered Public Enemy Nr 1, and the increase in nosocomial infections, worldwide, has drawn universal attention to this ‘superbug’. However, Staphylococcus aureus is not alone – other pathogens are proving their resistance to antibiotics, in the last decade, gram-negative enterobacteria, which form the enzyme extended-spectrum beta-lactimases (ESBL), have joined the…
New ingredient in paints kills superbugs
Scientists found out that particles of titanium dioxide, which is e.g. contained in the white lines at tennis courts, can kill bacteria and destroy dirt when activated by fluorescent light. Added in paints, the nanotitanium can kill superbugs on all surfaces in hospitals.
News • Nosocomial infections
Study finds stainless steel beats plastic in combating bacteria
Nosocomial infections are all too common in our hospitals. For example, in Germany alone (according to the German Company for Hospital Hygiene - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Krankenhaushygiene), each year 40,000 patients contract bacterial infections, some fatal.
Appendicitis complicated by chickenpox
Surgeons Sergey V Stonogin, specialist in infectious cases, Eugeny V Dvorovenko, Head of Emergency Surgery, and Vladimir A Chaplin, endoscopy specialist - report on results from their study to assess the most effective, safe combination of antibiotics to treat patients with acute appendicitis complicated by chickenpox
Bacteria die on stainless steel
To establish which materials allow pathogens to survived best, micro-organisms such as bacteria living in wet and dry environments, pathogenic fungi and the bacterium Escherichia coli, have been studied during comparative tests undertaken at the Hygiene Institute of the University of Leipzig.
