Scientists expose superbug defenses

(Reuters) — Scientists in Britain have found how drug-resistant “superbug” bacteria build and maintain a defensive wall – paving the way for the development of new drugs to break through the barrier and kill the often deadly organisms. In recent decades, bacteria resistant to multiple drugs, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or Clostridium difficile, have grown into a global health threat, while superbug strains of infections like tuberculosis and gonorrhoea have become untreatable. The World Health Organization has warned that many antibiotics could become redundant this century, leaving patients vulnerable to deadly infections and threatening the future of medicine. Researchers publishing a study in the journal Nature today said knowing the mechanism bacteria use to keep up their defenses brings scientists closer to solving the problem of antibiotic resistance, since new treatments can be designed to weaken those defenses rather than attack the bacteria directly. This means that in future, bacteria may not develop drug resistance at all, they said. The team led by Changjiang Dong, a professor at Britain’s University of East Anglia, used a machine called Diamond Light Source – which produces intense light 10 billion times brighter than the sun – to investigate in tiny detail a class of bugs known as Gram-negative bacteria. Gram-negative bacteria are particularly resistant to antibiotics because their cells have an imp...
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Tags: Clinical Trials Hospital Care Source Type: news