Microbiology nerd
We may have found a new ally in the fight against antibiotic resistance… though it might not be what you’d expect. Researchers have found exciting evidence to suggest that a predatory bacteria, Bdellovibro bacteriovirus, could be used to deal with dangerous bacterial infections as a ‘living antibiotic’. The study, published on the 23rd November in … Read more
Polluted air could be a major way for resistance-allowing genes to be spread across bacteria, as researchers have determined using air samples taken from smog in Beijing. Joakim Larsson, director of the University of Gothenburg’s Centre for Antibiotic Resistance Research, and his team analysed 864 DNA samples from a range of human, animal and environmental … Read more
Oxacillin, a β-lactam antibiotic, can reduce the virulence of MRSA and open it up to attack from the host immune system and other antibiotics, new research has shown. MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is one of the most dangerous pathogens affecting the world at the moment, with 20% of infected patients dying from systemic infections … Read more
A research team has found that when the bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae become resistant to chlorhexidine it can also grant them resistance to colistin, a ‘last-line’ antibiotic. The potential for an organism to become resistant to an antibiotic as a result of its resistance against a biocide has been debated in the past, but this is … Read more