Antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Antibiotics may work, but they drive bacteria to evolve into new drug-resistant forms. Now a new study has uncovered a mechanism that could make the bugs non-infectious without killing them, reducing the evolutionary pressure that leads to superbugs.

Bacteria have a nasty ability to rapidly evolve, allowing them to evade antibiotics in short order. But now, scientists at UC San Diego have used evolution against them, by “training” bacteria-killing viruses to anticipate their next moves.

Bacteria are extremely good at evolving in response to drugs, which can render vaccines ineffective. But now, researchers at ETH Zurich have found a way to weaponize that ability against them, forcing the bugs down harmless evolutionary dead ends.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria, or “superbugs,” pose one of the most dangerous looming threats to public health. Now, researchers have found a new potential weakness in some of the worst strains, which makes them choke on their own toxic molecules.

Researchers in Israel have demonstrated a creative potential solution to the rise of superbugs with a set of "molecular tweezers" that can pick apart the protective film of bacteria, freeing the way for the human immune system to go to work.

By turning modern scientific tools on an antibiotic discovered 70 years ago, researchers have unearthed a previously unknown mechanism it uses to pierce and pop superbugs like balloons, raising new hopes in the fight against drug-resistant bacteria.

New weapons against so-called “superbugs” are desperately needed. A new black phosphorus coating quickly kills bacteria and fungi, then dissolves within 24 hours – and best of all, bacteria can’t evolve resistance against this mode of attack.

Bacteria have developed crafty weapons in their ongoing wars, such as tailocins, which act somewhat like “homing missiles” against their enemies. Now, researchers have investigated just how tailocins work, and how we might use them to our advantage.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are an urgent public health threat. A new single-dose drug has been developed that works on a different mechanism to most antibiotics, and tests in mice show that it can be used to treat multi-drug-resistant gonorrhea.

Microplastics are increasingly found polluting waterways and causing unknown damage to the health of animals and humans. Now, a new study provides evidence there's cross over with another looming public health threat – antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

Antibiotic-resistant “superbugs" pose a serious public health threat. New antibiotics are needed to turn the tide, but developing them takes time. Now IBM Research has set AI on the task, producing two promising new drug candidates very quickly.

Bacteria are fast evolving resistance to antibiotics, meaning our best drugs could soon stop working entirely. Now researchers have found a way to bypass drug resistance in these so-called superbugs – by distracting them with predatory viruses.