The use of phages for treating bacterial pathogens has recently been advocated as an alternative to antibiotic therapy. Here, we test a hypothesis that bacteria treated with phages may show more limited evolution of antibiotic resistance as the fitness costs of resistance to phages may add to those of antibiotic resistance, further reducing the growth performance of antibiotic-resistant bacteri...

BACKGROUND Inappropriate use of antibiotics promotes antibiotic resistance. Little is known about physician characteristics that may be associated with inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. Our objective was to assess whether physician knowledge, time in practice, place of training and practice volume explain the differences in antibiotic prescribing among physicians. METHODS A historical coh...

objective(s):helicobacter pylori (h. pylori) is a pathogenic bacterium that colonizes the stomachs of approximately 50% of the world’s population. resistance of h. pylori to antibiotics is considered as the main reason for the failure to eradicate this bacterium. the aim of this study was to determine the rate of resistant h. pylori strains to various antimicrobial agents in different areas of ...

Time and manpower constraints associated with acute combat casualty care can make antibiotic bead production at the point of care prohibitively difficult, if not impossible. The purpose of this study is to evaluate our technique for the sterile prefabrication of antibiotic-impregnated polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) beads in the combat hospital environment by assessing their sterility at the time...

BACKGROUND In this explorative study, 50 children with microbiologically confirmed nontuberculous mycobacterial cervicofacial lymphadenitis were randomized to either receive antibiotic therapy or follow a conservative wait-and-see approach. Our primary objective was to assess the time for all infected lymph nodes to heal in patients after the nonantibiotic, wait-and-see treatment, compared with...

BACKGROUND Quality improvement investigators working in field settings, who typically are not trained in epidemiological methods, may not consider all three elements of the epidemiologic triad (person, place and time) when planning their projects. AIM To demonstrate how the epidemiological triad can guide analysis for quality assessment. Predictors of antibiotic use in primary care were analy...

The emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are aggravated by incorrect prescription and use of antibiotics. A core problem is that there is no sufficiently fast diagnostic test to guide correct antibiotic prescription at the point of care. Here, we investigate if it is possible to develop a point-of-care susceptibility test for urinary tract infection, a disease that 100 million ...

Rapid identification of microorganisms and antimicrobial resistance is paramount for targeted treatment in serious bloodstream infections (BSI). The Verigene Gram-negative blood culture nucleic acid test (BC-GN) is a multiplex, automated molecular diagnostic test for identification of eight Gram-negative (GN) organisms and resistance markers from blood culture with a turnaround time of approxim...

BACKGROUND Rapid diagnostic tests with a high sensitivity for lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) could lead to improved patient care and reduce unnecessary antibiotic use and associated costs. Diagnostic yields, feasibility, and costs of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab specimens in the routine diagnostic work-up for LRTI were determined. ...

Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) infections are increasing, and they are associated with an increased risk of mortality in hospitalized patients. Linear regression is commonly used to identify concurrent trends, but it cannot quantify the relationship between risk factors and resistance. We developed a model to quantify the impact of antibiotic consumption on the prevalence o...