Antibiotic

न्यूयॉर्क: शोधकर्ताओं का कहना है कि 60 साल या उससे अधिक आयु के मरीजों को जितना अधिक एंटीबायोटिक दिया जायेगा, उतना ही उनके इंफ्लेमेटरी बाउल डिजीज (आईबीडी) से ग्रसित होने की संभावना बढ़ती जायेगी। न्यूयॉर्क यूनिवर्सिटी के ग्रॉसमैन स्कूल ऑफ मेडिसिन के शोधकर्ता एडम एस फाये के अनुसार, 60 साल और उससे अधिक आयु के लोगों के क्रॉन बीमारी और अल्सरेटीव कोलाइटिस से ग्रसित होने में एंटीबायोटिक दवाओं के सेवन की भूमिका रही है। शोध अध्ययन के दौरान 23 लाख मरीजों के रिकॉर्ड की समीक्षा की गई। शोधकर्ताओं का कहना है कि दूसरे व्यस्कों में पर्यावरणीय कारक जेनेटिक्स से अधिक महत्वपूर्ण हैं। उन्होंने कहा कि जब क्रॉन बीमारी और अल्सरेटीव कोलाइटिस से ग्रसित युवा मरीजों के रिकॉर्ड को देखा जाये तो पता चलेगा कि उनकी फैमिली हिस्ट्री मजबूत रही है। लेकिन अधिक आयु के लोगों के मामले में ऐसा नहीं है यानी पर्यावरण में कुछ ऐसा है जिससे यह हो रहा है। शोधकर्ताओं ने डेनमार्क के नेशनल डाटाबेस का इस्तेमाल किया। यह सभी लोगों के मेडिकल रिकॉर्ड का डाटाबेस है। शोधकर्ताओं ने 2000 से 2018 के बीच आईबीडी से ग्रसित होने वाले 60 साल और उससे अधिक आयु के लोगों को लिखी जाने वाली दवाओं के रिकॉर्ड देखे। शोधकर्ताओं ने देखा कि उन मरीजों को एंटीबायोटिक का कौन सा कोर्स किया है और उन्होंने हाल ही में कब एंटीबायोटिक ली थी। उन्होंने पाया कि एंटीबायोटिक के इस्तेमाल से आईबीडी से ग्रसित होने की संभावना बढ़ जाती है और जैसे-जैसे मरीज अन्य एंटीबायोटिक का कोर्स करता है, वैसे-वैसे यह संभावना भी बढ़ती जाती है। एक कोर्स के बाद मरीज के आईबीडी से ग्रसित होने की संभावना 27 प्रतिशत अधिक बढ़ जाती है। एंटीबायोटिक का दो कोर्स करने पर यह जोखिम 55 प्रतिशत और तीन कोर्स करने पर 67 प्रतिशत बढ़ जाती है। चार कोर्स करने पर यह संभावना 96 प्रतिशत और पांच या उससे अधिक कोर्स करने पर 236 प्रतिशत बढ़ जाती है। (एजेंसी) यह भी पढ़े► लिथियम की कम डोज किडनी के लिये वरदान: शोध

Healthy adults who eat a diverse diet, with at least 8-10 grams of soluble fibre such as grains, beans, lentils, nuts and some fruits and vegetables daily, have fewer antibiotic-resistant microbes in their guts, according to a study. Microbes that have resistance to various commonly-used antibiotics such as tetracycline and aminoglycoside are a significant source of risk for people worldwide, with the widely held expectation that the problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) - the term that refers to bacteria, viruses, and fungi that are resistant to antibiotics - is likely to worsen throughout the coming decades. Antimicrobial resistance in people is largely based in their gut microbiome, where the microbes are known to carry genetically encoded strategies to survive contact with antibiotics. "And the results lead directly to the idea that modifying the diet has the potential to be a new weapon in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. And we're not talking about eating some exotic diet either, but a diverse diet, adequate in fibre," said research molecular biologist Danielle Lemay at the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. In the study, published in the journal mBio, the researchers found that regularly eating a diet with higher levels of fibre and lower levels of protein, especially from beef and pork, was significantly correlated with lower levels of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARG) among their gut microbes. Those with the lowest levels of ARG in their gut microbiomes also had a greater abundance of strict anaerobic microbes, which are bacteria that do not thrive when oxygen is present and are a hallmark of a healthy gut with low inflammation. Bacterial species in the family Clostridiaceae were the most numerous anaerobes found. But the amount of animal protein in the diet was not a top predictor of high levels of ARG. The strongest evidence was for the association of higher amounts of soluble fibre in the diet with lower levels of ARGs. "Surprisingly, the most important predictor of low levels of ARG, even more than fibre, was the diversity of the diet. This suggests that we may want to eat from diverse sources of foods that tend to be higher in soluble fibre for maximum benefit," Lemay added. On the other hand, those people who had the highest levels of ARG in their gut microbiomes were found to have significantly less diverse gut microbiomes compared to groups with low and medium levels of ARG. "Our diets provide food for gut microbes. This all suggests that what we eat might be a solution to reduce antimicrobial resistance by modifying the gut microbiome," Lemay said. (agency) Read More► 5 Healthy Breakfast Products to Start on A Happy Note

