By Pankaj Dhaka and J.S. Bedi The discovery of the antibiotic Penicillin by Alexander Fleming in the year 1928 spawned the antibiotics era in the infectious disease treatment paradigm, wherein experts rightly described antibiotics as a "miracle drug". The world before the discovery of antibiotics was so vulnerable to infections that even a minor cut … Continue reading Antimicrobial Resistance: We MUST discuss it, we MUST stop it
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The YELDANDI Prescription for Combating AMR: In conversation with Vijay V. Yeldandi
Infection Disease (ID) specialists play a critical role in tackling global health problems such as tuberculosis and HIV, emerging infections such as Zika virus, COVID or Ebola and the growing threat posed by antibiotic resistance . Vijay Yeldandi is one such ID specialist with more than 25 years of experience in India and USA, specializing in handling infections in people with impaired immunity such as transplant recipients or patients of HIV. He is the Head of Infectious Diseases and Public Health at the non-profit organisation SHARE INDIA and a Clinical Professor of Medicine and Surgery at University of Illinois. He serves as a Faculty at the Center for Global Health, University of Illinois and the Public Health Foundation of India. Having won many awards both for his leadership and for his work in public health, Vijay provides technical help to many hospitals in India on Infection control and patient safety and serves as a technical advisor to NACO, Government of India on HIV Programs. Here, Vijay shares with us his thoughts on strategies to deal with AMR in India.
Finding the Right Antibiotics with Suman Kapur
Suman Kapur and her team based at BITS Pilani, Hyderabad, have developed a unique device called RightBiotic that rapidly identifies antibiotic sensitivity of pathogens found in human Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) and helps a medical professional identify the right kind of antibiotics to use to treat the infection. For her efforts, Suman has received the All-India Women Entrepreneur Award 2021 in the category of Super Achiever by the Delhi Management Association. She was also recognized as one of 100 Women Achievers by the President of India in 2015. The RightBiotic team was awarded the Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award in 2015. In this interview, Suman takes us through the science behind RightBiotic and why it is an effective biomedical tool to control the rise of superbugs.
Common myths about microbes
Somdatta Karak | Are bacteria and viruses very different? Are we at war with microbes? Are all microbes evolving ways to infect and kill us? Too tiny to be seen, microbes seem to lead mysterious lives. Let’s explore some common myths around them in this e-booklet. This e-booklet was originally published in the iWonder magazine of … Continue reading Common myths about microbes
Mapping bacterial growth to fight superbugs
Somdatta Karak and Disha Chauhan | Many antibiotics work by inhibiting cell wall formation in bacteria. But in a bid to survive as most other living organisms, bacteria mutate and evolve into antibiotic-resistant superbugs. In this zine by Somdatta Karak (words) and Disha Chauhan (art), learn about how Dr Manjula Reddy and her team's research … Continue reading Mapping bacterial growth to fight superbugs
Superheroes Against Superbugs 