Superbugs

Bacteria continue to evolve resistance to our best drugs, but probiotics help keep bad bugs at bay. Now, MIT researchers have found a way to combine probiotics and antibiotic drugs into an uneasy alliance that seems to work better than either treatment alone.

Superbugs are evolving to outfox even our very best medicines, presenting a real and emerging danger to humans in every corner of the globe. A new study has explored how they develop in newborns in particular, and how a mother’s breastmilk might help fend them off.

A cheap new diagnostic test from researchers at UC Berkeley promises to effectively identify antibiotic-resistant bacteria in just minutes from a urine sample. The test is currently being commercialized with a view on rolling it out into hospital and clinical settings as soon as possible.

Not all pathogenic bacteria needs to evolve a variant to avoid destruction from antibiotics. A new study has revealed that some bacteria can effectively enter a state of hibernation, waiting for the effects to antibiotics to pass, resulting in persistent and chronic infections.

The looming threat of drug-resistant bacteria is usually chalked up to overuse of antibiotics. But now, researchers have found that pharmaceutical compounds that aren’t antibiotic themselves can also contribute to the rise of superbugs, including antidepressants like Prozac.

​Common bacteria living on our skin has raised a red flag for scientists concerned with the rise of superbugs, as research reveals the spread of a new type of drug-resistant infection around the globe, raising the very real possibility that the infections it causes will essentially be untreatable.

With bacteria rapidly evolving resistance to our best antibiotics, scientists are searching high and low for new ones. Researchers have now found that a potent peptide normally used for digestion has strong antimicrobial effects, and could form the base of new drugs.

To avoid a future where once-routine procedures become life-threatening again, new ways to fight bacteria need to be developed. A new study has now shown oxygen can be weaponized against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, by way of nanoparticles activated by light.

Infectious bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to our best antibiotics. Now researchers at BIDMC have found that combining two antibiotics that no longer work can create a treatment that’s once again effective against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The increased use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers and disinfectants in hospitals has been incredibly successful in reducing cases of deadly golden staph infections. However, a new study has found that some bacteria are now becoming resistant to these alcohol-based sanitizers.

Researchers from ETH Zurich have found a way to make use of some of the chemical weapons bacteria have developed against each other. In this case, that bacterial battleground is on the surface of thale cress leaves.

Bacteria are evolving resistance to our best antibiotics at an alarming rate, so developing new ones is a crucial area of study. Inspired by a natural molecule, researchers at NC State University have synthesized a new compound that shows promising antibacterial properties against resistant bugs.