Antibiotics

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

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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

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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

WCK 6777 is a once-a-day, β-lactam enhancer used for outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy

Over a million people around the world died annually due to antibiotic resistance between 1990 and 2021, and more than 39 million could die from antibiotic-resistant infections over the next 25 years, according to a global analysis, published in The Lancet journal. Future deaths from antibiotic resistance are estimated to be highest in South Asia -- including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh -- where a total of 11.8 million deaths directly due to it are forecast between 2025 and 2050, a collaboration of researchers forming the Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) Project said. Antibiotic, or antimicrobial, resistance is when drugs designed to kill infectious bacteria and fungi are rendered ineffective because the bugs have evolved and developed an ability to defeat these drugs. The researchers said deaths due to antibiotic resistance will also be high in other parts of southern and eastern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Further, trends between 1990 and 2021 suggested that

In a first, the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued norms on managing waste during antibiotic production

Pentids are widely prescribed for treating bacterial infections of the respiratory tract, throat, lungs, nose, skin, and sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis

Viruses called bacteriophages, or phages, target bacteria but can't infect humans or other higher organisms

With the government focusing on boosting domestic manufacturing of pharmaceutical products, India's medicine and antibiotics exports have started gaining significant market share in the US. According to the commerce ministry data, India is the third largest import source of 'medicine put up for retail sale' for the US. The top two are Ireland and Switzerland. In 2023, the country exported these medicines worth USD 9 billion as against 7.33 billion in 2022. With this increase in the shipments, India's share went up to 13.1 per cent in 2023 from 10.08 per cent in 2022. Share of the top exporter Ireland fell to 13.85 per cent in 2023 from 17.18 per cent in 2022 because its sales in the US went down to USD 9.5 billion in 2023 from USD 12.5 billion in 2022. The second biggest exporter Switzerland also saw its share decline to 13.7 per cent last year from 17.4 per cent in 2022. Similarly, India has increased its share among exporters of antibiotics in the Italian market. It is ranked 10

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Zydus Lifesciences said the reports were 'misleading and erroneous'