MRSA Notes

This article is about the lack of drugs to combat the ever increasing variety of antibiotic resistant bacteria that are growing more and more popular. I often say that the problem with new antibiotics is that it is very difficult to find drugs that kill these hearty creatures without killing you, and this is [...]

Basilea rises as MRSA drug performs well in tests | Reuters.com
Swiss drug maker Basilea (BSLN.S: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday that late-stage clinical tests investigating the use of its first-in-class ceftobiprole drug against the super-bug MRSA had been positive.
The news lifted shares in the company 10.5 percent to 184.50 Swiss francs by 0855 GMT.
Ceftobiprole showed [...]

You probably know by now what a proponent I am for Hibiclens.  Hibiclens is available at your local drugstores in the first aid section, and is available in larger sizes for a significant savings at drugstore.com.
Hibiclens(R) Survey Shows Initial Treatment for MRSA Varies Widely in Community Settings: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance
NORCROSS, Ga., Feb. [...]

From acs.org:
The natural product vancomycin is an antibiotic of last resort, used when other antibacterial agents aren’t effective. But some bacteria have developed resistance to vancomycin. Researchers have now designed and synthesized a revamped form of vancomycin that makes such resistance futile, or at least a lot more difficult.
Bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, a cause [...]

“Foot ulcers develop in 15% of people suffering from diabetes mellitus, which may evolve to uncontrolled infections requiring lower leg amputation. In the US, 81,000 lower leg amputations occur per year in diabetic patients, and associated health care cost are very significant.
Typically diabetic foot infections are caused by staphylococci (including MRSA) and streptococci, and very [...]

Scary stuff here, again reported at the IDSA annual meeting:
“SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 10 - In the first reported hospital outbreak of Zyvox (linezolid)-resistant enterococcus, only half the infected patients had a history of Zyvox exposure, suggesting that some cases were nosocomial infections, researchers reported.
Clinicians have seen Zyvox- and vancomycin-resistant enterococcus sporadically since the new antibiotic [...]

“SAN FRANCISCO, CA — October 11, 2005 — Methicillin-resistance occurred in almost half of all patients with Staphylococcus aureus who were treated for skin and skin structure infections in Phase 3 studies of a new antibiotic aimed at controlling resistant bacteria.”

News - High Rate of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Infection Seen in Dalbavancin Phase 3 Trials: Presented [...]

“The Hospital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee published guidelines for prudent use of vancomycin to combat increasing resistance to antimicrobial drugs. Studies examining compliance with these guidelines primarily involve hospitalized patients. The growing practice of home use of antimicrobial drugs led to this retrospective cohort study that evaluated parenteral vancomycin use in patients receiving it [...]

“"We want as many patients as possible to benefit from the broad-spectrum and cidal activity of ceftobiprole, which is particularly useful in clinical situations such as diabetic patients with foot infections. Successful completion of this trial would clearly demonstrate the unique spectrum of ceftobiprole, covering not only resistant Gram-positive infections but also Gram-negative bacterial infections, [...]

“SAN FRANCISCO, CA — October 10, 2005 — The less time it takes vancomycin to kill off strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the more quickly the antibiotic will work in the infected patients. Researchers presented these findings here October 7th at the 43rd annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).
In patients [...]