Category Archives: Antibiotics

The CDC Report On EBSLs & CREs: Better, If Not Good, News

Posted on April 5, 2018 by mikethemadbiologist

This week, the CDC released a report describing trends in carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (E. coli and relatives that are resistant to all penicillin derivatives, and are also typically resistant to most or all other drugs; CRE) and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producing organisms … Continue reading →

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Louise Slaughter, Congresswoman and Microbiologist, RIP

Posted on March 19, 2018 by mikethemadbiologist

Friday, Democratic Congresswoman Louise Slaughter died after complications from a fall. She was a stalwart for women’s rights, and co-author of the Violence Against Women Act; Slaughter also was one of the few congress(wo)men who attempted to delay the confirmation … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Antibiotics, Civil Liberties, Democrats, Genetics | 1 Comment

Language Differences And The Public Response To Antibiotic Resistance

Posted on January 25, 2018 by mikethemadbiologist

Years ago, when I worked in public health, a repairman was working in the office, and he approached me and asked, “So, antibiotics, are you for them or against them?” I explained that we advocated for them to be used … Continue reading →

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The Second Worst Cost Of Antibiotic Resistance

Posted on October 1, 2017 by mikethemadbiologist

Of course, the first is the illness and death that results from untreatable infections. But Bill Hanage makes a very important point (boldface mine): Although the risk of getting a completely resistant infection is low in the United States, about … Continue reading →

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The Clinical And Bioinformatic CTX-M Problem

Posted on September 7, 2017 by mikethemadbiologist

We’ll get to what CTX-M is in a bit, but first some biology background. Let’s talk about some game theory carbapenem antibiotics (also referred to as carbapenems): Before we get started, let’s do a quick biology review. A serious health … Continue reading →

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We Don’t Know How Much Resistance Many Antibiotic Resistance Genes Actually Provide

Posted on July 13, 2017 by mikethemadbiologist

This is a problem. At the recent ASM 2017 Microbe meeting (the annual meeting for the American Society for Microbiology), there were many groups, academic, governmental, and industry, trying to use bacterial genomic sequence to predict which antibiotics would be … Continue reading →

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Maybe We Need To Remind Patients That Antibiotics Are Chemotherapy

Posted on June 28, 2017 by mikethemadbiologist

After all, two of the leading journals about antibiotic resistance do have chemotherapy in the title. One reason, I think, many people who try to get antibiotics from their doctors for problems that don’t call for an antibiotic is the … Continue reading →

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What We Mean By ‘Antibiotic Resistance’: The Ciprofloxacin-Shigella Alert Edition

Posted on April 24, 2017 by mikethemadbiologist

While the problem of antibiotic resistance is a common topic (and not just on this blog!), there is little discussion of how we actually measure it–and those details do matter. So before we get to a recent CDC alert–one all … Continue reading →

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UTIs: The Other Part Of Antibiotic Resistance That Should Worry Us

Posted on April 20, 2017 by mikethemadbiologist

I’ve written frequently about the danger CREs–carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae–pose. To recap, CREs are E. coli and its relatives that are resistant to all* penicillin-related drugs (those that start with ceph- or cef-, or end with -cillin or -penem). The bad news … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, E. coli | 1 Comment

Pleiotropy Might Help Slow The Evolution Of Antibiotic Resistance

Posted on March 9, 2017 by mikethemadbiologist

Well, there’s a silver lining in a recently-discovered dark cloud. Before we get started, let’s do a quick biology review. A serious health problem are carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (‘CRE’)–E. coli and relatives that are resistant to all antibiotics that start with … Continue reading →

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