Researchers in the USA have made a promising breakthrough: They have developed an antibiotic that is also effective against multi-resistant bacteria.
Cambridge — Antibiotics usually help with bacterial infections, such as tonsillitis or bladder infections. But more and more pathogens are developing resistance to the active ingredient and can therefore no longer be treated with antibiotics.
Researchers at Harvard University in the USA have now possibly found a solution to this problem: They have developed the active ingredient zosurabalpine, which was effective in mice against highly resistant bacterial strains. The results of the study have now been published in the scientific journal Nature published.
New antibiotic is said to be effective against particularly stubborn bacteria
Specifically, this concerns the carbapenem-resistant bacterial species Acinetobacter baumannii, also known as crab. It is one of the worldwide gram-negative bacteria that is protected by a membrane. This prevents the antibiotic from penetrating. Along with two other antibiotic-resistant bacteria species, crab is classified as a very critical pathogen by the World Health Organization. The bacterial strain was observed in infections of patients from war zones, This was also recently the case with soldiers from the Ukraine war.
“Crab is often the cause of infections in hospitals, particularly in people on ventilators,” Andrew Edwards, lecturer in molecular microbiology at Imperial College London, told the Guardian. Although it is not an aggressive pathogen, it is difficult to treat due to its resistance to many antibiotics. According to him, the new discovery is very exciting because it has previously been extremely difficult to control crab. No antibiotic has been approved against gram-negative bacteria for over 50 years.
Active ingredient not yet ready for use against multi-resistant pathogens
Zosurabalpin is not yet ready for use. Further clinical trials are currently underway to further develop the active ingredient. This is also important: As early as 2022, the World Health Organization warned of multi-resistant germs and described them as a “global threat”. The organization estimates that over 1 million people died annually from infectious diseases against which antibiotics were ineffective. In Germany alone there are around 2,400 people every year. A 24-year-old in North Rhine-Westphalia became infected with multi-resistant pathogens in November and was in a race against time. (jus)
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