UNLABELLED Many species of bacteria use a cell-cell communication system called quorum sensing (QS) to coordinate group activities. QS systems frequently regulate the production of exoproducts. Some of these products, such as proteases, are "public goods" that are shared among the population and vulnerable to cheating by nonproducing members of the population. Because the QS system of the oppor...

The alarming rise in antibiotic resistance has led to an increase in patient mortality and health care costs. This problem is compounded by the absence of new antibiotics close to regulatory approval. Acinetobacter baumannii is a human pathogen that causes infections primarily in patients in intensive care units (ICUs) and is highly antibiotic resistant. Colistin is one of the last-line antibio...

Antimicrobials represent one of humanity’s medical revolutions enabling us to treat both human and veterinary bacterial infections. It is, therefore, of utmost importance to preserve their effectiveness. However, during the last decades, the continuing rapid development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged as a major global public health concern (1). Resistant bacteria may hamper the t...

Antimicrobials are used widely especially in developing countries, due to the high prevalence of various infectious diseases. Inappropriate use antimicrobials associated with adverse drug reactions. The present study was done analyze patterns Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR) reported Reaction Monitoring Centre (AMC) during last five years. This a 5 year retrospective and cross-sectional study. Aft...

While antimicrobial resistance (AMR) continues to be a major public health problem in Pakistan, data regarding trends of among pathogenic bacteria remains scarce, with few studies presenting long-term AMR. This study was therefore designed analyze AMR at national level Pakistan. We report here results comprehensive analysis resistance, pathogens isolated from blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)...

Previously, we showed that microbial susceptibility to antimicrobials in concentrations non-toxic for human cells in culture could be tested using the wet disc topical antimicrobial assay. In this report, wet disc assay and agar well diffusion assay results were compared testing the susceptibility of Ps. aeruginosa isolates from burn patients to concentrations of Polymyxin B non-toxic for cultu...

Inactivating Clostridium difficile spores is difficult, as they are resistant to heat, chemicals, and antimicrobials. However, this note describes inactivation of C. difficile spore outgrowth by incubation in a solution containing a germinant (1% (m/v) sodium taurocholate), co-germinants (1% (m/v) tryptose and 1% (m/v) NaCl), and natural antimicrobials (20 nmol·L-1 nisin and 0.2 mmol·L-1 lysozy...

In Mexico mycetomas are mostly produced by Nocardia brasiliensis, which can be isolated from about 86% of cases. In the present work, we determined the sensitivities of 30 N. brasiliensis strains isolated from patients with mycetoma to several groups of antimicrobials. As a first screening step we carried out disk diffusion assays with 44 antimicrobials, including aminoglycosides, cephalosporin...

The effect of laboratory reports, with restricted reporting of antibiotic information, on the prescribing of antimicrobials for urinary tract infection was assessed in a series of 250 patients. There was considerable prescribing of broad-spectrum antimicrobials, to which sensitivity was rarely reported, whether treatment was begun before or after the laboratory report was available, although th...

In the United States, drug sponsors must obtain approval from the US Food and Drug Administration before licensure and widespread clinical use of drugs. In this article, I discuss the definition and history of the regulatory requirement for "substantial evidence" of effectiveness from "adequate and well-controlled" clinical trials of drugs. These requirements apply to antimicrobials as they do ...