Superbugs

Failing antibiotics could lead to a future “dark age of medicine” where once-simple infections become lethal again. Scientists have now found a way to restore antibiotics to their former strength, by repurposing a drug developed to treat Alzheimer’s.

In a significant breakthrough, scientists have pinpointed signs of "pre-resistance" in bacteria for the first time, which they say could allow for better targeted therapies that nip superbugs in the bud before they develop resistance to drugs.

Modern medicine is locked in an arms race against antibiotic-resistant “superbugs.” A new treatment may give us the upper hand again by knocking out enzymes that bacteria use to defend themselves against the drugs.

Antibiotics were one of the most important inventions of the 20th century, but bacteria are developing resistance to them. Now researchers have shown that ultrashort pulses of laser light can kill bacteria and viruses, without harming human cells.

Scientists may have found a way to re-enlist old antibiotics in the fight against superbugs. Gold nanoparticles were wrapped in molecules that seek out bacteria and disrupt their cell membranes, allowing existing drugs to kill them easier.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are poised to become a major health threat in the coming decades – but new antibiotics may have been inside us all along. A search algorithm has discovered dozens of potential antimicrobial peptides in the human body.

By using a nanoscale needle tip to probe the intricate exterior structures of Escherichia coli, scientists have produced the sharpest images ever of living bacteria, which may help us better understand the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

Scientists have demonstrated a new way to fight antibiotic-resistant superbugs by pitting bacteria against each other. The team engineered a common bacteria to safely colonize medical implants, then produce enzymes that dissolve superbug biofilms.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a nasty bacteria that can cause pneumonia. It’s a tough one to fight, but now researchers have developed an inhalable vaccine that, in mouse tests, can invoke a strong immune response against several strains of the 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 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.