Breakthrough in understanding enzymes that make antibiotic for drug-resistant pathogen

One of the WHO's 3 critical priority pathogens, Acinetobacter baumannii, for which new antibiotics are urgently needed is one step closer to being tackled, as researchers have made a breakthrough in understanding the enzymes that assemble the antibiotic enacyloxin.

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Evolution experiment: Specific immune response of beetles adapts to bacteria

The memory of the immune system is able to distinguish a foreign protein with which the organism has already come into contact from another and to react with a corresponding antibody. Researchers have now discovered in flour beetles that the immune system's ability to specifically fend off pathogens can adapt in the course of evolution.

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Scientists track frog-killing fungus to help curb its spread

With the help of advanced genetic testing and hundreds of frog skin swabs, an international team of researchers has created the most complete map to date of when and where different genetic variants of the frog-killing Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis have infected frog populations around the world. The investigation also uncovered a whole new genetic lineage of the fungus, one that appears to have originated in Asia and may be the oldest variant yet discovered.

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How fungal biofilm structure impacts lung disease

Findings from an innovative new study reveal that the way in which human fungal pathogens form colonies can significantly impact their ability to cause disease. Understanding how these colonies form could lead to new therapies that target these infections in critically ill patients.

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Salmonella causing bloodstream infections in central Africa resistant to nearly all drugs

The first extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains of Salmonella Typhimurium, a pathogen which is responsible for millions of bloodstream infections per year in sub-Saharan Africa, have been identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Drug-resistance has increased in successive groups of S. Typhimurium over time. These new strains are resistant to all but one of the commonly available drugs in the DRC, with one sample showing reduced susceptibility to this final antibiotic.

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Genomic migration analysis shows antibiotic resistance moving from humans to animals

New results show that human-acquired antibiotic resistance genes are being transmitted to livestock, companion animals and wildlife. Researchers analyzed a global set of 901 genome sequences of the bacteria Streptococcus agalactiae (aka group B Strep) from nine different host species — humans, cows, dogs, fish, frogs, gray seals, dolphins, goats and a camel — to better understand the transmission process. Streptococcus agalactiae can cause life-threatening illnesses.

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