For how we live.
Against 304 carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii isolates from six countries, the experimental drug zosurabalpin kept low MICs — including against metallo-beta-lactamase producers. This is laboratory data, not a cure.
In the SNAP platform trial, cefazolin was non-inferior to flucloxacillin or cloxacillin for 90-day survival in methicillin-susceptible S. aureus bacteraemia, and caused notably less acute kidney injury.
In the SOLARIO trial, patients who got local antibiotics at surgery did no worse on a short systemic course than a long one, and reported far fewer side effects. The comparison was independently funded.
Acute otitis externa is usually treated with ear drops, not tablets. In trials antibiotic-steroid drops cured most people, and guidelines say not to start with oral antibiotics for an uncomplicated case.
An 840-child US trial gave the antibiotic to toddlers with moderate-to-severe wheezing in the emergency department. Symptom scores were no better than placebo, and the study was stopped for futility.
Topical antibiotics beat placebo in pooled trials, but UK guidance now recommends hydrogen peroxide cream first for mild cases — a deliberate move to spare antibiotics.
Urinary infections in men were long treated as automatically complicated. A randomised trial found seven days of antibiotics non-inferior to fourteen, and guidelines say not to treat urine that causes no symptoms.
England's scarlet fever rate tripled after 2014 and a more toxigenic strep A lineage emerged, culminating in the deadly 2022 wave of invasive infections in children.
Fever is often the only clue in a young child, a properly collected urine sample confirms it, and most cases clear on a short antibiotic course. Preventive antibiotics cut recurrences but breed resistant bugs.
Acne is not caused by dirt or bad washing, and it does respond to treatment. Guidelines strongly back benzoyl peroxide and topical retinoids first, with oral isotretinoin reserved for severe or scarring acne.
Most acute sinus infections clear without antibiotics — about 46% of people are better within a week regardless. Drugs speed cure in only 5 to 11 per 100, and cause side effects in more.
SOLARIO randomised 500 patients after orthopaedic infection surgery to short or long systemic antibiotics. With a local-antibiotic carrier in place, the short course was noninferior and caused fewer side effects.
A short course of a first-line antibiotic clears most uncomplicated UTIs. Five-day nitrofurantoin beat single-dose fosfomycin (70% vs 58% resolution), and two-thirds of women recovered on ibuprofen alone.
For the pelvic-pain syndrome that affects many men, Cochrane reviews find alpha-blockers, antibiotics and anti-inflammatories each help only a little. Acupuncture and shockwave therapy have the firmer support.
Most sore throats clear on their own within a week. Painkillers and honey ease the pain; antibiotics shorten symptoms by only about 16 hours and are rarely worth it.
Most acute ear infections settle on their own, and antibiotics barely change symptoms in the first day. Their benefit is real but modest, which is why guidelines allow a short period of watchful waiting.
Resistance is not something your body develops. It is an evolutionary property of bacteria, spread on mobile pieces of DNA — and it was already linked to nearly 5 million deaths a year before the forecasts began.
POET II randomised 508 stabilised patients to stop antibiotics or complete the standard course. The safety endpoint met noninferiority; relapse of infection did not go the same way.
A Cochrane review of six trials found no benefit for the common cold and significantly more adverse effects in adults. Resistant bacterial infections were linked to 4.71 million deaths in 2021.
Expert guidelines back antibiotics for moderate-to-severe cases and simple measures for mild ones. The popular Pepto-Bismol prevention habit rests on 1980s data — and a 2025 trial could not confirm it worked.
In 328 patients with third-generation cephalosporin-resistant gut bacteria in the blood, an old, narrow-spectrum antibiotic met its non-inferiority mark, offering a way to spare carbapenems.
In the phase 3 Integral-1 trial, cefepime plus the new β-lactamase blocker nacubactam cured 82% of complicated urinary infections versus 61% for imipenem, offering a way to spare carbapenems.