Download or read book How to Fight Harmful Microbial Bugs and Superbugs written by Alain Fischer and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2021-09-01 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The evolution of human beings has been shaped to a large extent by microbes. A number of microbes are innocuous or even contribute to our health equilibrium. This is the case of bacteria and viral phages present in our gut. However, several bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi are damaging our bodies, causing a number of acute and chronic diseases. Until recently, these bugs represented the main causes of death. Better hygiene, vaccines, antibiotics and other anti-microbial drugs have resulted in a better control or cure of many infections. However, malaria, tuberculosis, and AIDS still represent major threats in several countries and the recent epidemics of Ebola and Zika demonstrate how vulnerable we are to newly emerging viruses. Furthermore, diarrhea and pneumonia caused by bacteria or viruses still kill millions of children worldwide. Most importantly, bacteria resistant to existing antibiotics are multiplying at a high pace and these superbugs are expected to kill more and more people in the coming years. Clearly, we need to develop more effective approaches to tackle bugs and superbugs. Better hygiene and better vaccine coverage must be considered first and education of kids is essential in this respect. This is the main objective of this series of papers published in Frontiers for Young Minds under the heading “How to Fight Harmful Microbial Bugs and Superbugs?”. Another key objective of the collection is to elicit the interest of children for research on innovative anti-microbial therapies and vaccines.
Download or read book Superbugs written by Matt McCarthy and published by Scribe Publications. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drug-resistant bacteria — known as superbugs — are one of the biggest medical threats of our time. Here, a doctor, researcher, and ethics professor tells the exhilarating story of his race to beat them and save countless lives. When doctor Matt McCarthy first meets Jackson, a mechanic from Queens, it is in the ER, where he has come for treatment for an infected gunshot wound. Usually, antibiotics would be prescribed, but Jackson’s infection is one of a growing number of superbugs, bacteria that have built up resistance to known drugs. He only has one option, and if that doesn’t work he may lose his leg or even his life. On the same day, McCarthy and his mentor Tom Walsh begin work on a groundbreaking clinical trial for a new antibiotic they believe will eradicate certain kinds of superbugs and demonstrate to Big Pharma that investment in these drugs can save millions of lives and prove financially viable. But there are countless hoops to jump through before they can begin administering the drug to patients, and for people like Jackson time is in short supply. Superbugs is a compelling tale of medical ingenuity. From the muddy trenches of the First World War, where Alexander Fleming searched for a cure for soldiers with infected wounds, to breakthroughs in antibiotics and antifungals today that could revolutionise how infections are treated, McCarthy takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride through the history — and future — of medicine. Along the way, we meet patients like Remy, a teenage girl with a dangerous and rare infection; Donny, a retired firefighter with a compromised immune system; and Bill, the author’s own father-in-law, who contracts a deadly staph infection. And we learn about the ethics of medical research: why potentially life-saving treatments are often delayed for years to protect patients from exploitation. Can McCarthy get his trial approved and underway in time to save the lives of his countless patients infected with deadly bacteria, who have otherwise lost all hope?
Download or read book Steering Against Superbugs written by Olivier Rubin and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-04-19 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The societal consequences of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are severe. They include declining health outcomes from longer illnesses, prolonged stays in hospital, loss of protection for patients undergoing medical procedures, increased health care expenditure, and increased mortality. They also include declining global food security as AMR damages farm animal health and crop yields. Despite AMR being a transboundary crisis, concerted global initiatives that effectively combat AMR have been few and far between. Steering Against Superbugs analyses ways to reduce barriers and create opportunities for coordination. The expert contributions in this volume offer specific and original insights about what global governance of AMR means, and ways to help solve AMR issues. They show that effective governance relies crucially on pursuing local level implementation of key policies, and equitable recognition of solutions across multiple sectors within countries, and across the Global North and South. With the COVID-19 pandemic, societies across the world have been reminded of the devastating consequences of not being able to effectively counter global health threats. AMR is arguably one of the most severe long-term threats to human, animal, and environmental health. There is momentum for global political action around novel and emerging disease threats and Steering Against Superbugs contributes with original and insightful research to inform ongoing and future debates.
