December 29, 2018
FDA reports drop in antibiotics for food animals. Between 2016 and 2017, there was a 33 percent decrease in sales and distribution of all medically important antimicrobials for use in food animals in the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported. In that time, tetracycline sales, which represent the largest volume of US domestic sales, decreased by 40 percent. The major reduction follows a ban on using medically important antimicrobials for growth promotion in food animals. [FDA Summary Report, FDA Press Release]
Major firms agree to framework for antibiotic stewardship in animals. A group of food companies, livestock producers, and agricultural trade and professional associations including McDonald’s, Tyson Foods, and the National Pork Producers Council, released a framework to improve antibiotic stewardship in the food industry. The framework, moderated by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Farm Foundation, outlines 15 core components of antibiotic stewardship which include commitment and culture, disease prevention strategies, and record keeping and provides guiding principles for the implementation of antibiotic stewardship programs which encourage transparency, consistency, and accountability. [Framework for Antibiotic Stewardship, Pew Trust Press Release]
Report highlights research gaps in AMR in the environment. Waste from humans, animals, and aquaculture can carry antimicrobials and antibiotic resistant pathogens; however, the human health impact of this environmental contamination is not well understood. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the UK Science and Innovation Network, and the Wellcome Trust have released a white paper on research needs to assess environmental waters, improve sanitation and wastewater treatment, and evaluate the agricultural sector’s impact on the environment. [Report]
Marburg-carrying bats discovered in Sierra Leone. Researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the University of California at Davis, and two academic universities found live Marburg virus, a pathogen related to Ebola virus that also causes hemorrhagic fever, in Egyptian rousette bats in Sierra Leone. The bats are known natural reservoirs for Marburg, but the discovery marks the first time the virus has been found in West Africa. [CDC, University of California Davis]
WHO proposes code of conduct for pathogen genetic data in outbreaks. The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a draft code of conduct to encourage the sharing of pathogen genetic sequence data during infectious disease outbreaks. Access to genetic sequence data during an outbreak helps responders understand the causes and modes of transmission of infectious agents, validate diagnostics, and develop therapeutic interventions. The guidance suggests that sharing of pathogen genetic sequences prior to publication should be standard and encourages collaborative reporting. [Nature, WHO, Draft Code of Conduct]
Efficacy of cell-cultured versus egg-based flu vaccines. During the 2017-18 flu season, the relative vaccine effectiveness in preventing flu-related hospital visits among US Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years or older was 16.5 percent for quadrivalent egg-based vaccines, 11 percent for cell-cultured vaccines, and 8 percent for egg-based high-dose vaccines. The modest difference in vaccine effectiveness between egg- and cell-based vaccines suggests that vaccine virus adaptation to growth in eggs was not the main contributor to low overall flu vaccine efficacy during last year’s flu season. [Journal of Infectious Diseases]
Social protection interventions improve TB outcomes in Brazil. Between March 2014 and April 2017, researchers followed treatment outcomes for 196 Tuberculosis (TB) patients enrolled in Brazil’s Bolsa Familia Program, one of the world’s largest conditional cash transfer programs, and 1,043 patients who were not. After six months of treatment, 88 percent of program beneficiaries and 87 percent of non-program beneficiaries were cured of TB, and 9 percent of program beneficiaries and 10 percent of non-program recipients dropped out of treatment. In multinomial regression models, being a beneficiary of the Bolsa Familia Program significantly improved cure rates and reduced treatment dropout rates. [The Lancet Global Health]
Social punishments for scientific misconduct in China. Chinese policymakers proposed an extension of the country’s social credit system that would impose additional social punishments for researchers who commit scientific misconduct. Under the proposed policy, researchers who commit misconduct may be disallowed from getting a bank loan or applying for a public-service job in addition to previously implemented punishments such as losing research grants and awards. [Nature News]
Highly pathogenic avian influenza in India and Bulgaria. An H5N1 influenza outbreak that began on December 7th at poultry farms in two villages in Orissa state, India killed 5,603 of 6,123 susceptible birds, according to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). In Bulgaria, officials have recorded 28 H5N8 outbreaks among hens and ducks in 2018; the most recent outbreak began on December 17th on a private farm in the northwestern city of Vidin, according to the Avian Flu Diary and the UK’s Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). [OIE, Avian Flu Diary, UK DEFRA]
New Drug Applications for first-in-class pneumonia antibiotic. The biopharmaceutical company Nabriva Therapeutics submitted two New Drug Applications to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the oral and intravenous formulations of lefamulin, a first-in-class, semi-synthetic pleuromutilin antibiotic, for the treatment of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. Both formulations were found to be non-inferior to moxifloxacin in two phase three clinical trials. Nabriva will apply for market authorization for lefamulin in Europe in early 2019. [Nabriva Press Release]
Bacteriophage therapy less effective than standard treatment for infected burn wounds. Between July 2015 and January 2017, 27 patients were recruited and randomly assigned to receive phage therapy or the current standard of care (1% sulfadiazine silver emulsion cream) for the treatment of burn wounds infected with the gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The median time to sustained reduction in bacterial burden was 144 hours for phage therapy recipients and 47 hours for the standard of care group. 23 percent of patients in the phage therapy group experienced adverse events; compared to 54 percent in the standard of care group. This was the first time a phage cocktail was produced according to approved good manufacturing practice and was shown to reduce bacterial burden in infected burns in a controlled human trial. The study was terminated early due to insufficient phage concentrations; further research is needed into manufacture and storage of bacteriophage for therapy. [The Lancet Infectious Diseases]
Workability and survivability in populations exposed to extreme heat under climate change. At a global temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, an estimated 350 million people would be exposed to wet-bulb global temperatures (WBGTs) exceeding the workability threshold. At a global temperature increase of 2.5 degrees Celsius, nearly one billion people would be exposed to WBGTs that exceed the workability threshold and an estimated 20 million would be exposed to WBGTs that exceed the survivability threshold. Countries or regions currently at extreme risk of occupational heat exposure in the shade during the hottest part of the day include southern Pakistan, Chad, and Algeria. As global temperatures surpass 3 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, this risk will expand to include India, Mauritania, Mali, and northwestern Brazil, among others. [The Lancet Planetary Health]
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