Category Archives: E. coli

Given the Prevalence of STIs, We Need Doxy-PEP, but There Could Be Consequences

Posted on October 17, 2023 by mikethemadbiologist

And not good ones. For those who don’t know what Doxy-PEP is, Apoorva Mandavilli provides a good, concise summary (boldface mine): In a bid to stem the resurgence of sexually transmitted infections, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans … Continue reading →

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Healthcare Insurance Versus Actual Healthcare

Posted on August 30, 2019 by mikethemadbiologist

One of the perpetually frustrating things about our healthcare debate is that it’s largely a healthcare insurance debate. There is little direct discussion of how various proposed systems would deliver actual healthcare. A good healthcare system, of course, would be … Continue reading →

Posted in E. coli, Healthcare | 1 Comment

Of Mice And Men And Antibiotic Resistance

Posted on April 19, 2018 by mikethemadbiologist

A recent mBio paper about bacteria and antimicrobial resistance found its way into the popular press, and, as you might expect, it’s not good. The problem aren’t the data in the paper, but the context (or lack thereof) into which … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, E. coli | 1 Comment

A Problem With Microbiological Rapid Diagnostics

Posted on April 12, 2018 by mikethemadbiologist

On the whole, rapid microbiological diagnostics are a good thing, as they can cut the diagnosis time from days (often 36-48 hours) down to a few hours. Depending on the organism and the test, they are often either be a … Continue reading →

Posted in E. coli, Public Health | 1 Comment

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

Prospective Bacterial Genomic Surveillance

Posted on September 20, 2016 by mikethemadbiologist

One of the things the evul federal gummint is gearing up to every food borne bacterial disease isolate that is sent to either the CDC or public health labs in what is known as the GenomeTrakr Network (I’ve heard this … Continue reading →

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Bacterial Whole Genome Sequencing And The Clinic: The Future Is Almost Here

Posted on August 30, 2016 by mikethemadbiologist

I heard this talk almost a year ago*, so I’m glad this paper is finally out (I’ll translate into English below; boldface mine): The increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria is a serious global challenge. Here, we studied prospectively whether … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, E. coli, Genomics, KPC, MRSA, NDM-1, Public Health | 1 Comment

What’s More Fun Than Global Warming? Global Warming And Diarrhea!

Posted on June 22, 2016 by mikethemadbiologist

There’s probably some vomiting involved as well (boldface mine): Background. Positive associations have been noted between temperature and diarrhea incidence, but considerable uncertainty surrounds quantitative estimates of this relationship because of pathogen-specific factors and a scarcity of data on the influence … Continue reading →

Posted in E. coli, Fucking Morons, Global Warming | 1 Comment

Colistin Resistance Is Now Linked to Carbapenem Resistance: We Failed

Posted on January 9, 2016 by mikethemadbiologist

For those just tuning in, a little over a month ago, the microbiology and public health world was rocked by the discovery of plasmid-borne colistin resistance: First, some background: polymyxins, including polymyxin E also known as colistin, are the last … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, E. coli, Plasmids, Public Health, We're Really Fucked | 5 Comments