The
recent warning issued by the World Health Organisation that gonorrhoea is
becoming resistant to the last drugs in our armoury heightens awareness of the
need for new antibiotics, as do the many reports of new hospital ‘superbugs’.
There is some excellent primary research on antibiotic discovery – including
exciting developments in metagenomics on the Norwich Research Park – but the
issue is how to translate this research into marketable treatments.
In
relation to this important area of research, David Livermore (Professor of
Medical Microbiology at Norwich Medical School) has written an interesting
overview for Laboratory News.
Here
is an extract:
“One
concern for the future is the re-emergence of classical diseases that we had
thought banished to history, for example tuberculosis. The other worry is that
without effective antibiotics, we won’t any longer be able to conduct the many
types of modern medicine that lead to immunosuppression. These include
therapies for autoimmune disorders and cancer treatments. Many routine
surgeries may also become too dangerous to perform owing to the risk of
untreatable infection. The concept of a ‘post-antibiotic era’, where common
infections can no longer be successfully treated, has been around since the
early ‘90s. At that time, resistance amongst Gram-positive bacteria was rising
rapidly. Penicillin-resistant pneumococci were widespread internationally1 and
vancomycin-resistant enterococci were also circulating in hospital specialist
units2, most extensively in the US. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA) were relatively uncommon in serious infections at the start of the
1990s, but proliferated to the point, from 2000-3, where they accounted for 40%
of all Staphylococcus aureus infections and 10% of all UK bloodstream
infections. Similar rises were seen in most of Europe (except the Netherlands
and Scandinavia), and in the USA.”
Amazon book discounts
Posted by Tim Sandle
No comments:
Post a Comment
Pharmaceutical Microbiology Resources