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There might be light at the end of the tunnel but it's going to be a bumpy ride to outsmarting bacteria!

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This is a £10million prize fund that will be awarded to the group that is the first to develop a simple diagnostic test. This test will be able to be carried out by people in their home to see if they need antibiotics.

Check out their press release which tells you a bit more about the background to the research.

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Eight in ten say a cheap and simple home test would affect their decision to seek out antibiotics

London, 12 November 2016 - Around three-quarters (74%) of people believe that a positive test for bacterial infection should be compulsory before being able to access antibiotics, according to new research published by the Longitude Prize - a global prize fund set up to help tackle the problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In the research, eight in ten Britons (81%) also say that having access to a cheap and simple home test for bacterial infections would affect their decision of whether to seek out antibiotics.

The development of a diagnostic test to identify whether antibiotics are needed is crucial in addressing the global public health threat from bacteria that can no longer be treated with antibiotics. The £10 million Longitude Prize is a global challenge which aims to tackle the problem by supporting the development of a new, affordable and rapid test; the Prize Challenge is open to anyone worldwide until 2019 at www.longitudeprize.org.

The latest UK survey(1) by the Longitude Prize measures public perceptions of the threat from drug-resistant bacteria, as World Antibiotic Awareness Week begins [14-20 November]. The research points to increasing awareness amongst Britons of steps that need to be taken to preserve antibiotics. The number of people saying that they had pushed their doctor to prescribe antibiotics, or had tried to access them via another source, has decreased since 2015.

The survey found, however, that there are still widespread misconceptions around antibiotics. Less than a quarter (23%) understood that increased bacterial drug resistance could affect routine operations like caesarean sections and hip replacements, whilst a third (33%) wrongly believe that antibiotics can also be used to treat viral infections.

Other key findings from the Longitude Prize survey include:

Misuse of antibiotics is one of the leading causes of global drug resistance which, according to the recent government-backed AMR Review led by Lord Jim O'Neill, could cost up to 10 million lives worldwide each year by 2050. GPs have come under increasing pressure to curb overprescription of antibiotics, with the UK Government targeting a 50% reduction in prescriptions by 2020 (2), whilst patients have also been advised not to request the class of drugs if they are not needed.

Daniel Berman, Longitude Prize lead at Nesta, the innovation foundation, said: "The unnecessary over-prescription of antibiotics is one of the major factors in the growth of resistant strains of disease. If we do not improve the way we use antibiotics and resistance continues to rise, simple infections could become life-threatening, as was the case before the advent of penicillin in 1928."

For more information on the Longitude Prize visit longitudeprize.org.
ENDS
Notes to Editor

1. Populus interviewed a sample of 2,348 UK adults aged 18+ from its online panel between 26-28 October 2016. Surveys were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. Populus is a founder member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. Further information at www.populus.co.uk

2. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/g7-2016-in-japan-pm-press-statement

For further information on the Longitude Prize contact Matthew Hull in the Nesta press office on (+44) 020 7438 2514 or 2543 / [email protected]

Spokespeople available on request

About Longitude Prize: The Longitude Prize has been developed by Nesta, the innovation foundation, and has a £10 million prize fund to develop a rapid diagnostic to help tackle antimicrobial resistance. It was announced by the Prime Minister at G8 in 2013 and is being supported by Innovate UK as funding partner. The Prize commemorates the 300th anniversary of the Longitude Act (1714) when the British government threw down the gauntlet to solve one of the great scientific challenges of that century: how to pinpoint a ship's location at sea by knowing its longitude. www.longitudeprize.org / @longitude_prize

About Nesta: Nesta is the UK's innovation foundation. We help people and organisations bring great ideas to life. We do this by providing investments and grants and mobilising research, networks and skills. We are an independent charity and our work is enabled by an endowment from the National Lottery. Nesta is a registered charity in England and Wales 1144091 and Scotland SC042833

www.nesta.org.uk / @nesta_uk

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Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance: three quarters of Brits support mandatory test before antibiotic prescriptions

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Eight in ten say a cheap and simple home test would affect their decision to seek out antibiotics London, 12 November 2016 - Around three-quarters (74%) of people believe that a positive test for bacterial infection should be compulsory before being able to access antibiotics, according to new research published by the Longitude Prize - a global prize fund set up to help tackle the problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

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Hopefully most people will have heard of Alexander Fleming, the scientist who left a petri dish of bacteria on his bench before going away on holiday. He came back to find a mould had grown on the plate but what he found interesting was that where the mould grew, the bacteria couldn't grow. In other words this mould was killing the bacteria growing on the plate.

