Combating Bacterial Resistance by Polymers and Antibiotic Composites.

(1) Background: Since the discovery of antibiotics in the first half of the 20th century, humans have abused this privilege, giving rise to antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Recent research has brought to light the use of antimicrobial peptides in polymers, hydrogels, and nanoparticles (NPs) as a newer and safer alternative to traditional antibiotics. (2) Methods: This review article is a synthesis of the scientific works published in the last 15 years, focusing on the synthesis of polymers with proven antimicrobial properties.

Detection of other pathologies when utilising computer-assisted digital solutions for TB screening.

Background: Computer-aided detection (CAD) tools for TB detection have the potential to enable screening programmes and reduce the diagnostic gap in settings where access to radiologists is limited. However, there are concerns that other common chest X-ray (CXR) abnormalities not due to TB may be missed.

Methods: We assessed the performance of three commercialised CAD tools (qXR, INSIGHT CXR and DrAID TB XR) to detect common non-TB abnormalities against readings with a standardised annotation guide by an expert radiologist.

Predicting mortality in febrile adults: comparative performance of the MEWS, qSOFA, and UVA scores using prospectively collected data among patients in four health-care sites in sub-Saharan Africa and South-Eastern Asia.

Background: Clinical severity scores can identify patients at risk of severe disease and death, and improve patient management. The modified early warning score (MEWS), the quick Sequential (Sepsis-Related) Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA), and the Universal Vital Assessment (UVA) were developed as risk-stratification tools, but they have not been fully validated in low-resource settings where fever and infectious diseases are frequent reasons for health care seeking. We assessed the performance of MEWS, qSOFA, and UVA in predicting mortality among febrile patients in the Lao PDR, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.

The impact of agar depth on antimicrobial susceptibility testing by disc diffusion.

The European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) specifies the agar depth (4±0.5 mm) when performing antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). Since the infrastructure to produce standardized agar may be lacking in settings with limited resources, we wanted to examine to what extent variation in agar depth affects the inhibition zone diameters of quality control (QC) strains and AST of clinical isolates.

WHO global research priorities for antimicrobial resistance in human health.

The WHO research agenda for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in human health has identified 40 research priorities to be addressed by the year 2030. These priorities focus on bacterial and fungal pathogens of crucial importance in addressing AMR, including drug-resistant pathogens causing tuberculosis. These research priorities encompass the entire people-centred journey, covering prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of antimicrobial-resistant infections, in addition to addressing the overarching knowledge gaps in AMR epidemiology, burden and drivers, policies and regulations, and awareness and education.