Science Media Centre

New Zealand isn’t insulated from the global problem of antimicrobial resistance, concludes the latest expert advice paper from the Royal Society Te Apārangi. Released today, Antimicrobial Resistance – Implications for New Zealanders compiled evidence on what impacts antimicrobial resistance would have in New Zealand. With many microbes developing resistance to medicines, including bacteria, viruses, fungi […]

This week the World Health Organization (WHO) released a priority list for pathogens for which new drugs are urgently needed to combat. The list includes 12 families of bacteria divided into three categories: critical, high and medium priority. Among the critical group includes Pseudomonas aeruginosa,  which causes skin infections in humans – some strains have been […]

Growing rates of antimicrobial resistance could leave us without effective drugs to treat serious infections – “the end of modern medicine as we know it”, according to the WHO’s Margaret Chan. November 14-18 was World Antibiotic Awareness Week and Dr Siouxsie Wiles at Te Pūnaha Matatini planned an awareness campaign about antimicrobial resistance: InfectedNZ. It was […]

A World Health Organisation report warning of increasing global levels of antibiotic resistance has received wide-spread attention in New Zealand. The report reveals that antibiotic resistance is no longer a prediction for the future – it is happening right now in every region of the world, and has the potential to affect anyone, of any […]