Antibiotics

The growing threat of antimicrobial resistance is making even routine surgical procedures more challenging, with surgeons warning that the loss of effective antibiotics could undermine decades of progress in safe surgery and increase the risk of life-threatening post-operative infections. Surgeons say that while antibiotics remain critical in preventing surgical site infections, their indiscriminate use has fuelled resistance, forcing hospitals to adopt stricter antibiotic stewardship practices and emphasise infection prevention measures over prolonged antibiotic prescriptions. Modern surgery depends as much on effective antibiotics as it does on surgical skill, Dr Amarchand Bajaj, senior consultant for general surgery at the Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research, said. "Whether it is an appendectomy, gall bladder surgery or major gastrointestinal surgery, the inability to treat infections due to resistant bacteria can significantly increase complications and prolong ...

Wockhardt's FDA-approved Zaynich marks a breakthrough in India's pharmaceutical innovation, offering a new weapon against antimicrobial resistance

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For decades, India excelled at making affordable generic medicines. But creating a brand-new drug from scratch remained a rare achievement. Now, Wockhardt has made history with Zaynich

Once-a-day injectable antibiotic aimed at treatment beyond hospitals through outpatient centres

Wockhardt expects novel drugs to contribute over half its revenue within five years as it expands a differentiated antibiotic portfolio built through decades of R&D

The very drugs that transformed India's health, agriculture, and development now threaten to undermine all three

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Antibiotic-resistant typhoid infections accounted for at least 87 per cent of India's disease-related economic burden in 2023, according to a study in The Lancet Regional Health Southeast Asia. The total economic burden due to typhoid fever was estimated at Rs 123 billion. Children under the age of 10 incurred the highest economic burden, contributing to over half of the costs, researchers, including those from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Christian Medical College in Vellore, found. They also estimated that households bore 91 per cent of expenses, and 70,000 families faced "catastrophic" health expenditure. Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana), Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal were estimated to account for 51 per cent of the national costs. Typhoid fever is an infectious disease commonly transmitted through contaminated food or water. Symptoms can include high fever, fatigue, headache and stomach pain. The authors said the findings pr

The report shows while fewer antibiotics are prescribed in the community than a decade ago, there is still room to improve antibiotic prescribing in hospitals

Is pneumonia just a bad cold? Do all children need antibiotics or hospital care? In this episode of our fact-check series, a pulmonologist debunks common pneumonia myths

Resistance can decline and older drugs can regain usefulness, but only if hospitals, communities and policymakers commit to long-term behavioural change and evidence-based interventions

German scientists have discovered that caffeine can interfere with antibiotics like amoxicillin and ciprofloxacin in bacteria, raising questions about how diet may influence drug effectiveness

The WHO has recommended against the use of antibiotics even in patients with severe Covid when a concurrent bacterial infection is not suspected. The global health body has released updated recommendations for the clinical management of people with Covid which, it said, are based on evidence generated from recent meta-analysis of outcomes of patients treated with antibiotics for Covid. "For patients with non-severe COVID-19 and a low clinical suspicion of a concurrent bacterial infection, we recommend no empirical antibiotics. For patients with severe COVID-19 and a low clinical suspicion of a concurrent bacterial infection, we suggest no empirical antibiotics," the WHO said. The WHO said that as COVID-19 epidemiology and severity have changed, and as emergency measures have subsided, the evidence behind a number of recommendations has changed. In parallel, evolution of health systems and the global environment have meant that the recommendations are implemented in a very different

Changes are required both in manufacturing practices as well as in regulatory oversight, says Voulvoulis

Company to launch Zaynich in India this fiscal; sees $7 bn market in US and EU and ₹17,000 crore in India; USFDA, EU filings underway for FY26

Researchers calculated that about 8,500 tons of antibiotics -- nearly one-third of what people consume annually -- end up in river systems

Eighty per cent of total length of India's rivers could be posing environmental and health risks due to antibiotic pollution, a study has estimated. Along with India, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Vietnam, and Pakistan are among the countries facing similar risks due to pollution from antibiotics, the research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Nexus, said. Researchers from McGill University, Canada, explained that antibiotics -- they help fight bacterial diseases -- are not completely metabolised while passing through the body, nor completely destroyed or removed by most wastewater treatment facilities. Potentially 315 million people in India could be exposed to environmental risks arising from rivers contaminated with antibiotics, according to the study, which measured amounts of 21 antibiotics at 877 locations globally. Findings highlight the need for appropriate wastewater management plans and improving current practices, the team said. Regulations a

Health ministry bans use of all formulations containing chloramphenicol and nitrofurans in any food-producing animal rearing system over concerns of misuse

They discourage excessive use of antibiotics in poultry and livestock