News in NTM
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NewsUncovered: A long-lasting history of leprosy in the Americas
A new study challenges the view that leprosy is a disease that was introduced into the Americas during European colonization. A strain of leprosy-causing mycobacterium, Mycobacterium lepromatosis, infected humans in the Americas before European contact.
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NewsScientists introduce new engineered drug candidate for Mycobacterium abscessus to save lives
Scientists have introduced a promising drug candidate engineered to target a deadly and emerging infection. They took a hyper-detailed look into the problem of Mycobacterium abscessus, and chemically re-engineered a widely-used rifamycin antibiotic.
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NewsAdd some spice: Curcumin helps treat Mycobacterium abscessus
Researchers have found that adding curcumin boosts the efficacy of bedaquiline, an antimycobacterial used to treat tuberculosis, in combating M. abscessus infections. Curcumin is the compound that gives turmeric its characteristic bright orange color.
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NewsA*STAR spin-off NalaGenetics implements nationwide drug reaction screening for leprosy patients in Indonesia
NalaGenetics, a spin-off from A*STAR Genome Institute of Singapore (A*STAR GIS), will be transforming leprosy treatments in Indonesia with a nationwide genetic screening programme with their PGx1301 diagnostic kit.
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NewsTailored guidelines and reduced stigma needed to tackle leprosy, Irish case study reveals
A case report on an adult with an imported case of leprosy in Ireland shows that there are notable challenges in tackling the disease in settings where it is rare. The affected individual was one of five individuals with leprosy reported in Ireland in the past decade.
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NewsJordan becomes first country to receive WHO verification for eliminating leprosy
The World Health Organization (WHO) has congratulated the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for becoming the first country in the world to be officially verified as having eliminated leprosy.
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NewsA new acquired defense strategy different from CRISPR activates anti-mycobacteriophage immunity
A new study suggests endogenous insertion sequences (ISs) in mycobacteria can activate the defensive gene islands, thereby helping bacteria quickly acquire a broad-spectrum anti-phage ability.
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NewsFrom treatment to tap: discovering the secrets of pathogen survival in drinking water systems
Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh are investigating how some DWPIs can survive drinking water treatment processes and determine better treatment processes to stop them from entering the human body.
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NewsIn medieval England, leprosy spread between red squirrels and people, genome evidence shows
Evidence from archaeological sites in the medieval English city of Winchester shows that English red squirrels once served as an important host for Mycobacterium leprae strains that caused leprosy in people, researchers report.
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NewsNew enzymatic cocktail can kill tuberculosis-causing mycobacteria
A new study shows that an enzymatic cocktail can kill a variety of mycobacterial species of bacteria, including those that cause tuberculosis.
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NewsBreakthrough antibiotic shows promise against obstinate mycobacterial infections
Researchers assemble a new antibiotic candidate, COE-PNH2, offering a more effective therapeutic option against hard-to-treat mycobacterial lung diseases.
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NewsNew blood test cuts infection diagnosis time from months to hours
Researchers have designed a platform to perform blood-based diagnoses of nontuberculosis mycobacteria, simplifying and shortening a long-complicated procedure from 6 months to 2 hours.
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NewsExposure to Mycobacterium seems to remodel immune response against TB
A collaborative team has uncovered how prior exposure to bacteria changes the lung’s innate immune response - and what it might mean for vaccines.
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NewsNew approach could address antibiotic resistance to Mycobacterium abscessus
Scientists have designed new versions of the drug spectinomycin that overcome efflux, the main mechanism driving resistance.
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NewsAHRI and BGI Genomics sign MoU to enhance public health outcomes in Ethiopia
Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI) and BGI Genomics have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enhance the Institute’s genomics and precision medicine capabilities.
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NewsDrinking water quality linked to lung infections in people with cystic fibrosis
High levels of some minerals and metals in environmental water supplies may increase the risk of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) pulmonary infections in people with cystic fibrosis, according to a new study.
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NewsNovel combination therapy counters antibiotic-resistant Mycobacterium infections
Researchers have discovered a novel therapy by combining two antibiotics, rifaximin and clarithromycin, to treat Mycobacterium abscessus, a non-tuberculous mycobacterium (NTM) that causes chronic lung-related infections.
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NewsToddler diagnosed with rare Mycobacterium marinum infection following iguana bite
A 3-year-old girl was infected with an unusual Mycobacterium marinum infection, that developed following an iguana bite, report the doctors who treated her at this year’s ECCMID in April.
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NewsCommercial water purification system may have caused Mycobacterium infection in 4 hospitalized patients
A study of four cardiac surgery patients in one hospital found that they developed Mycobacterium abscessus infections, a multidrug-resistant nontuberculous mycobacteria, potentially due to a commercial water purifier.
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NewsBacteria behind biblical disease have potential to regenerate livers
Scientists have discovered that the bacterium that causes leprosy can reprogramme cells to increase the size of a liver in adult animals without causing damage, scarring or tumours.