Whole-Genome Analysis Identifies the Source of a Recent MRSA Outbreak

In Cambridge, UK, there was a superbug outbreak at a special-care neonatal unit that lasted several months last year. Thanks to insights gained from whole-genome sequencing, the outbreak was stopped.

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NDM-1 Superbug Discovered in a Cat in the USA

The Indian superbug NDM-1, which has a gene that encodes an enzyme conferring resistance to almost all known antibiotics, has been found in the USA in a household cat.

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Virus Brucella Blocked From Bonding with Host, Could Lead to Superbug Cure

Pathogenic bacteria without their virulent factors could be rendered harmless and eliminated by the human immune system. That’s the goal that a group of researchers have been striving for, and they recently managed to block the Brucella bacteria from bonding with its host.

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NDM-1 Super Bacteria Scares Medical Community in India

In Indian hospitals, over 50% of bacterial infections are now resistant to commonly used antibiotics. Surveys have shown that many widespread pathogens in India are also resistant to powerful, broad-spectrum antibiotics. In 2010, a team of scientists analyzed bacterial infections in New Delhi and found that 24% could resist the hospital’s last resort intravenous antibiotics, carbapenems, and 13% had a super-resistant gene, New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase 1 (NDM-1), that conferred resistance to carbapenems and 14 other antibiotics.

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Earliest Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Strains Were First Detected in Italy

Contrary to what was previously believed, the earliest cases of the Totally Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (TDR-TB) were not the current 12 known cases reported in Mumbai or the 15 cases in Iran from 2009, but rather two middle-aged women from Italy, who died several years after first contracting the disease.

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