Thanks to evolution, treating infections is like fighting in a constant biological arms race. We come up with better ways to kill the bugs, the bugs come up with better ways to not get killed. Bacteria are often treated with antibiotics, but when antibiotics get overused they become less effective. What is an antibiotic? An antibiotic is a chemical that is produced by a microbe (like bacteria, some fungi) to fight bacteria. Antibiotics work by targeting unique areas on the bacteria, like the cell wall, and destroying them. As was stated earlier, however, bacteria that are exposed to antibiotics can sometimes evolve ways to be resistant to them. That helps put into perspective how big it is that we recently discovered a new antibiotic! This antibiotic, called teixobactin, was found in soil bacteria. The antibiotic targets Gram-positive bacteria, that is, bacteria that have a certain kind of cell wall. Tests have not found resistance to this antibiotic, which is good, and tests in mice have shown so far that the antibiotic isnt toxic to things other than bacteria, which is even better! There are still more tests needed before we start giving this to people, though, but hopefully that wont take too long. For more info on how the antibiotic was discovered and how it works, check out the article below!
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 16:19:50 +0000
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