Publications 

EPA STRIVE Report Published "Enhancing Human Health through Improved Water Quality"

Martin Cormican, Enda Cummins, Dearbhaile Morris, Martina Prendergast, Diarmuid O'Donovan, Vincent O'Flaherty

Summary: Cryptosporidium spp. are protozoan parasites associated with infectious gastroenteritis. The parasites represent a particular challenge in water treatment as they are relatively resistant to chlorination. This project used geographical information system (GIS) technology to investigate the relationships between variation in notified cases of cryptosporidiosis and water supply with regard to social deprivation and environmental factors.

Available on EPA website at http://www.epa.ie/downloads/pubs/research/health/

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British Medical Journal 15/05/2102 - "Existing Classes of Antibiotics are Probably the Best We Will Ever Have"

Martin Cormican and Akke Vellinga, CHfE, Ryan Institute and School of Medicine, NUI Galway

Paccaud emphasises economic incentives for new antibiotic discovery to tackle antibiotic resistance. 1 An ecological perspective suggests that new drug discovery may not make a major contribution.

The ideal target for antibiotic action is a crucial step in bacterial physiology with no parallel in mammalian cells—for example, penicillin targets a step in cell wall synthesis. Because there is no parallel in mammalian cells there is little dose related cellular toxicity. Because biological motifs are generally conserved in evolution, the number of ideal targets is probably limited. Many compounds (including penicillin) that disrupt crucial bacterial pathways exist naturally, so many environmental bacteria have systems to neutralise their effects. Read more...

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