The genome of the organism that produces the world's most lethal toxin is revealed today. This toxin is the one real weapon in the genome of Clostridium botulinum and less than 2 kg - the weight of two bags of sugar - is enough to kill every person on the planet. Very small amounts of the same toxin are used in medical treatments, one of which is known as Botox®.

Recent evidence suggests that therapy currently used to treat Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, a major cause of upper gastrointestinal disorders, is unsuccessful in around 25 percent of cases.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, in collaboration with research teams from Pharmacia & Upjohn and Pfizer, have discovered precisely how the antibiotic linezolid inhibits bacterial growth.

In 1928, Alexander Fleming opened the door to treating bacterial infections when he stumbled upon the first known antibiotic in a Penicillium mold growing in a discarded experiment.

Nearly 2 million people die from tuberculosis each year, mainly in the poorest countries. The pathogen, Koch's bacillus, can pass easily by aerial infection from one individual to another. The spread of the disease, favoured by the Aids epidemic and the appearance of multi-resistant strains, has led WHO to make tuberculosis control one of the world's main health priorities.

New peptide boosts body's own immunity
Imagine the desperation of trying to fight lethal infections when antibiotics fail to work.

More powerful computers are allowing scientists and engineers to conduct simulations that grow more realistic each year. While companies are using these tools to slash the costs of producing everything from airliners to antibiotics, researchers in Houston are using them to refine their search for the genetic causes of disease.

A small piece of DNA that helps bacteria commonly found in US meat and poultry resist several antibiotics has also been found in the plague bacillus Yersinia pestis, gene sequence researchers report.

Antibiotics are prescribed for approximately 82 percent of acute sinus infections and nearly 70 percent of chronic sinus infections, despite the fact that viruses are by far the most frequent cause of this condition, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Understanding why other bacteria become resistant to antibiotics could hold the key to understanding why tuberculosis takes so long to cure, say researchers in a policy paper in PLoS Medicine.