Download or read book Strategies to Overcome Superbug Invasions Emerging Research and Opportunities written by Chopra, Dimple Sethi and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2021-06-25 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recently, there has been an upsurge in microbial infections. Extensive and inappropriate usage of antimicrobial drugs in treating infections has led to the evolution of a resistant strain of microorganisms and irreversible immunosuppression in humans. Medical institutions and hospitals require solutions to combat these contagions in order to avoid future epidemics. Strategies to Overcome Superbug Invasions: Emerging Research and Opportunities highlights current research and potential strategies to prevent the emergence and re-emergence of drug-resistant pathogenic microbial strains. The content within this publication examines biosensing, global initiatives, nanomaterials, and alternative therapies. It is designed for microbiologists, biotechnologists, pharmacists, pharmacologists, virologists, formulation scientists, infectious disease specialists, government officials, policymakers, healthcare practitioners, doctors, nurses, hospital directors, researchers, surgeons, and academicians who are seeking research on innovative solutions for multi-drug-resistant infections.
Download or read book Good Germs Bad Germs written by Jessica Snyder Sachs and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2008-09-30 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Making Peace with Microbes Public sanitation and antibiotic drugs have brought about historic increases in the human life span; they have also unintentionally produced new health crises by disrupting the intimate, age-old balance between humans and the microorganisms that inhabit our bodies and our environment. As a result, antibiotic resistance now ranks among the gravest medical problems of modern times. Good Germs, Bad Germs addresses not only this issue but also what has become known as the "hygiene hypothesis"— an argument that links the over-sanitation of modern life to now-epidemic increases in immune and other disorders. In telling the story of what went terribly wrong in our war on germs, Jessica Snyder Sachs explores our emerging understanding of the symbiotic relationship between the human body and its resident microbes—which outnumber its human cells by a factor of nine to one! The book also offers a hopeful look into a future in which antibiotics will be designed and used more wisely, and beyond that, to a day when we may replace antibacterial drugs and cleansers with bacterial ones—each custom-designed for maximum health benefits.
Download or read book Mechanisms of antibiotic resistance written by Jun Lin and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2015-06-01 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Antibiotics represent one of the most successful forms of therapy in medicine. But the efficiency of antibiotics is compromised by the growing number of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Antibiotic resistance, which is implicated in elevated morbidity and mortality rates as well as in the increased treatment costs, is considered to be one of the major global public health threats (www.who.int/drugresistance/en/) and the magnitude of the problem recently prompted a number of international and national bodies to take actions to protect the public (http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/docs/road-map-amr_en.pdf: http://www.who.int/drugresistance/amr_global_action_plan/en/; http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/carb_national_strategy.pdf). Understanding the mechanisms by which bacteria successfully defend themselves against the antibiotic assault represent the main theme of this eBook published as a Research Topic in Frontiers in Microbiology, section of Antimicrobials, Resistance, and Chemotherapy. The articles in the eBook update the reader on various aspects and mechanisms of antibiotic resistance. A better understanding of these mechanisms should facilitate the development of means to potentiate the efficacy and increase the lifespan of antibiotics while minimizing the emergence of antibiotic resistance among pathogens.
Download or read book Antibiotic Discoveries and a Century of Creating Superbugs written by Doreen E. Szollosi and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2023-03-28 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the pre-antibiotic era, the infections we currently see as relatively minor were sometimes deadly. This book discusses the rise (and sometimes fall) of “wonder drugs” designed to combat infections for which, at the time, there was no cure. However, history has shown us that, when antibiotics are overused, it can ultimately lead to either widespread discontinuation of the antibiotic or a drastic decrease in efficacy, leaving healthcare providers with few or no options for treatment. This book explores the discoveries of the major antibiotic drug classes, and highlights major bacterial strains which have become resistant and now represent difficult-to-treat infections. Barriers to new antibiotic development, as well as novel strategies for treating bacterial infections, are also explored.
Download or read book Fighting Superbugs written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Armed Services. Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Perfect Predator written by Steffanie Strathdee and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2019-02-26 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An electrifying memoir of one woman's extraordinary effort to save her husband's life-and the discovery of a forgotten cure that has the potential to save millions more. "A memoir that reads like a thriller." -New York Times Book Review "A fascinating and terrifying peek into the devastating outcomes of antibiotic misuse-and what happens when standard health care falls short." -Scientific American Epidemiologist Steffanie Strathdee and her husband, psychologist Tom Patterson, were vacationing in Egypt when Tom came down with a stomach bug. What at first seemed like a case of food poisoning quickly turned critical, and by the time Tom had been transferred via emergency medevac to the world-class medical center at UC San Diego, where both he and Steffanie worked, blood work revealed why modern medicine was failing: Tom was fighting one of the most dangerous, antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the world. Frantic, Steffanie combed through research old and new and came across phage therapy: the idea that the right virus, aka "the perfect predator," can kill even the most lethal bacteria. Phage treatment had fallen out of favor almost 100 years ago, after antibiotic use went mainstream. Now, with time running out, Steffanie appealed to phage researchers all over the world for help. She found allies at the FDA, researchers from Texas A&M, and a clandestine Navy biomedical center -- and together they resurrected a forgotten cure. A nail-biting medical mystery, The Perfect Predator is a story of love and survival against all odds, and the (re)discovery of a powerful new weapon in the global superbug crisis.
