MRSA

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NASA Is Sending a Drug-Resistant Superbug Into Space

And that's hopefully less scary than it sounds

(Newser) - NASA and a biomedicine company are sending a drug-resistant superbug into outer space, where it will be researched aboard the International Space Station. And while Gizmodo notes the plan sounds like "Elon Musk's idea for a science fiction spec he's working on," it will—hopefully—have...

Cure for Deadly 'Superbug' May be Hiding in Our Noses

'Totally unexpected'

(Newser) - A team of German bacteriologists says our noses may contain more than boogers; there might also be a cure for the "hospital superbug" MRSA hiding up there, the Guardian reports. According to the Los Angeles Times , MRSA kills about 11,000 US patients every year and sickens another 80,...

NFL Player May Lose Foot to Infection

Giants dedicate win to Daniel Fells

(Newser) - An ankle injury has turned into a nightmare for New York Giants tight end Daniel Fells. He has been in hospital for more than a week battling antibiotic-resistant staph infection MRSA, the NFL says in a press release. Doctors are doing their best to avoid amputating his foot but they...

Woman Left Paralyzed After Sharing Makeup Brush

MRSA bacteria invaded her body

(Newser) - Jo Gilchrist borrowed a friend's makeup brush recently, using it to sweep makeup onto her face—including over a pimple. Soon after, in February, she noticed a "dull ache" in her body. Initially unconcerned, the 27-year-old Australian called a doctor when she was in such pain she couldn'...

Cigarette Smoke Makes Superbugs Even Stronger

Bacteria exposed to it become harder to kill

(Newser) - Superbugs such as MRSA are already bad enough. But it turns out that something can make them even nastier: cigarette smoke. Researchers found that antibiotic-resistant bacteria exposed to the smoke became more aggressive and far more difficult to kill, they explain at Eureka Alert . It's almost as if the...

How Copper Could Save Hospital Patients' Lives

Surfaces made from the metal can kill dangerous germs

(Newser) - One in 25 patients in US hospitals gets a new infection at the facility, according to the federal health department, and the numbers are three times that in non-industrialized countries, a Chilean researcher tells NPR . Healthcare-acquired infections, as they're known, can lead to longer hospital stays, increased treatment costs,...

Bacteria Risk: Unwashed Stethoscopes
 Bacteria Risk: 
 Unwashed 
 Stethoscopes 
study says

Bacteria Risk: Unwashed Stethoscopes

Tools carry amount comparable to what's found on doctors' hands: study

(Newser) - A new study out of Geneva has a clear message for doctors: Time to be as careful about washing your stethoscope as you are about washing your hands. Researchers studied the amount of bacteria on stethoscopes' diaphragms—the piece that touches your skin—and the amount on doctors' hands, the...

3rd NFL Player in Tampa Gets MRSA Infection

Players' union says the league needs to ramp up protection

(Newser) - Game called on account of staph infection? The Buccaneers and Eagles are playing tomorrow as scheduled, but the NFL players' union considered telling members to skip it after a third Tampa player was diagnosed this week with a nasty MRSA infection, reports Bleacher Report . Rookie Johnthan Banks is the unlucky...

Cow Superbug Jumping to Humans

Scary new form of MRSA found in dairy herds

(Newser) - A new strain of the drug-resistant "superbug" MRSA has been found in British cows, and it appears to be spreading to people. The strain, identified in cows' milk by researchers studying udder infections, is genetically very different from the dozens of other strains of superbug identified, reports the BBC...

Deadly MRSA Bacteria Found in Supermarket Meats

22.5% of tested meat was contaminated

(Newser) - The potentially deadly, antibiotic-resistant MRSA bacteria has been found in supermarket meats. Cooking kills the bacteria, but consumers risk infection when they handle raw meat. MRSA has been found increasingly in hospitals and nursing homes, where it can cause serious illness and death. But it has also been spread among...

