Pneumonia is a leading cause of death and hospitalization, costing health care systems billions of dollars and an estimated 600,000 adult deaths worldwide each year. Pneumococcal disease is caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae and the term describes a group of illnesses, including invasive infections, such as bacteremia/sepsis and meningitis, as well as pneumonia and upper respiratory tract infections. Although all age groups may be affected, the highest rate of pneumococcal disease occurs in young children and older adults. In addition, persons suffering from a wide range of chronic conditions (eg, diabetes, cardiovascular disease) and immune deficiencies are at increased risk.
According to a new study proposed at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Lisbon, Portugal (23–26 April, 2022), disease-causing amoebas that reside on natural leafy vegetables can preserve human pathogens such as Pseudomonas, Salmonella, and Helicobacter, posing a public health hazard. Dr Yolanda Moreno and colleagues from Spain’s Universitat Politècnica de València conducted the research.
A study team developed an early-stage therapy that sabotages the pump and restores antibiotic efficiency by disclosing the structure of a protein needed by bacteria to pump out antibiotics.
Dr Jun Qin, a proteomics expert from the State Key Laboratory of Proteomics, Beijing Proteome Research Center, National Center for Protein Sciences (Beijing), Beijing Institute of Lifeomics, and Dr Zhongde Zhang from The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, worked in the front line of compacting COVID-19 disease.
Most people’s immune responses are powerful enough to prevent the SARS-CoV-2 virus from spreading throughout the body that they are immune to pneumonia.
A future vaccine providing protection against a wide range of coronaviruses that jump from their original animal hosts to humans -; including SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19 -; may be possible, say Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers, based on findings from their recent study.
A viral protein might contain information that could be used to avoid pneumonia due to the body’s overactive response to respiratory viruses, such as COVID-19.
Researchers have discovered a gene that makes E. coli bacteria resistant to antibiotics, effectively leading to better treatment for people across the globe.
In a new study in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, published by Elsevier, investigators report on the design and testing of a breathalyzer, known as the Bubbler, that relies on viral RNA detection to diagnose SARS-CoV-2. Its name is derived from the bubbling sound that occurs when the patient exhales into the device.
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Umeå University, and the University of Bonn have identified a new group of molecules that have an antibacterial effect against many antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Scientists from the National Institutes of Health recently found a therapy that targets host cells instead of bacterial cells in treating bacterial pneumonia.
Once an infection is under control, the body normally uses a biochemical messenger known as TGFβ to downgrade its immune response.
Lung immunity is essential to combat all pulmonary diseases, including COVID-19, pneumonia, lung cancer, asthma and COPD.
Scientists revealed the operational mechanism of possible drug targets for numerous diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, and even COVID-19.
A new study notes that sequential treatment with antibiotics that are similar but often swapped around can effectively kill bacteria and avoid drug resistance.
Only 21 percent of patients with severe pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) have a documented bacterial superinfection at the time of intubation, resulting in potential overuse of antibiotics, according to new research published online in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
According to a research work published in the Genome Medicine journal, travelers abroad may contract bacteria and other vectors with genes that confer antibiotic resistance, which linger in the travelers’ gut when they return home.
A preclinical study led by scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys has established that AAV8-TNAP-D10--a gene therapy that replaces a key enzyme found in bone--may be a safe and effective single-dose treatment for hypophosphatasia (HPP).
Antibiotics used to treat common bacterial infections may potentially be used to treat human illnesses such as cancer, at least theoretically.
Researchers have discovered a new coronavirus, found in a child with pneumonia in Malaysia in 2018, that appears to have jumped from dog to human.
Researchers have now identified how SARS viruses improve the production of viral proteins in infected cells such that new copies of the virus can be produced.