The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "antibiotics" ...
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Antibiotics in our Food
The investigative series examines the controversial practice on America's farms of using antibiotics to quickly grow livestock ... a practice that many scientists and doctors believe is contributing to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance in humans.
Tags: antibiotics; farming; food; drug-resistant; resistance
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Ketek
Dr. David Ross, who reviewed the safety of an antibiotic called Ketek for the Food and Drug Administration, tells the CBS Evening News that he warned them the drug was a "timebomb". Yet, the concerns were kept quiet, and the drug was approved, enjoying sales of $193 million worth in 2005. The drug's list of side effects, including possible liver problems, have been added to continuously since 2004. Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) is conducting an investigation into the situation, and there is another congressional investigation of the drug and "possible misappropriation of CIA funding."
Tags: Ketek; antibiotics; side effects; Food and Drug Administration
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"Invisible Dangers"
This investigation revealed that as many as 8,000-12,000 Canadians die every year after being infected by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, infections they contracted while in the hospital. Canadian hospitals offer little protection against such infections and there is no requirement that they report cases to the authorities. By contrast, the team traveled to the Netherlands and discovered that Dutch hospitals have virtually eradicated infections from these bacteria by means of much more aggressive programs of sanitation and control.
Tags: Nosocomial infections; antibiotic-resistant bacteria; public health
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Superbugs
This story reveals that, not only are "superbugs" (bacteria that are resistant to existing antibiotics,) proliferating, but the major pharmaceutical companies are not developing new antibiotics to combat them. Bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics at such a rate that pharmaceutical companies find it more profitable to develop big sellers like Viagra that do not become obsolete.
Tags: infectious disease; drug-resistant strains; FDA; MRSA; Texas Children's Hospital
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The Treatment: A Medical Researcher Pays for Challenging Drug Industry Funding. He Said Antibiotics Weren't Good for Kids' Earaches; His Peers Found Otherwise. Now, His view Gains Ground.
Scientist Eric Cantekin worked with fellow researcher Dr. Charles Bluestone on a study that compared the effectiveness of antibiotics in fighting ear infections. Bluestone financed the study by appealing to various pharmaceutical companies. Cantekin claims that the study was altered so that the results would be favorable to the pharmaceutical industry; Bluestone denied it. Now, however, there is some evidence to support Cantekin; The Wall Street Journal examines the controversy.
Tags: earache; pharmaceutical company; pharmaceutical industry; research fraud; antibiotics; amoxicillin; medicine
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Modern Meat
Frontline investigates health hazards posed by the nation's meat industry. The story points to evidence that the "widespread use of antibiotics to promote growth and keep livestock healthy may result in the development of bacterial strains that are resistant to antibiotic treatment." The investigation started with examining a lawsuit that a Texas meat-grinding company, Supreme Beef -- after failing federal salmonella standard tests three times -- filed against the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Tags: hygiene; diseases; deaths; food safety; USDA; Center for Disease Control; FOI requests; TAPE; TRANSCRIPT
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Prescription For Trouble
Consumer Reports reports on the ease and potential dangers of ordering prescription drugs off the internet. The reporter was able to order growth hormones, weight loss medicine, osteoporosis medicine, antibiotics, anti-depressants and medicine to stop smoking online.
Tags: prescription drugs; web sites; rogue pharmacies; internet pharmacies; pharmacy
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Will the Black Death return
Discover examines the chances for a new plague epidemic, pointing to isolated cases of the disease in recent decades. The article tells the history of the "black death's" dissemination and cites scientific studies on plague epidemics in Europe, China and India. The story reveals that Russian bioweapon scientists have developed an antibiotic-resistant plague, and warns against the risk of using plague or anthrax as formidable weapons in bioterrorism wars. Plague can never be eradicated, because it hides in animal reservoirs, finds Discover.
Tags: terrorism; plague; cholera; hygiene; Middle Ages; death; mortality; genetic engineering; weapons; antibiotics; rodents; rats; DNA; anthrax; epidemics
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Epidemic Proportions
The American Prospect looks at the everyday health-seeking practices in third-world countries. "If there is one thing AIDS has taught us, it is to be wary of interactions between medical technology and local sociocultural factors," points out the author, a PhD holder and resident physician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The main findings are that poorly trained doctors in developing nations are prescribing aggressive and inappropriate medical treatments in order to comply with patients' expectations, and that many residents of third-world countries seek effective treatment for their illnesses only after repeatedly visiting untrained doctors.
Tags: United Nations; pharmaceuticals; AIDS; Third World; low income; poverty; viruses; medicines; gonorrhea; penicillin; bacteria; antibiotic resistance
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A Medical Researcher Pays For Challenging Drug Industry Funding
The Journal chronicles University of Pittsburgh's Erdem Cantekin's battle against convention. The director of research declared a war of ethics on the university's Medical Center where he had a promising future. Dr. Cantekin believes that in 1986 a fellow researcher manipulated the results of a study on children's antibiotics to benefit drug companies. The move brought Dr Cantekin's career down and he is now known as a "trouble making whistle blower."
Tags: medical research; antibiotics; children; ear infection; drug companies