Antibiotic Awareness Day - 18th November 2008

Europe celebrates `Antibiotic Awareness Day` on 18th November 2008.
We offer our best wishes to all those in Europe who are fighting for prolonging the utility of present day antibiotics by advising practices that will keep at minimum the development of Antibiotic resistance in the infectious bacteria.
IIMAR offers best wishes particularly to ReAct, our supporters in Europe who have taken up the gauntlet of making all out efforts to minimise the problem of Antibiotic Resistance all over the world.
Eurosurveillance has the whole issue this week devoted to antibiotic resistance, with focus on many encouraging examples of success of countermeasures taken up in Europe to reduce development of resistance in infectious bacteria to the antibiotics.

Global Hand Washing Day

Global Hand-Washing Day is celebrated on 15 October every year to raise awareness about the role hand washing plays in public health.
"Hand washing is one of the most important ways of controlling the spread of infections, especially those that cause diarrhoea, vomiting, colds and flu.``
"Global Handwashing Day serves as a timely reminder that people should always wash their hands after using the toilet, before eating or handling food, and after handling animals. And remember to cover all cuts and scratches with a waterproof dressing."
The Norovirus - the winter vomiting bug - is the most common cause of gastrointestinal disease. "Norovirus is highly infectious and easily spread in settings where people are in close contact with one another so good hygiene, including frequent handwashing, is really important.
"Unfortunately there is no specific treatment for norovirus apart from letting the illness run its course. Most people will make a full recovery within 1-2 days but it is important to drink plenty of fluids during that time to prevent dehydration especially in the very young or elderly."
So No need to take unnecessary antibiotics, If you are washing your hands with soap and water frequently.

Minocycline and japanese encephalitis; ABR and Disinfectants

Two researchers from National Brain Research Center (NBRC) suggest that a common antibiotic -minocycline- may prevent children from death due to Japanese encephalitis (JE), commonly known as brain fever. Japanese Encephalitis virus is the causative agent for JE. Although there is no consolidated official figure for JE cases in India, a rough estimate would indicate a few thousands fatalities every year http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/02/080219093000.htm

Efflux pumps can make antibiotics resistant also to disinfectant chemicals in hospitals (BBC)

New tests make antibiotic monitoring easier

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080502172258.htm
Detecting antibiotics in the environment could become easier, thanks to portable field kits developed and validated by a team of scientists. The team conducted studies showing that the kits, called enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), accurately detected trace amounts of sulfonamides, also known as "sulfa drugs," in wastewater samples. When these drugs are excreted in urine, for example, they can persist in the environment unchanged or as metabolites.

An important British Medical Journal (BMJ) article

The article “Meeting the challenge of antibiotic resistance” stresses that vital components of modern medicine such as major surgery, organ transplantations, and cancer chemotherapy will be threatened if antibiotic resistance is not tackled urgently. Concerted global response is needed to address rising rates of bacterial resistance caused by the use and abuse of antibiotics.
The article is free to download from bmj.com.
(http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/337/sep18_3/a1438?ijkey=CYxxcCjjzZzQxn4&keytype=ref)
Action on Antibiotic Resistance, or ReAct in Sweden has taken the initiative to publish this article. The authors lead by Dr. Otto Cars are members of ReAct`s international secretariat.

A new Antibiotic on the horizon

Medical News Today has an article about a new antibiotic, ready for phase 1 clinical trials: a new class, “a synthetic chemical mimic of host defense proteins”,
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119228.php
International News
UK: The Independent says “Antibiotics to delay premature birth may harm babies”, and the CMO of the Government has written to all GP:s and obstetricians with a warning, after an article in the Lancet on the subject.
Gothenburg: A large campaign is launched at Sahlgrenska Hospital to convince the 2000 doctors to use ABs more prudently. MRSA has been a big problem, but now resistant gramnegatives is also more in focus.
US: An increase in the dangerous combination of MRSA colonization plus influenza leading to serious pneumonia is reported in Los Angeles Times – and a CDC Epidemiologist recommends influenza vaccination.
US: C difficile is noted as a “Rising Foe” in the Wall Street Journal

Novel ways to fight Resistant Bacteria

Novel ways to fight resistant bacteria are emerging due to the lack of effective antibiotics: Medical news presents a new combination of dye plus special light to fight MDR bacteria in /surgical/ wounds, and another machine seemingly working with stronger UV light

Antibiotic study in Orissa

Antibiotic use, environment and antibiotic resistance: A qualitative study among human and veterinary health care professionals in Orissa, India. http://www.uppsatser.se/uppsats/c80ba1404b/

Antibiotic cycling controls ICU Infectons

Doctors at the University of Virginia Health System have significantly reduced MRSA infections among surgical intensive care patients by using antibiotic cycling, a method of rotating drugs at regular intervals. They followed switching between linezolid and vancomycin in 3-months cycles in a Surgical Trauma ICU, and reduced the percentage of MRSA infections of all Staph aureus infections in the ICU from 67% to 36% (ScienceDaily 4th September 2oo8)

Copper handles, electrical switches eliminate harmful bacteria

We had earlier given information that Indian scientists had proved that silver and copper nano-particles have antibiotic properties. Now comes this news
Copper handles, light switches Eliminate Resistant Hospital Germs In A Worldwide Field Test
Medical News today: 23 Aug 2008
In earlier times, copper was considered to be very antimicrobial. In India we have been using copper vessles all the time, but now have opted for stainless steel as a fashion. But now the antimicrobial property of copper may play an important role in the struggle against dangerous hospital germs. In a worldwide noted field test, a whole hospital ward at a Clinic in Hamburg, Germany, was equipped with door handles, door plates and light switches made of copper. Because the germs are not only transmitted from one hand to another but, in many cases, also by touching door handles and switches. According to the clinic and the involved scientists at the University Halle-Wittenberg, the first study results have shown "significantly less chances of survival" of microbes on copper surfaces. "The struggle against high-resistant agents cannot be won with the previous means, such as the use of new antibiotics and intensive disinfection measures. We must break new grounds in order to reduce the potential danger for our patients," Professor Prof. Dr. med. Jorg Braun, chief physician of the I. Medical Department at the Asklepios Clinic Wandsbek said that "Scientific tests performed by several independent working groups have shown beyond doubt that copper surfaces can efficiently kill bacteria and other germs," Prof. Dr. Dietrich H. Nies, Director of the Institute for Biology at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, also confirms.Comparable studies under clinical conditions are planned or are being performed at the same time in Great Britain, South Africa, the US and Japan. The tests at the Asklepios Clinic in Hamburg, Germany, were initiated by laboratory tests in which 99.9 percent of the bacteria, including the high hazard MRSA agents, were eliminated within a period of a few minutes up to two hours on copper surfaces. In contrast, the same microbes were able to survive up to three days on stainless steel surfaces. This is why the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed the antimicrobial effect of copper only recently, in March this year.