A new type of antibiotic that kills hospital superbugs has been developed by scientists. In experiments, the drugs cured mice of notoriously difficult-to-treat, antibiotic-resistant MRSA infections.
The discovery comes as a scientists raise alarm over a global rise in antibiotic resistance, driven by over-prescription of common antibiotics. Brown University researchers' breakthrough medication may be one of a whole new group of compounds that, they hope, will have equal success in treating the dangerous infection in humans.
For decades since the introduction of antibiotics in the 1920s, the drugs turned bacterial infections from severe illnesses to easily treatable ones. But as humans and our drugs have evolved, so have the bacteria.
After encountering an antibiotic, bacteria cells may morph and change, meaning that the antibiotic attacks are no longer a good match for the pathogens they are meant to treat.
These survivor bugs replicate, and soon a new, antibiotic-resistant 'superbug' is born and ready to spread among populations.
The threat posed by superbugs has been described as the 'antibiotic apocalypse.'
Worryingly, this threat is only made worse the more antibiotics are consumed.
