Heather White, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson
If you have ever been bitten by a fire ant you’ll remember the pain! But a study presented in Washington has shown that when they sting, they produce substances with antimicrobial properties. And hence these fierce creatures could have a use in medicine.

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John Schiller, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda
The human papilloma virus vaccine, which is currently being tested in the prevention of cervical cancer, brings together both infectious disease and cancer. Delegates at the ICAAC conference heard an update on both the anti-cancer and the anti-wart activities of the two vaccines: one from Merck and the other from GlaxoSmithKline.

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Antibiotic resistance is not going to go away in a hurry, but can we at least make it as difficult as possible for bacteria to overcome the drugs they face? Joseph Blondeau told the conference about his group’s investigation into which of three macrolide antibiotics was the most difficult for Streptococcus pneumoniae to develop resistance against.

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Thomas File, Summa Health System, Akron, Ohio
Community Associated Pneumonia is a sizeable problem for health systems, and what is more, some strains of the frequent culprit – streptococcus pneumoniae – are found to be drug resistant. Thomas File told the conference about a Pharmacokinetically Enhanced regimen of Amoxicillin and Clavulanate and how it does seem to be active in patients infected with one of these resistant strains.

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Hank Balfour, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Infectious mononucleosis, also known as the kissing disease, is caused Epstein Barr Virus, or EBV; so, can we effectively treat, and prevent its spread, with an antiviral? According to one study – with a limited number of patients – the answer might be yes. Hank Balfour told us more.

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Lance Peterson, Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, Illinois
The bacterium clostridium difficile that can cause diarrhoea in hospital patients is making a resurgence. It’s potentially very aggressive, and it’s not so easy to detect any more. But a new real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test reported at the ICAAC conference looking for genes involved with production of the C. difficile product: toxin B promises to help fight the problem.

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Michele Pearson, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta
A community-wide approach is needed to combat MRSA according to a new assessment presented to the conference in Washington DC. An ongoing study has highlighted as paramount the value of coordinated action including simple hygiene measures such as hand-washing.

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Ross Davidson, Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia
The use of the antimalarial chloroquine could provide the selective pressure for E.coli to develop fluoroquinolone resistance – that’s according to a study presented by Ross Davidson at ICAAC. He investigated this by looking at remote community from Guyana, who had access to chloroquine but not fluoroquinolones, and he began by telling Audio Medica about the link between the two.

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Barbara Trautner, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
When patients with spinal cord injury rely on urinary catheters for bladder drainage, this may lead to one or more urinary tract infections, or UTIs. As an alternative to drugs, delegates at ICAAC heard about a rather more novel technique for dealing with this problem: bacterial interference: using benign bacteria to out-compete the pathogens.

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