Drug resistance
hideDrug resistance is the reduction in effectiveness of a drug in curing a disease or improving a patient's symptoms. When the drug is not intended to kill or inhibit a pathogen, then the term is equivalent to dosage failure or drug tolerance. More commonly, the term is used in the context of diseases caused by pathogens.
Pathogens are said to be drug-resistant when drugs meant to neutralize them have reduced effect. When an organism is resistant to more than one drug, it is said to be multidrug resistant.
Drug resistance is an example of evolution in microorganisms. Individuals that are not susceptible to the drug effects are capable of surviving drug treatment, and therefore have greater fitness than susceptible individuals. By the process of natural selection, drug resistant traits are selected for in subsequent offspring, resulting in a population that is drug resistant.
For more information about Drug resistance, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with drug resistance
Slowing evolution to stop drug resistance
Nov 16, 2009 |
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Infectious organisms that become resistant to antibiotics are a serious threat to human society. They are also a natural part of evolution. In a new project, researchers at the University of Gothenburg are attempting to find ...
Paradigm shift needed to combat drug resistance
Oct 15, 2009 |
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When people travel, bacteria and other infectious agents travel with them. As about a billion people cross international borders each year, many more billions of the bugs come along for the ride.
Researchers find extreme genetic variability in malaria parasite
Oct 14, 2009 |
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Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) have charted the extreme genetic differences that occur over time in the most dangerous malaria parasite in the world. While ...
Using Simple Genome, Researchers Move Personalized Medicine Closer to Reality
Oct 14, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Columbia University have developed a statistical method that accurately predicts how an organism will respond to dozens of commonly used drugs. This clinical and conceptual advance moves medical ...
Scientists determine dynamics of HIV transmission in UK heterosexuals
Medicine & Health / HIV & AIDS
Sep 25, 2009 |
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Among heterosexuals in the United Kingdom (UK), HIV transmission can occur within networks of as many as 30 people, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Medical Research ...
Pancreatic cancer: Researchers find drug that reverses resistance to chemotherapy
Sep 24, 2009 |
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For the first time researchers have shown that by inhibiting the action of an enzyme called TAK-1, it is possible to make pancreatic cancer cells sensitive to chemotherapy, opening the way for the development of a new drug ...
'Evolutionary forecasting' for drug resistance
Sep 21, 2009 |
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Rice University biochemists are developing a system of "evolutionary forecasting" to better understand the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance.
Analysis of TB treatment studies identifies gaps in guidelines
Sep 15, 2009 |
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International guidelines for treating tuberculosis are due for specific improvements, according to two research papers published this week in the open access journal PLoS Medicine.
Man-made crises 'outrunning our ability to deal with them,' scientists warn
Sep 11, 2009 |
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The world faces a compounding series of crises driven by human activity, which existing governments and institutions are increasingly powerless to cope with, a group of eminent environmental scientists and economists has ...
New research strategy for understanding drug resistance in leukemia
Sep 04, 2009 |
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UCSF researchers have developed a new approach to identify specific genes that influence how cancer cells respond to drugs and how they become resistant. This strategy, which involves producing diverse genetic mutations that ...
New drug-resistant TB strains could become widespread, says new study
Aug 10, 2009 |
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The emergence of new forms of tuberculosis could swell the proportion of drug-resistant cases globally, a new study has found. The finding raises concern that although TB incidence is falling in many regions, the emergence ...
Tamiflu-resistant swine flu found on US-Mexico border
Aug 03, 2009 |
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A strain of swine flu that is resistant to treatment with the drug Tamiflu has been discovered near the US-Mexican border, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Monday.
Genes key to staph disease severity, drug resistance found hitchhiking together
Jul 31, 2009 |
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Scientists studying Staphylococcus bacteria, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), have discovered a potent staph toxin responsible for disease severity. They also found the gene for the toxin traveling with a geneti ...
New mechanism fundamental to the spread of invasive yeast infections identified
Jun 16, 2009 |
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A group of researchers led by Carnegie Mellon University Biological Sciences Professor Aaron Mitchell has identified a novel regulatory gene network that plays an important role in the spread of common, and sometimes deadly, ...
Yeast missing sex genes undergo unexpected sexual reproduction
May 24, 2009 |
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An emerging form of the pathogenic yeast Candida is able to complete a full sexual cycle in a test tube, even though it's missing the genes for reproduction. And it may also do so while infecting us, according to Duke Univer ...
