They identify a new mechanism of resistance to antibiotics

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They identify a new form of resistance to antibiotics that prevents these drugs from killing bacterial infections and that can help develop techniques to detect the problem and improve treatments

They identify a new mechanism of resistance to antibiotics

Superbugs or bacteria resistant to currently available antibiotics are responsible for the death of more than half a million people in the European region of the World Health Organization (WHO), as shown by data recently published in The Lancet. Public Health, and bacterial infections have been the cause of one in eight deaths that occurred in the world in 2019, and the WHO estimates that in 2050 bacterial resistance will cost the lives of ten million people every year, if not New antibiotics or tools are developed to prevent bacteria from acquiring resistance to the ones we have.

A new study has now discovered a new form of antibiotic resistance that cannot be detected by conventional laboratory tests. Antimicrobial resistance “is a global health emergency that requires action on multiple fronts, such as the discovery of new antibiotics, the surveillance of resistance and the understanding of other mechanisms of antibiotic failure, such as tolerance and persistence”, they have The Australian researchers who carried out the work wrote in an article published in Nature Communications.

“Antimicrobial resistance surveillance has traditionally consisted of routine testing in laboratory settings and detection of resistance genes through whole genome sequencing; however, existing resistance mechanisms do not explain all antibiotic treatment failures,” adds the team of scientists, led by Timothy Barnett, from the Wesfarmers Center for Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, based at the Telethon Kids Institute in Perth ( Australia).

The bacteria’s trick to avoid antibiotics

Researchers have observed how through this mechanism bacteria can absorb nutrients from the human organism they infect and thus avoid the action of antibiotics; a discovery they made while studying the antibiotic susceptibility of group A strep, a bacterium often found in the throat and on the skin. “Bacteria need to produce their own folates in order to grow and, in turn, cause disease. Some antibiotics block the production of folate to stop the growth of bacteria and treat the infection,” Barnett explained.

“Without antibiotics there will be no way to stop deadly infections, cancer patients will not be able to receive chemotherapy and people will not have access to life-saving surgeries”

They were studying an antibiotic that is usually prescribed to treat group A streptococcal skin infections, and they observed that the bacterium, unable to manufacture its own folates, was able to consume them directly from the host. “This renders the antibiotic ineffective and the infection is likely to get worse when the patient should be getting better.” The new form of bacterial resistance that they have discovered is also undetectable with the usual laboratory methods.

“Unfortunately, we suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg: we have identified this mechanism in group A strep, but it is likely to be a broader problem in other bacterial pathogens,” Barnett said, adding: “Without antibiotics we We face a world in which there will be no way to stop deadly infections, cancer patients will not be able to receive chemotherapy, and people will not have access to life-saving surgeries.” For this reason, the first signatory of the work, Kalindu Rodrigo, has already begun to investigate to develop a detection method for this new mechanism of resistance to antibiotics.

The researchers have stated: “Our results highlight the need to understand the activity of antibiotics in the context of the infections for which they are designed, and should serve as a paradigm for investigating other host-dependent mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in bacterial pathogens. of medical importance. To preserve the long-term efficacy of antibiotics, we need to identify and understand these additional mechanisms of antibiotic treatment failure to aid new antimicrobial discovery and monitor resistance as it emerges.”

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