Scientists have discovered a new antibiotic, teixobactin, that can kill serious infections in mice without encountering any detectable resistance, offering a potential new way to get ahead of dangerous evolving superbugs.
The new antibiotic was discovered in a sample of soil.
The research is "ingenious," Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, told The New York Times.
Researchers said the antibiotic, which has yet to be tested in humans, could one day be used to treat drug-resistant infections caused by the superbug MRSA, as well as tuberculosis, which normally requires a combination of drugs that can have adverse side effects.
Antibiotic-resistant infections already kill 700,000 people each year, with those numbers expected to rise.
"The discovery of this novel compound challenges long-held scientific beliefs and holds great promise for treating an array of menacing infections," said Kim Lewis, a professor at Northeastern University and co-founder of the NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals, which has patented teixobactin.
Still, experts urged caution. Though the researchers said they didn't see signs of poisoning in the mice treated with teixobactin, antibiotics that show promise in mice are often toxic to humans.
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1 comment:
I can only hope that once this becomes available that doctors are educated on when to use this drug and treatments are monitored. It was the unfettered prescribing of antibiotics by doctors and patients that did not follow the entire course of drugs that got us here in the first place. Lets not repeat our mistakes.
And for the love of good stop using antibiotic soaps and lotions. They do less to battle viruses and bacteria than simply washing your hands.
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