Antibiotic

Algorithms have helped uncover a new antibiotic candidate that shows promise against some particularly nasty bugs, using a novel mode of attack that should be hard for them to develop resistance to. Most importantly it could unlock a whole new arsenal of antibiotics.We humans aren’t the only organisms that want to kill bacteria – nature has developed a wide range of antibacterial compounds, many of them used by bacteria themselves to gain the upper hand in the eons-long turf war against other bacteria.Most of our…

Bacteria in Antarctica have been discovered with genes that give them natural antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance and have the potential to spread out of the polar regions, according to scientists in Chile.Andres Marcoleta, a researcher from the University of Chile who headed the study in the Science of the Total Environment journal in March, said that these "superpowers" which evolved to resist extreme conditions are contained in mobile DNA fragments that can easily be transferred to other bacteria."We know that the…

Two new studies have highlighted the importance of judicious antibiotic use. One study found antibiotics can increase a person’s risk of fungal infections by causing defects to immune system activity in the gut, while another study suggests heavy antibiotic use in old age is linked to higher rates of inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s.While a great deal of attention has rightly been directed at the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, that isn’t the only reason we should be cautious of how often we…