According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, reported that humans living near livestock in the Netherlands are at a significantly higher risk for contracting MRSA. The study found that doubling the density of pigs in a municipality increased the likelihood of a human in said municipality by 24.7%, while doubling the density of cattle increases the likelihood by 76.9%. emerging infectious disease

U.S. Representative Henry Waxman (D-California) has announced plans to propose a bill to improve the information release of antibiotics use in meat. This bill if passed would require drug manufacturers to provide the FDA with information on how there drugs are being used on farms. The consumers union has announced its support of the bill. farmfutures

Researchers at the CDC have announced results of a study which treated extensively resistant TB patients with the 12 year-old antibiotic Linezolib. Of the 39 patients treated 34 were cured of TB in 6 months. Linezolib has been used to treat other bacterial infections but was considered ineffective against TB until now. New England Journal of Medicine

Researchers at the University of California Irvine have announced that changes in hospital ICU practices would dramatically lower the number of patients being infected with MRSA. The changes would stop isolation of MRSA carriers but require all ICU patients’ skin be washed with chlorhexidine soap and application of mupirocin ointment to the nasal passages. The results of a study illustrated that these practices reduced the number of patients with MRSA bacteria living on their skin or in their noses, and reduced the number of infected patients by 44% . Healthcanal

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have published a study testing a new malarial drug which is twice as effective as ACTs and requires only one easy dose instead of the complex ACTs in mice. In the mice that were tested, the mice treated with a single dose of trioxane had nearly double the survival time of the mice which received the multi-dose ACT option. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry

A recent study conducted by researchers at Virginia Tech University and Colorado State University has shown that there are high concentrations of antibiotic resistant bacteria downstream from many cities and towns. The study which examined the South Platte and Cache la Poudre rivers in Colorado found that there was a significant increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria downstream of human development versus upstream even though the human sewage was filtered to a wastewater treatment plant. Environmental Science and Technology

Researchers at John Hopkins University have published a study showing that the HIV treatment drug nelfinavir is effective at treating aggressive breast cancer in Mice. The drug must still go through human trials before it will be licensed for use as a breast cancer treatment. Journal of the National Cancer Institute

The World Health Organization has reported mounting evidence showing that Artemisinin-resistant malaria has spread to Myanmar and Vietnam. WHO is particularly concerned because it was believed that artemisinin-resistant TB had been contained at the Thailand borders. Drug resistance is made more prevalent by the common use of counterfeit and poor quality drugs on the market in Southeast Asia. examiner

The NIH, NSF, NIFA, and UK’s BBSCR have announce joint funding of 12 grants totaling $12.7million for research into how changes in the environment due to human activity have affected diseases such as West Nile, Lyme, and other ailments, many of which are drug resistant. The grants will focus on how habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution and other human caused environmental factors, have affected the spread of a number of diseases. redorbit

Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have reported an outbreak of a new pathogen called invasive non-Typhodial salmonella (iNTS) in sub-Saharan Africa. The intestinal and blood-borne infection has a 45% mortality rate and has shown itself to be evolving genetic resistance to the drugs used to treat the disease. The outbreak is being exacerbated by the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the region which is compromising many patients ability to fight off the infection. Using the power of whole-genome sequencing researchers are monitoring the emergence and spread of iNTS. counselheal

Researchers at UCLA medical center have announced the discovery of a drug which can be used to fight antibiotic resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, a bacteria which has been plaguing hospitals and post-surgical patients. The drug, LpxC-1, does not kill the drug-resistant bacteria, instead it blocks the bacteria from producing proteins which then causes an inflammatory response which is the actual cause of death in many patients. mBio

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have announced the results of a recent study on the use of chloroquine against malaria in Senegal. The results show that 70% of malarial parasites are once again vulnerable to chloroquine, the malarial drug of choice until the parasite developed immunity. Chloroquine was the frontline drug used against malaria for 50 years, before overuse and misuse led to the parasite developing immunity to the drug American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

500,000 people have signed a petition pushing for grocery store giant, Trader Joe’s, to stop selling meat from animals treated with antibiotics. The nationwide push is being led by the Meat Without Drugs Campaign and has received national attention. The campaign has targeted Trader Joes because of its past polices on similar topics such as cage-less hens, and the fact that it already sell some antibiotic free meats. NPR

The WHO has announced "pre-qulaification" for a malaria drug produced by Cipla, an Indian pharmaceutical company. The drug, a combination of artesunate and mefloquine, is a fixed dose of either a single dose a day, or 2 doses over three day. the simplicity of the treatment regime should increase patient compliance, a significant problem in malaria erradication efforts and for growing drug resistance. The drug will be used to treat malaria across Southeastern Asia. . Reuters

Sanofi, large French pharmaceutical company, and TB alliance, large have announced that they are collaborating in an attempt to accelerate new treatment for drug resistant TB. The agreement means that TB alliance will be working with Sanofi technicians on a number of compounds which Sanofi has research indicating success against TB but not yet tested.

