New Strategies Against Superbugs

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are cropping up everywhere. There hasn’t been a major breakthrough in the development of antibiotics since the 1960s. Are we losing the battle against antibiotic-resistant bacteria?

There aren’t any new weapons in the arsenal just yet, but some scientists remain optimistic. According to a recent article in Scientific American, strategies currently under development include: 1) developing “narrow spectrum” antibiotics that target just one bacterial species at a time, 2) preventing pathogenic bacteria from causing disease in humans without actually killing them, 3) searching among bacterial species for antibiotics that bacteria use against each other in nature, and 4) genetically modifying antibiotic-producing bacteria so that they can be grown easily in culture.

We’ll probably never win against the bacteria, but we can keep trying to stay one step ahead.

REFERENCE: C.T Walsh and M.A. Fishbach. New Ways to Squash Superbugs. Scientific American pp. 44-51, July, 2009.