United Kingdom – A new super-antibiotic capable of wiping out everything from MRSA to TB has been found lurking in soil.
In tests, the medicine rapidly cured infections that should have been fatal, including bugs that damage the heart.
It could be a powerful weapon in the war against antibiotic resistance, which has seen once minor infections become deadly after finding ways of evading the drugs.
With no new type of antibiotic hitting the market for almost 30 years, experts have warned healthcare could soon be dragged back into the 19th century.
UK chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies has described an ‘apocalyptic scenario’ in which, in just 20 years’ time, routine operations such as hip replacements become deadly because minor infections can’t be treated.
The new drug, which has been named teixobactin, was discovered after British, German and American scientists went back to basics and studied bacteria from a grassy field in Maine in the US.
Many bacteria and fungi naturally make antibiotics to keep themselves safe, and most that we use today have their roots in nature.
However, many soil bugs are difficult to grow in the lab, so modern scientists have largely abandoned examining bacteria found in nature in favour of more high-tech approaches.
Convinced that soil holds more secrets, researchers from Northeastern University in Boston devised a gadget that allowed them to grow and study cells in their native earth, the journal Nature reported.
Of the 10 000 types of bacteria that grew, 25 pumped out substances that could potentially be used as antibiotics including teixobactin, which was the most promising.
In tests on mice, it killed a wide range of bacteria, including the hospital superbug MRSA.
It was “exceptionally active” against the deadly C diff stomach bug and “exquisitely active” against germs that damage the heart. TB was also within its grasp, raising the possibility the disease could be treated by a single drug, rather than the cocktail used today.
Importantly, teixobactin did all this without causing side-effects.
The researchers, including scientists from Essex-based drug company Selcia, said they didn’t manage to produce any bacteria that could evade the drug, predicting it would take at least 30 years for resistance to develop. They hope to start testing on people in two years, and it could be on the market as an injection by 2019.
Daily Mail