One of humanity’s oldest and deadliest killers is staging a modern-day comeback. The so-called “white plague” reclaimed its title as the world’s deadliest infectious disease in 2023, after being briefly overtaken by COVID-19 during the first three years of the pandemic. And the US isn’t immune. While the country still has one of the lowest … Read more
Forget bedbugs and cockroaches — NYC is battling “superbugs” that can’t easily be quashed. Candida auris, for one, survives on surfaces even after cleaning, frequently evades standard antifungal treatments and can trigger fatal bloodstream infections. New York has seen a steady increase in Candida auris cases since the state officially detected the dangerous fungus in … Read more
Welcome to Club Meds. More than 4 out of 10 senior citizens take five or more prescription medications — a phenomenon known as polypharmacy, research shows. This practice increases the risk of addiction and medication errors, like taking the wrong dosage or skipping doses altogether. Potential consequences include hospitalization, mental impairment and painful falls. Many … Read more
Chronic lower back pain is one of the top complaints that sends Americans to their doctors — and it’s a leading cause of missed workdays and disability claims. While slipped discs, arthritis and spinal problems are often blamed, for some, the real culprit is an infection. Now, there’s hope on the horizon for these patients. … Read more
Scientists in Switzerland have announced the discovery of a new class of antibiotics shown to be effective against deadly, drug-resistant bacteria. The antibiotic, called zosurabalpin, works by blocking a bacterial molecule called lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which is responsible for creating the outer membrane that protects a harmful bacteria, Acinetobacter baumannii. Acinetobacter is a “gram-negative” bacteria, which means … Read more
The widespread use of antibiotics has long been implicated in the rise of drug-resistant infections. Now, scientists wonder whether unrelated drugs play a role too. In a new study, antidepressants — designed to regulate the brain chemistry of patients with mental illness — were also linked to Escherichia coli (E. coli) antibiotic resistance. Researchers reported that … Read more
A ‘silent-spreader’ STI which can cause infertility is feared to be evolving into a superbug. Mycoplasma genitalium, also known as M. genitalium or M. gen, has become resistant to every antibiotic used to treat it so far. The sexually transmitted infection was first discovered in London in the 1980s — but a test has only been … Read more