scholarly journals Therapeutic alternatives and application of bacteriophages as a strategy in the use of antibiotics in the treatment of bacterial diseases

2019 ◽  
Vol 98 (Suppl) ◽  
pp. 28-28
Author(s):  
Samara Ariane de Melo ◽  
Henrique De Mello Remelli Ceni ◽  
Renata Dellalibera-Joviliano

Introduction: In 1940 Alexander Fleming discovered the antibiotic, which proved to be effective in combating bacterial diseases, but he simultaneously had the unfortunate evidence of bacterias being able to become resistant to this drug (multiresistance). This problem has extended to the present day, becoming internationally a major reason for poor quality of life, hospitalization and even the death of thousands of people. An estimate made by the World Health Organization is that by 2050 the superbacterias can be responsible for about 10 million deaths a year and, besides that, it will generate a cost of approximately 84 trillion dollars for the global economy. Objectives: To identify the possible therapeutic alternatives exclusive or complementary to the use of antibiotics in the treatment of bacterial diseases. Methodology: To achieve the objectives, information from scientific articles and research sites such as CAPES, SciELO, Pubmed, CNPq and FAPESP platforms will be used. Results: It was possible to identify alternatives already in development such as hemofiltration devices, quorum detection inhibitors, advanced immunotherapies and alternative efforts to limit virulence. In addition to these, two practices widely used by the population, but on a smaller scale for bacterial diseases, are homeopathy and herbal medicine, considered within integrative medicine. Finally, the most promising alternative found was bacteriophages, discovered shortly after antibiotics, but they were developed and applied only in the eastern world, in a few regions such as Russia. The bacteriophage acts only on the bacteria causing the disease, irreversibly binding to its membrane, at which point lytic proteins promote a pore that culminates in its death. However, it is of extremely important for the problem to be solved by its root: unnecessary and excessive prescription of antibiotics in the medical area, banalization of its importance and incorrect administration of patients. Discussion and Conclusion of the results: Initially, it is necessary to prevent the occurrence of new cases of bacterial resistance with primary prevention measures, such as disseminating this knowledge to both prescribing professionals and patients who use antibiotics. However, in cases where this adversity has already taken place, finding these various alternatives takes a prominent role in the attempt to reverse them and generate a scenery of hope as to its effectiveness and also its applicability.

Author(s):  
Neyel Gabriela Monsalve A ◽  
Johanna Marcela Moscoso Gama

Introduction. The use of different chemical agents for the attenuation, treatment and control of microorganisms has been increasing, the lack of control and knowledge of these products is generating a change in the genome in microorganisms, causing resistance to normal concentrations of biocides. Objective: To carry out a systematic review on bacterial resistance to disinfectants in common office areas. Methods: Systematic review of databases; Scielo, Elsevier, Pubmed and ACS Publications research, and secondary sources such as PAHO (Pan American Health Organization) and WHO (World Health Organization), among others, using terms such as; Bacterial resistance, disinfection, occupational or professional diseases and resistance to disinfectants. Results: Enterobacter sp.: resistant to Quaternary Ammonium (QAC), halogen-based disinfectants and 37% formaldehyde; Pseudomonas aeruginosa: 71% of isolates multiresistant to antibiotics, 43% reduced susceptibility to QAC, triclosan (TC) and Benzalkonium (BAC), and 24 isolates resistant to antimicrobial agents. M. massiliense BRA 100 susceptible to orthophthaldehyde (OPA), peracetic acid (PA), and high concentrations of glutaraldehyde. Clinical isolates of multiresistant strains to antibiotics such as: MRSA, Enterococcus sp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 52% and 38% strains were resistant to quaternary ammonium and phenol compounds, respectively. Conclusions: The presence of resistant microorganisms in common places such as; floors, light switches, door handles, desks and chairs, among others, enunciates a public health problem that must begin to be addressed, changing the methodologies used for disinfection, and other control and prevention measures.


Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 835
Author(s):  
Mafalda N. S. Miranda ◽  
Marta Pingarilho ◽  
Victor Pimentel ◽  
Maria do Rosário O. Martins ◽  
Anne-Mieke Vandamme ◽  
...  

To control the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) set the 90-90-90 target to be reached by 2020. One major threat to those goals is late presentation, which is defined as an individual presenting a TCD4+ count lower than 350 cells/mm3 or an AIDS-defining event. The present study aims to identify determinants of late presentation in Europe based on the EuResist database with HIV-1 infected patients followed-up between 1981 and 2019. Our study includes clinical and socio-demographic information from 89851 HIV-1 infected patients. Statistical analysis was performed using RStudio and SPSS and a Bayesian network was constructed with the WEKA software to analyze the association between all variables. Among 89,851 HIV-1 infected patients included in the analysis, the median age was 33 (IQR: 27.0–41.0) years and 74.4% were males. Of those, 28,889 patients (50.4%) were late presenters. Older patients (>56), heterosexuals, patients originated from Africa and patients presenting with log VL >4.1 had a higher probability of being late presenters (p < 0.001). Bayesian networks indicated VL, mode of transmission, age and recentness of infection as variables that were directly associated with LP. This study highlights the major determinants associated with late presentation in Europe. This study helps to direct prevention measures for this population.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 312
Author(s):  
Mohammad Okkeh ◽  
Nora Bloise ◽  
Elisa Restivo ◽  
Lorenzo De Vita ◽  
Piersandro Pallavicini ◽  
...  

In 2017 the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a list of the 12 multidrug-resistant (MDR) families of bacteria that pose the greatest threat to human health, and recommended that new measures should be taken to promote the development of new therapies against these superbugs. Few antibiotics have been developed in the last two decades. Part of this slow progression can be attributed to the surge in the resistance acquired by bacteria, which is holding back pharma companies from taking the risk to invest in new antibiotic entities. With limited antibiotic options and an escalating bacterial resistance there is an urgent need to explore alternative ways of meeting this global challenge. The field of medical nanotechnology has emerged as an innovative and a powerful tool for treating some of the most complicated health conditions. Different inorganic nanomaterials including gold, silver, and others have showed potential antibacterial efficacies. Interestingly, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have gained specific attention, due to their biocompatibility, ease of surface functionalization, and their optical properties. In this review, we will focus on the latest research, done in the field of antibacterial gold nanoparticles; by discussing the mechanisms of action, antibacterial efficacies, and future implementations of these innovative antibacterial systems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 003685042110198
Author(s):  
Helen Onyeaka ◽  
Christian K Anumudu ◽  
Zainab T Al-Sharify ◽  
Esther Egele-Godswill ◽  
Paul Mbaegbu

COVID-19, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 11th of March 2020, leading to some form of lockdown across almost all countries of the world. The extent of the global pandemic due to COVID-19 has a significant impact on our lives that must be studied carefully to combat it. This study highlights the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on crucial aspects of daily life globally, including; Food security, Global economy, Education, Tourism, hospitality, sports and leisure, Gender Relation, Domestic Violence/Abuse, Mental Health and Environmental air pollution through a systematic search of the literature. The COVID-19 global lockdown was initiated to stem the spread of the virus and ‘flatten the curve’ of the pandemic. However, the impact of the lockdown has had far-reaching effects in different strata of life, including; changes in the accessibility and structure of education delivery to students, food insecurity as a result of unavailability and fluctuation in prices, the depression of the global economy, increase in mental health challenges, wellbeing and quality of life amongst others. This review article highlights the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown across the globe. As the global lockdown is being lifted in a phased manner in various countries of the world, it is necessary to explore its impacts to understand its consequences comprehensively. This will guide future decisions that will be made in a possible future wave of the COVID-19 pandemic or other global disease outbreak.