Scientists Find Bedbugs Carrying Nasty Surprise

Drug-resistant MRSA bacteria found on bedbugs in Vancouver

(Newser) - Hate insects? Afraid of germs? Researchers are reporting an alarming combination: bedbugs carrying "superbug" germs. Canadian scientists detected drug-resistant MRSA bacteria in bedbugs from three hospital patients from a downtrodden Vancouver neighborhood. The study is small and very preliminary: Five bedbugs were crushed and analyzed after a simultaneous boom...

FDA Cracks Down on False Claims for Hand Sanitizers

Agency warns firms claiming their gels battle MRSA

(Newser) - Warning: Hand sanitizers will not make you invincible. They don’t, for example, protect against germs like MRSA, as the FDA pointed out yesterday in a consumer update. Nor do they kill E. coli, salmonella, or the H1N1 virus. It’s not just consumers who don’t get this: The...

Bacteria, Mold Fill BART Seats

Cloth seats harder to clean, allow dangerous bacteria to thrive

(Newser) - If you are fighting for a seat on San Francisco's BART trains, maybe you should think again—the seats are full of nasty bacteria, including a drug-resistant strain of staphylococcus aureus superbug, and several types of mold, says a new report commissioned by The Bay Citizen . “I would love...

Scientists Slay Superbugs... With Light

Wavelengths cause chemical reaction, researchers find

(Newser) - Scientists have shed light on a new way to kill hospital superbugs like MRSA: literally shed light on them. A set of wavelengths called HINS-light acts by stimulating molecules in the bacteria, causing them to create chemicals that kill the germs. In trials, the process appears far more effective than...

New Way to Fight E. Coli: Cockroach Brains

Pests could be valuable new source of antibiotics

(Newser) - Scientists believe they've finally found a use for cockroaches. The brains and nervous systems of cockroaches and locusts hold molecules that can kill off up to 90% of MRSA and E. Coli bacteria without damaging human tissue, Bloomberg reports. Researchers believe the insects could be key to developing next-generation antibiotics...

'Miracle' Era of Antibiotics Is Ending
'Miracle' Era
of Antibiotics
Is Ending
opinion

'Miracle' Era of Antibiotics Is Ending

Modern medicine can't fight off superbugs for long

(Newser) - Good news: The superbug MRSA seems to be under control. Bad news: A new one called NDM-1 is on the loose . Get used to it, warns Sarah Boseley in the Guardian . "The era of antibiotics is coming to a close," she writes. These "miracle medicines" can't fight...

UK Sees New Superbug, Blames Medical Tourism in India

It's traced to cheap cosmetic surgeries

(Newser) - A new superbug has emerged in UK hospitals, probably brought back to the country by people who traveled to India or Pakistan for cosmetic surgery, the BBC reports. About 50 cases have been cataloged in the UK, but researchers fear the newly christened NDM-1 (named after New Delhi, notes the...

Desperate for New Antibiotics, Docs Turn to Old, Risky Ones

Potentially lethal side effects did them in the first time

(Newser) - In the ongoing battle against MRSA and other deadly drug-resistant bacteria, doctors are trying out antibiotics that were long ago rejected as too dangerous to be used. These drugs, practically as old as antibiotics themselves, were banished because they had lethal side effects. But a lack of new antibiotics in...

Jacko May Have Flesh-Eating Bug

King of Pop said to suffer from MRSA-style infection

(Newser) - Michael Jackson is suffering from a flesh-eating infection similar to MRSA, sources tell the Sun. In the past week Jackson has made two visits to a clinic in Beverly Hills, covering his face with a mask and his hair with a surgical cap. Doctors speculate that he may have contracted...

Doctors Fear Flu-Superbug Combo
Doctors Fear Flu-Superbug Combo

Doctors Fear Flu-Superbug Combo

Mix kills 2 kids in Boston after taking 22 lives last year

(Newser) - Doctors nationwide took notice yesterday when two Boston kids died of a combined flu and fatal superbug—an increasingly common mix, ABC News reports. The blend of influenza and the staph infection MRSA killed 22 people last year, a huge jump from three cases the year before. Now, doctors fear...

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