Antibiotic Resistance

Indian pharma develops more effective drug to combat antibiotic-resistance

Wockhardt's nafithromycin is India's first FDA-approved antimicrobial that is seen as an alternative to existing antibiotics like azithromycin, which is facing increasing resistance in humans

India faces growing threat as key antibiotics lose effectiveness, says ICMR

The rise in diseases like urinary tract infections, pneumonia, and typhoid, now harder to treat due to bacteria's growing resistance to common antibiotics, paints a grim picture

33% of sepsis deaths in India linked to antibiotic resistance crisis

A study by The Lancet revealed that over 39 million people worldwide could lose their lives to antibiotic-resistant infections in the next 25 years

Antibiotic resistance to claim over 39 mn lives in next 25 years: Lancet

Over a million people around the world died annually due to antibiotic resistance between 1990 and 2021, and more than 39 million could die from antibiotic-resistant infections over the next 25 years, according to a global analysis, published in The Lancet journal. Future deaths from antibiotic resistance are estimated to be highest in South Asia -- including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh -- where a total of 11.8 million deaths directly due to it are forecast between 2025 and 2050, a collaboration of researchers forming the Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) Project said. Antibiotic, or antimicrobial, resistance is when drugs designed to kill infectious bacteria and fungi are rendered ineffective because the bugs have evolved and developed an ability to defeat these drugs. The researchers said deaths due to antibiotic resistance will also be high in other parts of southern and eastern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Further, trends between 1990 and 2021 suggested that

Scientists identify antibody 'SC27' to counter all Covid-19 variants

Researchers have discovered an antibody that could counter all known variants of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and also distantly related ones that infect other animals. SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus causing COVID-19, uses its spike protein to invade and infect another individual, or the host. Antibodies, produced by the host in response, bind to the spike protein to block its action and prevent infection. The researchers, led by those at The University of Texas in Austin, US, isolated the antibody 'SC27' from the plasma donated by four patients. These patients had breakthrough infections, which occur when a vaccinated individual gets infected. The research has been published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine. Over the more than four years since the first case of COVID-19 emerged, SARS-CoV-2 has evolved to acquire certain characteristics which make the virus resistant to vaccines and treatments. The authors said the 'SC27' antibody recognised all these various characterist

New research shows how viruses work where antibiotics fail against bacteria

Viruses called bacteriophages, or phages, target bacteria but can't infect humans or other higher organisms

Experts flag need to stop OTC sale of antibiotics, spread awareness

The study adds that an estimated 7.7 million die in LMICs due to bacterial infections, of which almost five million deaths are due to AMR bacteria

Justifying antibiotics prescription can help rationalise use: Experts

With the Union Health Ministry urging doctors to mandatorily mention indications and reasons for justification while prescribing antibiotics, infectious disease specialists say the initiative can help in rationalising antimicrobial usage and avoid indiscriminate consumption. The practice could also help further an evidence-based approach in medicine, along with improving patient outcomes, and curbing treatment costs and unwarranted side effects, they said. "Prescribers have to think and document the rationale before prescribing antimicrobials... This will help in the rational prescribing of antimicrobials and avoiding injudicious, indiscriminate usage," infectious disease specialist and senior consultant at the Yashoda Super Speciality Hospital in Kaushambi Dr Chhavi Gupta told PTI. In a letter to all doctors in medical colleges and medical associations on January 1, Director General of Health Services Dr Atul Goel urged them to make it a mandatory practice to write indications, ...

To tackle antimicrobial resistance a global One Health approach is needed

India was one of the first few countries to develop a comprehensive national plan to manage the misuse of antimicrobials

Wastewater provides for ideal breeding ground for antibiotic resistance

The unique characteristics of wastewater, which allow resistance genes to grow against harmless bacteria to those that cause disease, provide a potent breeding ground for antibiotic resistance to evolve, according to a new study. Researchers at the Centre for Antibiotic Resistance Research (CARe) in Gothenburg, Sweden, presented evidence for where the genes could gain their ability to move in a study published in the journal Communications Biology. It is not enough for the antibiotics alone to drive the process, they acknowledged. For the movement of reistant genes, the species carrying the resistance genes in their chromosomes need to be present, along with the specific DNA sequences providing for their movement. The researchers analysed DNA from thousands of samples across different environments and found that all these key components came together not in the gut of humans or animals, but in wastewaters. "In order to fight antibiotic resistance we cannot focus only on preventing

Govt has identified AMR as key priority in national health policy: Centre

The government has identified antimicrobial resistance as a key priority in its national health policy and a series of initiatives have been taken to build systems to counter it, Union minister Bharti Pawar said on Friday. Pawar was delivering India's national statement at the third Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on AMR at Muscat in Oman. The minister of State for Health said India's example of prioritizing the development and implementation of state action plans for containment of AMR is a best practice that can be further discussed and emulated by other countries, a Union Health Ministry statement quoting the minister said. Pawar elaborated that India's National Action Plan for containment of AMR (NAP-AMR) was officially released on April 19, 2017. The Delhi Declaration on AMR, which is an inter-ministerial consensus, was signed at the launch of NAP-AMR, by the ministers of the concerned ministries pledging their whole-hearted support in AMR containment. She emphasized

Covid-19 pandemic raised antibiotic resistant infections: Study

An estimated 1.2 million people worldwide died in 2019 from antibiotic-resistant infections, and this number is predicted to increase ten-fold by 2050

Misuse of antibiotics soared in India during Covid pandemic: Study

Covid-19 likely contributed to 216.4 million excess doses of antibiotics for adults: study

Treating Covid may lead to increased antibiotic resistance, UK study finds

The use of antibiotics in people with Covid-19 could lead to raised levels of the drugs within rivers which may in turn result in an increase in antimicrobial resistance, according to a UK study

Wockhardt becomes first Indian company to get nod for novel antibiotics

While multinational companies have launched new antibiotics in India, there have been no new launches in the past 15 years in this category

It's bacteria that become antibiotic-resistant, not the human body itself

A recent study revealed 88% of people think antibiotic resistance occurs when the human body becomes resistant to antibiotics. This isn't entirely true