Alexander Fleming didn't fully recognise the impact that this discovery could have and it wasn't until 1939 that efforts to turn it into an effective medicine began.

The people behind this were Howard Florey, Ernst Chain and their colleagues at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at Oxford University. Their names are not very well known but they should be just as famous as Alexander Fleming.

Source and more information: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/flemingpenicillin.html#penicillin-oxford-university

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Antibiotics are naturally occurring chemicals that bacteria release in their environment to stop the growth of other bacteria or kill them and get more nutrients.

A lot of naturally occurring antibiotics have been modified in the lab to make them safe for human consumption or to overcome antibiotic resistance.

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This group of scientists have decided to look at remedies that people far in the past have used to treat infections. Watch this video to learn more about it, also follow them on Twitter: @ancientbiotics.

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A one thousand year old Anglo-Saxon remedy for eye infections which originates from a manuscript in the British Library has been found to kill the modern-day superbug MRSA in an unusual research collaboration at The University of Nottingham.

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There are so many petitions and campaigns floating around, from people who want to stop fracking to that whole thing about there being animal fat in the new £5 note!

This petition is run through an organisation that help make changes all the time around the world. If you sign it you'll backing a movement that will increase the welfare standards of farm animals which will stop them getting ill as often and reduce the amount of antibiotics that need to be given to them.

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New research shows supermarket meat is full of deadly superbugs that no antibiotics can touch! It's the best moment to stop this deadly menace: sign the urgent call for the seven leading supermarket bosses to act. ...

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This initiative was set up so that people could pledge to help keep antibiotics safe from over use.
It's free to sign up and you can choose how you want to pledge. Whether you want to actively question people about their use of antibiotics or just make sure that you take the full prescribed course, it's up to you.

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To enable subtitles for the video, click on cc (lower right section of the video screen)

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats facing us today.
Antibiotic Guardian supports the UK Antimicrobial Resistance strategy, European Antibiotic Awareness Day (18 November) and World Antibiotic Awareness Week (13-19 November 2017)

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To enable subtitles for the video, click on cc (lower right section of the video screen) Antibiotic Guardian supports the UK Antimicrobial Resistance strategy, European Antibiotic Awareness Day (18 November) and World Antibiotic Awareness Week (13-19 November 2017)

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This BBC podcast explores how we contributed to the rise in antibiotic resistance.

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I love to write down what I think about scientific issues, publications and other sciency things. I do talk about antibiotic resistance a lot but there are other interesting articles on there to read too!

Find the link at https://muddledstudent.wordpress.com/

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I created a survey out of my own interest into how the public view antibiotic resistance but I have found that this could also help my third year undergraduate project .

If you complete the survey you will be completely anonymous. The results will be posted on my blog mentioned on this Padlet.

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Researchers at Harvard Medical School carried out research into antibiotic resistance and produced this video which shows bacteria actively becoming resistant to larger and larger amounts of antibiotics. Pretty scary stuff!

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The Evolution of Bacteria on a “Mega-Plate” Petri Dish (Kishony Lab)

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A general definition: When bacteria that cause diseases are no longer killed by the medicines that used to kill them or stop them growing. These medicines are called antibiotics

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The World Health Organisation

The NHS on Antibiotic Awareness

Review on Antimicrobial Resistance

Centres for Disease Control

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Why should you be interested in antibiotic resistance?

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Why should you be interested in antibiotic resistance?

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Antibiotic resistance affects everyone and not just the people who contract the untreatable diseases they cause.

Even if you or your nearest and dearest haven't been affected by antibiotic resistance directly, they might be in the future as more and more bacteria become resistant to our antibiotics.

Antibiotics are used in life saving surgery operations and alongside cancer therapies to prevent people becoming infected. This is because their immune systems have been weakened during the procedure.