Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2015/12/news-scan-dec-03-2015
{B}News Scan for Dec 03, 2015
CRE 'superbug' in US; Ebola, neglected disease R&D[/B]
Filed Under:
Antimicrobial Resistance; NDM-1; Ebola; VHF; Misc Emerging Topics
[h=3]CDC notes 43 cases of highly resistant CRE 'superbug'[/h] The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today noted that it has received reports of 43 cases of an especially resistant form of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) in recent years, often among patients who traveled internationally, according to a report in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
The specific CRE strain produces what scientists call OXA-48-like carbapenemases, which inactivate carbapenem antibiotics, some of the last lines of defense against bacteria. OXA-48-like carbapenemases were first identified in the United States in 2013.
From June 2010 through August 2015, the CDC received reports of 52 OXA-48 CRE isolates from 43 patients in 19 states. Four patients were part of two separate clusters identified last year.
OXA-48-like carbapenemase was identified in Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates in 35 patients (81%), in Escherichia coli isolates in 7 (16%), and in Enterobacter aerogenes and Klebsiella ozaenae in 1 patient each (2%). Isolates with both New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase and OXA-48-like carbapenemase genes were obtained from five patients (12%).
Median age among 35 patients with available data was 70 (range, 29 to 91 years).
Among 29 patients for whom a travel history was available, 19 (66%) had traveled outside the country during the year before specimen collection, and 16 (55%) were hospitalized in another country. When excluding the two domestic clusters, those percentages increased to 76% and 64%, respectively.
Dec 4 MMWR report
[h=3]As Ebola R&D funds spike, investments in other neglected diseases flat-line[/h] While research and development (R&D) funding for Ebola spiked in 2014, the increase appears to have come at the expense of other neglected diseases, according to the annual G-FINDER report released today by the nonprofit Policy Cures.
The report found that global Ebola R&D investment totaled $165 million last year in response to West Africa's massive outbreak, which has sickened almost 29,000 people and killed more than 11,000. That investment equaled the sole increase in global R&D for neglected diseases, as funding for all other such diseases was down $14 million, or 0.4%, according to a press release from PATH: Global Health Technologies Coalition.
Total global R&D spending for neglected diseases was $3.4 billion in 2014, according to the eighth annual report. The only neglected diseases for which spending surpassed Ebola last year were HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis (TB), and diarrheal diseases. This was the first year that Ebola was included in the G-FINDER report, but past global investment has been minimal, at a little over $10 million a year, according to the release.
The report also noted that when Ebola is excluded, public funding for neglected disease R&D was at its lowest level in 7 years. And US government spending for non-Ebola neglected disease R&D fell again in 2014, to about $221 million below its peak in 2009.
After the previous G-FINDER report highlighted concerns about declining R&D contributions from the pharmaceutical industry, such funding increased by more than a quarter?or $98 million?from the previous year, only partly due to Ebola, the report notes. The increase was the first since 2010, and the largest industry investment in the history of the G-FINDER survey. Industry withdrawal from TB R&D investment continued, however, and was a third lower than its 2010 peak.
Dec 3 G-FINDER report
Dec 3 PATH news release
{B}News Scan for Dec 03, 2015
CRE 'superbug' in US; Ebola, neglected disease R&D[/B]
Filed Under:
Antimicrobial Resistance; NDM-1; Ebola; VHF; Misc Emerging Topics
[h=3]CDC notes 43 cases of highly resistant CRE 'superbug'[/h] The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today noted that it has received reports of 43 cases of an especially resistant form of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) in recent years, often among patients who traveled internationally, according to a report in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
The specific CRE strain produces what scientists call OXA-48-like carbapenemases, which inactivate carbapenem antibiotics, some of the last lines of defense against bacteria. OXA-48-like carbapenemases were first identified in the United States in 2013.
From June 2010 through August 2015, the CDC received reports of 52 OXA-48 CRE isolates from 43 patients in 19 states. Four patients were part of two separate clusters identified last year.
OXA-48-like carbapenemase was identified in Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates in 35 patients (81%), in Escherichia coli isolates in 7 (16%), and in Enterobacter aerogenes and Klebsiella ozaenae in 1 patient each (2%). Isolates with both New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase and OXA-48-like carbapenemase genes were obtained from five patients (12%).
Median age among 35 patients with available data was 70 (range, 29 to 91 years).
Among 29 patients for whom a travel history was available, 19 (66%) had traveled outside the country during the year before specimen collection, and 16 (55%) were hospitalized in another country. When excluding the two domestic clusters, those percentages increased to 76% and 64%, respectively.
Dec 4 MMWR report
[h=3]As Ebola R&D funds spike, investments in other neglected diseases flat-line[/h] While research and development (R&D) funding for Ebola spiked in 2014, the increase appears to have come at the expense of other neglected diseases, according to the annual G-FINDER report released today by the nonprofit Policy Cures.
The report found that global Ebola R&D investment totaled $165 million last year in response to West Africa's massive outbreak, which has sickened almost 29,000 people and killed more than 11,000. That investment equaled the sole increase in global R&D for neglected diseases, as funding for all other such diseases was down $14 million, or 0.4%, according to a press release from PATH: Global Health Technologies Coalition.
Total global R&D spending for neglected diseases was $3.4 billion in 2014, according to the eighth annual report. The only neglected diseases for which spending surpassed Ebola last year were HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis (TB), and diarrheal diseases. This was the first year that Ebola was included in the G-FINDER report, but past global investment has been minimal, at a little over $10 million a year, according to the release.
The report also noted that when Ebola is excluded, public funding for neglected disease R&D was at its lowest level in 7 years. And US government spending for non-Ebola neglected disease R&D fell again in 2014, to about $221 million below its peak in 2009.
After the previous G-FINDER report highlighted concerns about declining R&D contributions from the pharmaceutical industry, such funding increased by more than a quarter?or $98 million?from the previous year, only partly due to Ebola, the report notes. The increase was the first since 2010, and the largest industry investment in the history of the G-FINDER survey. Industry withdrawal from TB R&D investment continued, however, and was a third lower than its 2010 peak.
Dec 3 G-FINDER report
Dec 3 PATH news release