Antibiotics can save the lives of people with more serious illnesses such as pneumonia and meningitis. Although they are effective in most cases, on the other hand, scientists have discovered that certain bacteria not only resist antibiotics, but also feed on them.
The research, published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, could help scientists genetically manipulate bacteria that would "eat" tons of antibiotics from industrial waste and livestock farms that pollute soil and waterways.
"Ten years ago we discovered bacteria that can feed on antibiotics and we were shocked. Now we know how they do it and we can start thinking about using this ability to get rid of antibiotics where they do harm," says the lead author. studies by Gautam Dantas, professor of immunology at the Missouri School of Medicine.
Antibiotics were discovered in the XNUMXs and have since saved tens of millions of lives by defeating bacterial diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis and meningitis.
However, over time, bacteria have learned how to "fight back" and build resistance to the same drugs that once reliably destroyed them. Penicillin, the original antibiotic and at the same time the most widely used, is therefore prescribed less and less today.
The World Health Organization often warns that the world is running out of effective antibiotics and last year called on governments and big pharmaceutical companies to work on creating a new generation of drugs to fight super-resistant bacteria.
Bacteria can acquire resistance when the patient does not complete the treatment to the end, thus giving the "half-dead" bacteria a chance to recover and build immunity, writes Klix.
Modern industry and agriculture have accelerated the growth of antibiotic resistance by showering the environment with active drugs.
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