A recent Lancet review by leading expert Professor Stuart Elborn just came out on the growing concern of antibacterial resistance in cystic fibrosis. He said that more funding and further research are required into antibiotic resistance in order to improve patient outcomes for people with cystic fibrosis. In his paper, Professor Elborn and his colleagues state that while not all resistance found in bacteria is caused by antibiotics, the increasing resistance to antibiotics is proving a major problem in treating people with cystic fibrosis. Professor Elborn said
Professor Elborn is largely referring to the targeting of bacterial Biofilms, which are essentially a slimy, glue-like substance that bacteria excrete that serve an environmental purpose for bacteria and in the case of bacteria in the lungs protect them from the human immune system system and the antibiotics we use to kill them.
Biofilms are not new and have been studied extensively for well over 100 years. But they are becoming an increasingly important area of scientific research with the increasing concerns of antibiotic resistance. This is especially relevant for people with cystic fibrosis who often harbor chronic persistent colonies of antibiotic resistant bacteria in their lungs, which live in the mucous and form "cocoons" through biofilms where they shield themselves from their environment and the antibiotics we use to try and get rid of them.
I will be writing a lot more about Biofilms in the near future. Its a very important research area for cystic fibrosis. Severe bacterial lung infections are a leading cause of death for CFers and if we had a way of breaking down biofilms the antibiotics we have today which are readily available would be effective and save many lives!
If you want to read more here are some links:
Press Release: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-09-antibacterial-resistance-major-world-cystic.html
Publication: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61137-5/fulltext
Review on Biofilms: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23635385
- Chris Baldwin, PhD
CEO at CysticFibrosis.com
Friend me: https://www.facebook.com/cysticfibrosisdotcom
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Professor Elborn is largely referring to the targeting of bacterial Biofilms, which are essentially a slimy, glue-like substance that bacteria excrete that serve an environmental purpose for bacteria and in the case of bacteria in the lungs protect them from the human immune system system and the antibiotics we use to kill them.
Biofilms are not new and have been studied extensively for well over 100 years. But they are becoming an increasingly important area of scientific research with the increasing concerns of antibiotic resistance. This is especially relevant for people with cystic fibrosis who often harbor chronic persistent colonies of antibiotic resistant bacteria in their lungs, which live in the mucous and form "cocoons" through biofilms where they shield themselves from their environment and the antibiotics we use to try and get rid of them.
I will be writing a lot more about Biofilms in the near future. Its a very important research area for cystic fibrosis. Severe bacterial lung infections are a leading cause of death for CFers and if we had a way of breaking down biofilms the antibiotics we have today which are readily available would be effective and save many lives!
If you want to read more here are some links:
Press Release: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-09-antibacterial-resistance-major-world-cystic.html
Publication: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61137-5/fulltext
Review on Biofilms: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23635385
- Chris Baldwin, PhD
CEO at CysticFibrosis.com
Friend me: https://www.facebook.com/cysticfibrosisdotcom
View attachment 453View attachment 452