Researchers at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, have reported the discovery of a molecule MMV390048, which appears to be a possible single dose malarial cure, which also works against a wide range of drug-resistant malarial strains. The molecule is stilling in testing and scheduled to enter clinical trials in 2013, but when mice were treated with a single dose, they were cured of malaria. SCI DEV

Researchers at the University of Missouri are experimenting with bacteria phage viruses, viruses that destroy bacteria, in an attempt kill off drug resistant bacteria. Their experiments were on bacteria in water filtration systems and showed 97% success rate when combined with chlorine against drug resistant bacteria. News-medical

University of London has announced the production of a handheld nanotech device which can read whether or not a patient has malaria as well as if it is drug-resistant. It uses nanotechnology to analyze the malarial DNA in the patient’s blood sample, and only takes 20 minutes to process. This devise could make the diagnosis and misdiagnosis (a major problem in many malaria cases) much simpler and cheaper for patient around the world. Nano werk

Researchers from the Riga East University Hospital have announced the creation of a drug called Delamanid, which has shown progress against both multidrug resistant TB and extensively drug resistant TB. The drug when taken over a course of 6 months resulted in 74.5% of patients with mdr or edr being cured or on a stable treatment plan. Science daily

The president’s council of advisors on science and technology announced a plan to double the number of new prescription drugs accepted by the FDA. The council is urging the FDA to release more drugs onto the market. This announcement comes after the Romney campaign attacks the Obama administration for over regulating the pharmaceutical industry. Medreps

NIH reports that drug resistant Klebsiella has claimed its 7th victim since its outbreak in the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center last year. The boy who contracted the bacterial infection and ultimately died of it was already immune-compromised by a genetic condition. The case is troubling because the hospital was cleansed after the outbreak and was thought until now to have ended the outbreak. Washington Post

Researchers at Hauptman-Woodward medical have announced that they have identified a series of genes in A. baumannii, a gram negative multidrug resistant bacterium, which are required for the bacterium to reproduce. A. baumannii commonly infects the elderly, the ill, and recent surgery patients and has proven extremely difficult to clear from hospitals. These genes may spark a new line of drugs to combat A. baumannii as well as being other gram-negative infections. genengnews

Researchers at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland have discovered a natural antibiotic, pyridomycin, produced by the bacterium Dactylosporangium fulvum. The antibiotic appears to be effective against multidrug resistant TB. By binding onto the InHa enzyme site responsible for resistance to many front line drugs, pyridomycin is able to block the creation of mycolic acids necessary for cell wall development. medicalxpress

ArtPharm, a Chinese company has announced that it will now be making its new malaria drug Artequick, a combination of Artemisinin and Piperaquine available in Nigeria. This follows the Nigerian National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control announcing that it had approved and registered Artequick. Artequick is a single dose, 24hour treatment for multidrug resistant malaria with 98% efficacy and less than 3% side effects. Allafrica

The World Health Organizations reports that cost cutting measures and budget cut backs could result in a significant rise in TB,HIV and drug resistant TB in eastern Europe and Central Asia. Many member nations of the EU are facing austerity cutback which is resulting in significant defunding of their TB and HIV programs. WHO warns that the long term cost of increase treatment cost and lives will result in economic losses of approximately 12 billion dollars over 5 years. Chicago tribune

A coalition of 157 scientists and 49 ranchers released coordinated letters at a ‘Keep Antibiotics Working.org’ press conference. The letters, urge the government and other farmers to stop using antibiotics on farm animals which are not sick in order to prevent antibiotic resistant bacteria from infecting herds and from causing illness in the general public. Food poisoning

Novaris, a Swiss pharmaceutical company has announced the release of its new breast cancer drug, Afinator, after it was approved by the European Commission. Afinator will now be used to treat advanced breast cancer in post-menopausal women. It has been shown to work even when the cancer is resistant to the current methods of treatment. zenopa