Danish researchers have found evidence that pigs can spread dangerous antibiotic-resistant superbug Clostridioides difficile to humans. A team from the University of Copenhagen and Statens Serum Institut in Denmark found samples of the superbug C.difficile more commonly in piglets and sows than slaughter pigs across 14 pig farms in Denmark. The difference may be due to the younger pigs having a microbiota composition that makes them more susceptible to a successful colonisation, the researchers said. C. difficile is a bacterium that infects the human gut and is resistant to all but three current antibiotics. Some strains contain genes that allow them to produce toxins that can cause damaging inflammation in the gut, leading to life-threatening diarrhoea, mostly in the elderly and hospitalised patients who have been treated with antibiotics. "Our finding of multiple and shared resistance genes indicate that C. difficile is a reservoir of antimicrobial resistance genes that can be exchanged between animals and humans," said Dr. Semeh Bejaoui from the varsity. "This alarming discovery suggests that resistance to antibiotics can spread more widely than previously thought, and confirms links in the resistance chain leading from farm animals to humans," Bejaoui added. The study was presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) being held in Portugal. In the study, the team investigated the prevalence of C. difficile strains in livestock (pigs) and the potential for zoonotic spread of antimicrobial resistance genes by comparing to clinical isolates from Danish hospital patients. Stool samples were collected from 514 pigs in two batches from farms across Denmark between 2020 and 2021. Batch A included 330 samples from sows, piglets and slaughter pigs from fourteen farms in 2020. The 184 samples in batch B were collected during slaughtering in 2021. Out of 514 pigs samples, 54 had evidence of C. difficile. Further analyses of 40 samples, found that C. difficile was more common in piglets and sows than slaughter pigs. The researchers speculate that this may be due to the difference in age between piglets and adult pigs with the younger pigs having a microbiota composition that makes them more susceptible to a successful colonisation. In total, thirteen sequence types found in animals matched those found in patient's stool samples. ST11, an animal-associated strain, was the most common. In sixteen cases, ST11 strains in humans and animals were identical. All isolates from animals were positive for the toxin genes and ten were also hypervirulent, with an even greater capacity to cause disease. In total, 38 isolates from the animals contained at least one resistance gene and overall, resistance was predicted for seven classes of antibiotics, of which the most common were macrolides, beta-lactams, aminoglicosides and vancomycin -- which are important for treating severe bacterial infections. The team blamed the overuse of antibiotics in human medicine and as cheap production tools on farms affecting efforts to cure bacterial infections. "Of particular concern is the large reservoir of genes conferring resistance to aminoglycosides, a class of antibiotics to which C. difficile is intrinsically resistant they are not needed for resistance in this species. C. difficile thus plays a role in spreading these genes to other susceptible species," Bejaoui said. (agency) Read More► Low Dose Lithium May Help Improve Kidney Health

New York, July 17 (IANS) A new study has found that the antibiotic azithromycin was no more effective than a placebo in preventing symptoms of Covid-19 among non-hospitalised patients.The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, also indicated that it might increase their chance of hospitalisation, despite widespread prescription of the antibiotic for the disease."These findings do not support the routine use of azithromycin for outpatient SARS-CoV-2 infection," said lead author Catherine E. Olde burg from the University of California at San Francisco.Azithromycin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, is widely prescribed as a treatment for COVID-19 in the US and the rest of the world."The hypothesis is that it has anti-inflammatory properties that may help prevent progression if treated early in the disease," said Oldenburg, adding that they did not find this to be the case.The study included 263 participants who all tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 within seven days before entering the study.None were hospitalised at the time of enrollment. In a random selection process, 171 participants received a single, 1.2-gram oral dose of azithromycin and 92 received an identical placebo.On day 14 of the study, 50 per cent of the participants remained symptom-free in both groups. By day 21, five of the participants who received azithromycin had been hospitalised with severe symptoms of Covid-19 and none of the placebo group had been hospitalised.The researchers concluded that treatment with a single dose of azithromycin compared to placebo did not result in a greater likelihood of being symptom-free."Most of the trials done so far with azithromycin have focused on hospitalized patients with pretty severe disease," said Oldenburg.--IANSvc/skp/