NICE, France -- A global survey of 4,500 people in 11 countries who reported taking an antibiotic within the past 12 months found many people were concerned about antibiotic resistance but fewer understood how improper use of antibiotic medications contributes to the problem.  Based on these results, the international committee of health experts overseeing the survey called for tailored antibiotic ...

A study of how the immune system reacts to strains of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria — emerging strains that sicken otherwise healthy people, or so-called “community-acquired” infections — has shown for the first time that these strains are more deadly and better at evading human immune defenses than more common S. aureus strains that originate in hospitals and other healthcare ...

Fewer antibiotic prescriptions lead to fewer superbugs. That's the take-home message behind a new study in the Oct. 15, 2005 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online. The study found that reducing antibiotic use for pediatric respiratory tract infections resulted in lower rates of carriage of drug-resistant bacteria. Drug-resistant bacteria, commonly called superbugs, are fast becoming a problem ...

Most children with infective conjunctivitis do not need treatment with an antibiotic, suggests a study published by The Lancet.   One in eight school children have an episode of conjunctivitis every year. This amounts to more than 1 million episodes in the United Kingdom and more than 5 million in the U.S. Diagnosis of the condition is usually straightforward but ...

BETHESDA, Md. -- A national survey sponsored by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) to assess consumer awareness of serious infections found a majority of consumers (66 percent) have either heard or read about the problem of antibiotic resistance in treating serious infections. The majority (52 percent) believe antibiotic resistance is a very or extremely serious problem in the ...