‘Weight loss gut bacterium’ found

Bacteria that live in the gut have been used to reverse obesity and Type-2 diabetes in animal studies.

Research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that a broth containing a single species of bacteria could dramatically alter the health of obese mice.

It is thought to change the gut lining and the way food is absorbed.

Similar tests now need to be take place in people to see if the same bacteria can be used to shed the pounds.

The human body is teeming with bacteria – the tiny organisms outnumber human cells in the body 10 to one.

And there is growing evidence that this collection of bacteria or “microbiome” affects health.

Read the full article here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22458428

 

‘The stuff of Nobel prizes’: The backache breakthrough? Half a million sufferers ‘could be cured with antibiotics’

Up to half a million patients with chronic low back pain may be suffering from an infection that can be treated with antibiotics.

If proved true, the revolutionary theory about the cause of one of the commonest and most debilitating ailments should win its discoverer the Nobel Prize, one surgeon said today.

However, the paper describing the research based on just 162 patients was turned down by the leading medical journals such as the Lancet and BMJ. It was published today in the European Spine Journal.

Researchers claim the treatment could be suitable for up to 40 per cent of patients with severe, long term pain for whom the only alternative is surgery.

However, it is not as simple as replacing the painkillers with antibiotics. The treatment requires an MRI scan to detect distinctive “Modic” changes in the spinal column – named after the doctor who first observed them in the late 1980s – which are indicative of bacterial infection.

Read the full article here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/the-stuff-of-nobel-prizes-the-backache-breakthrough-half-a-million-sufferers-could-be-cured-with-antibiotics-8606340.html

Three die from new C.diff bug

THREE patients have died in Scotland after catching a new strain of hospital bug Clostridium difficile (C.diff) – the first cases of their kind in the world.

All three were treated in the same health board area and two were in one hospital at the same time.

Health Protection Scotland (HPS), which is responsible for monitoring healthcare infections, is refusing to name the health board concerned.

The patients, who were all seriously ill with other conditions, contracted C.diff ribotype 332. HPS says it is the first time people falling ill with this rare form of the bacteria has been reported anywhere in the world.

An investigation has been launched to discover how the bug might have spread from the first two patients, who were diagnosed with the infection in December and January, to the third patient.

The individual was treated in a different hospital 15 miles away in March. C.diff was a contributing factor in the third patient’s death.

Read the full article here:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/803450

Clostridium difficile Underdiagnosed in Europe

BERLIN, Germany — In Europe, Clostridium difficile infection is misdiagnosed in 23% of patients, according to a new study, which can lead to inadequate treatment and failure to institute infection control measures.

A recent study conducted in Spain suggested that C difficile infection is underdiagnosed in 25% of cases. “The idea for our work was that we would take that model and expand it out over all Europe,” Kerrie Davies, MSc, a doctoral student at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, told Medscape Medical News.

Davies presented the study results here at the 23rd European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

For each of the 20 participating countries, the researchers recruited 1 hospital per 1 million people. Data collected from each participating hospital included method of laboratory diagnosis of C difficile infection, criteria for testing and reporting, local rates of testing, and positive case rates of C difficile infection.

Read the full article here:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/803450

Contaminated ground turkey found in 21 states: report

Dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria has been found in ground turkey on U.S. grocery shelves across a variety of brands and stores located in 21 states, according to a report by a consumer watchdog organization.

Of the 257 samples of ground turkey tested, more than half were found to be positive for fecal bacteria and overall, 90 percent were contaminated with one or more types of disease-causing organisms, many of which proved resistant to one or more common antibiotics, Consumer Reports found.

The non-profit, independent product-testing organization said in the June issue of its magazine that the sampling marked the first time it had conducted a laboratory analysis of ground turkey, a popular consumer alternative to hamburger. It was alarmed by the results.

“Some bacteria that end up on ground turkey, including E. coli and staph aureus, can cause not only food poisoning but also urinary, bloodstream, and other infections,” said a Consumer Reports statement on its findings.

The group said it samples ground turkey from 27 different brands including major and store brands.

Turkeys, like other livestock in the United States, are commonly given repeated low doses of antibiotics in an effort to keep the animals healthy and help promote growth. But there has been growing concern that widespread use of antibiotics in animals that are not sick is speeding the development of antibiotic resistance.

Read the full article here:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/04/30/us-food-turkey-report-idUKBRE93T13720130430

Closing hospital windows ‘increases infection risk’

Dr Cath Noakes, reader in infection control engineering at the University of Leeds, talks about her research into hospital ventilation at the site of the old Royal London Hospital in east London.

Her studies suggest keeping the windows open in traditional open-plan “Nightingale wards” can reduce infection rates, and that fitting cheap and simple extractor fans can maintain good ventilation during winter months.

Watch the short video here.

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