Download or read book Your Medical Mind written by Jerome Groopman and published by Penguin Books. This book was released on 2012-08-28 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drs. Groopman and Hartzband reveal a clear path for making the right medical choices. Such factors as authority figures, statistics, other patients' stories, technology, and natural healing are key factors that shape choices.
Download or read book Super Powered Immunity Starts in the Gut written by Michelle Schoffro Cook and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2024-01-09 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A research-backed guide to healing your gut and boosting immunity • Presents a four-week plan for healing the gut and obtaining—and sustaining—optimum immune system function • Offers methods to assess your gut health, determine if you have a specific problem, and select which healing approach would be best • Shares powerful yet natural remedies centered on probiotics, fermented foods, herbs, essential oils, and nutritional supplements Did you know that 70 percent of the immune system resides in the gut? As Dr. Michelle Schoffro Cook explains, a healthy, microbially balanced gastrointestinal tract is one of the biggest keys to warding off and fighting infectious diseases. In this practical guide, Dr. Cook shares tools and hands-on methods to transform your gut health for greater immunity and well-being. Distilling the most recent research, she explains the connection between GALT (gut-associated lymphoid tissue) and a strong gut-immune relationship. She offers methods to assess your gut health and select which healing approach would be best. She explores some of the main illnesses, conditions, and disorders that afflict the gut and lead to poor immune system performance, including excessive yeast growth, dysbiosis (an imbalanced microbiome where harmful microbes far outnumber the beneficial ones), and excessive gut permeability (which allows dangerous germs, microbes, and toxins to invade the blood stream). Showing how to treat these conditions holistically without damaging and compromising your gut and immune system, Dr. Cook shares powerful yet natural remedies like herbs, essential oils, and nutritional supplements. She looks at the role of probiotics and fermented foods in immunity, providing an extensive examination of how and why they work. She examines new research about particular probiotic strains that are effective against even the most drug-resistant health conditions like MRSA and C. difficile. She explains the often-invisible, immune-depleting damage caused by antibiotic use and what to do immediately if you’re taking antibiotics or have suffered damage from having done so. She also offers a detailed four-week plan for healing the gut and obtaining—and sustaining—optimum immune system function. Explaining all of the necessary research-backed tools and techniques, this guide empowers you to take charge of your gut health, transform your immune system, and achieve vibrant health.
Download or read book Climate Change and Microbial Diversity written by Suhaib A. Bandh and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2022-08-18 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ongoing global climate change triggered by greenhouse gas growth has had a significant effect on the microbial dynamics of plants and soils. This volume explores the various microbial responses of plants and soils caused directly or indirectly by climate change resulting from rising greenhouse gases and other factors. The book considers the rapidly changing environment and the important role of microbiomes in restoring soil and plant health and in creating sustainable approaches. It discusses the adaptation and mitigation of plants and soils, specifically addressing such topics as biogeochemical processes, antimicrobial resistance, the dynamics of bacteria and fungus in extreme environments, bacterial siderophores for sustainability, and more. The volume also looks at edaphic and regeneration performance of tree species in the temperate forests.
Download or read book Viruses Vs Superbugs written by T. Häusler and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-05-24 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Each year thousands of people die from bacteria resistant to antibiotics. Alternative drugs are urgently needed. A surprising ray of hope from the past are viruses that kill bacteria, but not us. Award-winning science journalist Thomas Häusler investigates how these long-forgotten cures may help sick people today.