Author(s):  
Egor E. Olesov ◽  
T. N. Novozemtseva ◽  
I. M. Makeeva ◽  
V. N. Olesova ◽  
M. Ya. Salamov ◽  
...  

The purpose of the study: Comparison of indicators of dental status in athletes of the Olympic national teams and the population of Moscow of the same age.Material and methods: Dental examination of 132 athletes of the Olympic national teams and 104 residents of Moscow, males aged 2035 years was carried out using the modified World Health Organization Dental Status Assessment Card.Results of the study: Analysis of the prevalence and intensity of dental diseases showed that the dental status of athletes is worse in such areas as the detection of previously performed endodontic treatment and its unsatisfactory quality (with more endodontically treated teeth), the detection of large fillings and poor-quality fillings among existing fillings, prevalence pathological abrasion, the prevalence of periodontitis, the detection of unsatisfactory levels of oral hygiene, yyavlyaemost pathology of the temporomandibular joint. The obtained patterns reflect the untimely and insufficient quality of dental care for adolescents-athletes in the regions, as well as indicate higher psychophysical loads in athletes compared to peers. This necessitates special therapeutic and preventive approaches in the implementation of dental care aimed at reducing the parafunctional overload of the dentition in athletes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bapi Gorain ◽  
Hira Choudhury ◽  
Nagashekhara Molugulu ◽  
Rajani B. Athawale ◽  
Prashant Kesharwani

Sudden outbreak of a new pathogen in numbers of pneumonic patients in Wuhan province during December 2019 has threatened the world population within a short period of its occurrence. This respiratory tract–isolated pathogen was initially named as novel coronavirus 2019 (nCoV-2019), but later termed as SARS-CoV-2. The rapid spreading of this infectious disease received the label of pandemic by the World Health Organization within 4 months of its occurrence, which still seeks continuous attention of the researchers to prevent the spread and for cure of the infected patients. The propagation of the disease has been recorded in 215 countries, with more than 25.5 million cases and a death toll of more than 0.85 million. Several measures are taken to control the disease transmission, and researchers are actively engaged in finding suitable therapeutics to effectively control the disease to minimize the mortality and morbidity rates. Several existing potential candidates were explored in the prevention and treatment of worsening condition of COVID-19 patients; however, none of the formulation has been approved for the treatment but used under medical supervision. In this article, a focus has been made to highlight on current epidemiology on the COVID-19 infection, clinical features, diagnosis, and transmission, with special emphasis on treatment measures of the disease at different stages of clinical research and the global economic influence due to this pandemic situation. Progress in the development on vaccine against COVID-19 has also been explored as important measures to immunize people. Moreover, this article is expected to provide information to the researchers, who are constantly combating in the management against this outbreak.


Author(s):  
Emily Chan ◽  
Tiffany Sham ◽  
Tayyab Shahzada ◽  
Caroline Dubois ◽  
Zhe Huang ◽  
...  

Climate change is expanding the global at-risk population for vector-borne diseases (VBDs). The World Health Organization (WHO) health emergency and disaster risk management (health-EDRM) framework emphasises the importance of primary prevention of biological hazards and its value in protecting against VBDs. The framework encourages stakeholder coordination and information sharing, though there is still a need to reinforce prevention and recovery within disaster management. This keyword-search based narrative literature review searched databases PubMed, Google Scholar, Embase and Medline between January 2000 and May 2020, and identified 134 publications. In total, 10 health-EDRM primary prevention measures are summarised at three levels (personal, environmental and household). Enabling factor, limiting factors, co-benefits and strength of evidence were identified. Current studies on primary prevention measures for VBDs focus on health risk-reduction, with minimal evaluation of actual disease reduction. Although prevention against mosquito-borne diseases, notably malaria, has been well-studied, research on other vectors and VBDs remains limited. Other gaps included the limited evidence pertaining to prevention in resource-poor settings and the efficacy of alternatives, discrepancies amongst agencies’ recommendations, and limited studies on the impact of technological advancements and habitat change on VBD prevalence. Health-EDRM primary prevention measures for VBDs require high-priority research to facilitate multifaceted, multi-sectoral, coordinated responses that will enable effective risk mitigation.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 2890 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hussain Ali Jawadi ◽  
Jay Sagin ◽  
Daniel D. Snow

