GoKawiil
Tech News
Scientists in Kenya have documented a case of the fungal pathogen Candida auris that shows complete resistance to every major category of antifungal medication currently available. The finding represents an escalation in the drug-resistance capabilities already associated with this pathogen, which has spread in healthcare settings worldwide.
The WHO's 2022-recommended six-month TB treatment, which relies on the antibiotic bedaquiline alongside other pills, is showing signs of drug resistance among patients. Researchers warn this could force a return to the older 20-month regimen involving injectable drugs with severe side effects such as hearing loss. TB remains the world's deadliest infectious disease, killing 1.23 million people in 2024.
Researchers led by Conery et al., writing in Nature, report a strategy for treating lung cancers driven by mutated kinase enzymes that destroys the target protein entirely rather than merely inhibiting its activity. The approach is aimed at cancers that develop resistance to existing kinase inhibitors after acquiring mutations near the drug's binding site. Twenty-eight kinase inhibitors are already FDA-approved across nine molecular lung cancer subtypes, but many patients eventually relapse due to such resistance mutations.
Researchers led by Brown University analyzed whole genomes from 157 malaria parasite samples collected in Uganda between 2016 and 2024 and found a cluster of mutations, dubbed PIN, in a previously overlooked gene called px1. This cluster—three amino acid changes plus two deletions—appears to be spreading rapidly through parasite populations and is likely driving reduced sensitivity to the main antimalarial drug used across sub-Saharan Africa.