Download or read book Missing Microbes written by Martin J. Blaser, MD and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2014-04-08 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “In Missing Microbes, Martin Blaser sounds [an] alarm. He patiently and thoroughly builds a compelling case that the threat of antibiotic overuse goes far beyond resistant infections.”—Nature Renowned microbiologist Dr. Martin J. Blaser invites us into the wilds of the human microbiome, where for hundreds of thousands of years bacterial and human cells have existed in a peaceful symbiosis that is responsible for the equilibrium and health of our bodies. Now this invisible Eden is under assault from our overreliance on medical advances including antibiotics and caesarian sections, threatening the extinction of our irreplaceable microbes and leading to severe health consequences. Taking us into the lab to recount his groundbreaking studies, Blaser not only provides elegant support for his theory, he guides us to what we can do to avoid even more catastrophic health problems in the future. “Missing Microbes is science writing at its very best—crisply argued and beautifully written, with stunning insights about the human microbiome and workable solutions to an urgent global crisis.”—David M. Oshinsky, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Polio: An American Story
Download or read book Exploring the Frontiers of Innovation to Tackle Microbial Threats written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2020-09-10 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On December 4â€"5, 2019, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a 1.5-day public workshop titled Exploring the Frontiers of Innovation to Tackle Microbial Threats. The workshop participants examined major advances in scientific, technological, and social innovations against microbial threats. Such innovations include diagnostics, vaccines (both development and production), and antimicrobials, as well as nonpharmaceutical interventions and changes in surveillance. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.
Download or read book Bad Bugs in the XXIst Century Resistance Mediated by Multi Drug Efflux Pumps in Gram Negative Bacteria written by Attilio Vittorio Vargiu and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2016-08-12 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The discovery of antibiotics represented a key milestone in the history of medicine. However, with the rise of these life-saving drugs came the awareness that bacteria deploy defence mechanisms to resist these antibiotics, and they are good at it. Today, we appear at a crossroads between discovery of new potent drugs and omni-resistant superbugs. Moreover, the misuse of antibiotics in different industries has increased the rate of resistance development by providing permanent selective pressure and, subsequently, enrichment of multidrug resistant pathogens. As a result, antimicrobial resistance has now become an urgent threat to public health worldwide (http://www.who.int/drugresistance/documents/surveillancereport/en/). The development of multidrug resistance (MDR) in an increasing number of pathogens, including Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Klebsiella, Salmonella, Burkholderia, and other Gram-negative bacteria is a most severe issue. Membrane efflux pump complexes of the Resistance-Nodulation-cell Division (RND) superfamily play a key role in the development of MDR in these bacteria. RND pumps, together with other transporters, contribute to intrinsic and acquired resistance to most, if not all, of the antimicrobial compounds available in our drug arsenal. Given the enormous drug polyspecificity of MDR efflux pumps, studies on their mechanism of action are extremely challenging, and this has negatively impacted both the development of new antibiotics that are able to evade these efflux pumps as well as the design of pump inhibitors. The collection of articles in this eBook, published as a Research Topic in Frontiers in Microbiology, section of Antimicrobials, Resistance, and Chemotherapy, aims to update the reader about the latest advances on the structure and function of RND efflux transporters, their roles in the overall multidrug resistance phenotype of Gram-negative pathogens, and on strategies to inhibit their activities. A deeper understanding of the mechanisms by which RND efflux pumps, alone or synergistically with other efflux pumps, are able to limit the concentration of antimicrobial compounds inside the bacterial cell, may pave the way for new, more directed, inhibitor and antibiotic design to ultimately overcome antimicrobial resistance by Gram-negatives.
Download or read book Mims Medical Microbiology and immunology written by Richard Goering and published by Elsevier Health Sciences. This book was released on 2018-02-27 with total page 662 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn all the microbiology and basic immunology concepts you need to know for your courses and exams. Now fully revised and updated, Mims' clinically relevant, systems-based approach and abundant colour illustrations make this complex subject easy to understand and remember. - Learn about infections in the context of major body systems and understand why these are environments in which microbes can establish themselves, flourish, and give rise to pathologic changes. This systems-based approach to microbiology employs integrated and case-based teaching that places the 'bug parade' into a clinical context. - Effectively review for problem-based courses with the help of chapter introductions and 'Lessons in Microbiology' text boxes that highlight the clinical relevance of the material, offer easy access to key concepts, and provide valuable review tools. - Approach microbiology by body system or by pathogen through the accompanying electronic 'Pathogen Parade' – a quickly searchable, cross-referenced glossary of viruses, bacteria and fungi - A new electronic 'Vaccine Parade' offers quick-reference coverage of the most commonly used vaccines in current clinical practice - Deepen your understanding of epidemiology and the important role it plays in providing evidence-based identification of key risk factors for disease and targets for preventative medicine. - Grasp and retain vital concepts easily, with a user-friendly colour coded format, succinct text, key concept boxes, and dynamic illustrations. - New and enhanced information reflects the growing importance of the human microbiota and latest molecular approaches - Access the complete contents on the go via the accompanying interactive eBook, with a range of bonus materials to enhance learning and retention – includes self-assessment materials and clinical cases to check your understanding and aid exam preparation.
