The official MedZine Blog

The prevalence of resistance to commonly prescribed antibiotics in children with urinary tract infections is high, especially in countries outside the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), according to a recent article in the British Medical Journal. In an editorial, an Australian professor of General Practise Research warns about the drastic consequences of this finding for clinical management. Continue reading

Antibiotic use during the third trimester of pregnancy leads to an increased risk of childhood wheeze, according to an article published in the European Respiratory Journal. Antibiotic use in pregnancy and the risk of wheeze is a widely debated topic and a new study has evaluated whether confounding factors could explain this suggested association. But an excess risk of wheezing after antibiotic exposure during the third trimester of pregnancy remained after adjustment for confounding factors. Continue reading

Treatment with antibiotics is often sufficient for curing acute appendicitis, scientists of the Amsterdam Medical Centre write in Surgery. In a small prospective cohort study, the researchers monitored the clinical course of simple appendicitis in children treated with antibiotics instead of appendectomy. Continue reading

Using antibiotics at an early age could lead to permanent changes in the gut that increase the risk of obesity and metabolic abnormalities later on in life. This is suggested by Laura M. Cox and colleagues at the NTU Langone Medical Center in New York. The findings are published in the scientific journal Cell. Continue reading

‘Lonely’ bacteria are more likely to mutate and, therefore, develop resistance than bacteria in large groups. This is shown by research from dr. Rok Krašovec and his colleagues at The University of Manchester, published this week in Nature Communications. Continue reading

The increase and spread of bacteria and fungi resistant to antimicrobial drugs is a global threat. Health care is depending on antimicrobials in many areas, including oncology and surgery. Last December, the annual reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on the incidence and distribution of drug resistant microbes were published. Continue reading