Kabul is one of the most populated cities in Afghanistan and providing resources to support this population in an arid climate presents a serious environmental challenge. The current study evaluated the quality of local Kabul Basin groundwater to determine its suitability water for drinking and irrigation purposes now and into the future. This aim was aided through groundwater parameter assessment as well as determination of Water Quality Index (WQI) developed from 15 observation points near the city. The results of our physicochemical analysis illustrate that groundwater in the majority of areas of the Kabul Basin is not generally suitable for human consumption, and in some cases the concentrations of many contaminants are higher than accepted health standards or water quality benchmarks. The aquifer underlies an arid landscape, and because of this 85% of the samples tested are very hard while just over 13% are classified as hard. Groundwater in the Kabul Basin is typically high in calcium and magnesium and overall classified as a calcium bicarbonate water type. Overall, more than 60% of the analyzed samples had concentrations higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of total dissolved solids (TDS), 10% in total hardness (TH), about 30% in turbidity and more than 90% in magnesium. The results show that based on WQI, without treatment, roughly 5% of groundwater in the studied area is unsuitable for human consumption, while 13.3% is very poor and 40% is poor quality water. Approximately 40% of the assessed groundwater has good quality and could be used as drinking water for future development. Groundwater in some areas shows evidence of pollution and high dissolved solids content, rendering these sources unsuitable for either drinking or irrigation purposes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Smith ◽  
Nicola Veronese ◽  
Vincenzo Racalbuto ◽  
Damiano Pizzol

The COVID-19 outbreak was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as global pandemic in March 2020. Considering the necessity to implement rapid response to control the pandemic and the fragility and the state of need of low income countries, it will be mandatory to develop a global approach in order to reduce the spread of infection and the creation of community viral reservoirs. So far, we could hypothesize a worst case scenario in which when the COVID-19 outbreak hits a peak in Africa and in low-income countries, the majority of such countries will be unprepared, with low resources allocated for affording the viral emergency and the consequences will be catastrophic with no lesson learnt. In the best case scenario, the COVID-19 will not affect Africa or South America on a large scale and, if the prevention measures will be implemented, we could register a lower incidence of hygiene linked diseases that still represent leading causes of death.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Munvar Miya Shaik ◽  
Norul Badriah Hassan ◽  
Huay Lin Tan ◽  
Siew Hua Gan

Background. Disability caused by migraine may be one of the main causes of burden contributing to poor quality of life (QOL) among migraine patients. Thus, this study aimed to measure QOL among migraine sufferers in comparison with healthy controls.Methods. Female diagnosed migraine patients (n= 100) and healthy controls (n=100) completed the Malay version of the World Health Organization QOL Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire. Only migraine patients completed the Malay version of the Migraine Disability Assessment questionnaire.Results. Females with migraines had significantly lower total WHOQOL-BREF scores (84.3) than did healthy controls (91.9,P<0.001). Similarly, physical health (23.4 versus 27.7,P<0.001) and psychological health scores (21.7 versus 23.2,P< 0.001) were significantly lower than those for healthy controls. Seventy-three percent of patients experienced severe disability, with significantly higher number of days with headaches (13.8 days/3 months,P< 0.001) and pain scores (7.4,P< 0.013). Furthermore, migraine patients with lower total QOL scores had 1.2 times higher odds of having disability than patients with higher total QOL scores.Conclusions. The present study showed that migraine sufferers experienced significantly lower QOL than the control group from a similar population. Disability was severe and frequent and was associated with lower QOL among the migraine patients.


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