• News
    • Tech News
    • AI
  • Gadgets
    • Apple
    • iPhone
  • Gaming
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
  • Science
    • News
    • Space
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
  • Vehicles
    • Car News
  • Social Media
    • WhatsApp
    • YouTube
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
TikTok
Snapchat
WhatsApp
Submit Your Content
Scientists hail new antibiotic that can kill drug-resistant bacteria

Home> Science

Published 09:21 15 Jan 2024 GMT

Scientists hail new antibiotic that can kill drug-resistant bacteria

A new antibiotic shows promise in combating antibiotic resistance, and it belongs to an entirely different class of drugs.

Rebekah Jordan

Rebekah Jordan

A new hero has been discovered in the form of an antibiotic, ready to take on one of the greatest bacterial threats to human health: drug-resistant bacteria.

Currently undergoing clinical trials, the drug has already shown promise in both laboratory and mice experiments.

If the clinical trials go well, the drug named zosurabalpin could soon be a potential solution for some Gram-negative bacterial strains.

Scientists believe to have found a breakthrough with a new antibiotic drug / Handout/Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library/Getty Images
Scientists believe to have found a breakthrough with a new antibiotic drug / Handout/Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library/Getty Images

Advert

The research team, led by Claudia Zampaloni, Patrizio Mattei, Konrad Bleicher, and colleagues, have demonstrated that zosurabalpin is effective in targeting the carbapenem-resistant strain of the bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii, also known as CRAB.

CRAB poses a significant challenge in the world of antibiotics.

Classified as a priority 1 critical pathogen by the World Health Organization, it's notorious for its resistance to nearly all existing antibiotics.

What makes it even more dangerous is its ability to share its resistant genes with other bacteria, making them equally formidable.

Advert

The bacterium is particularly problematic in healthcare settings, posing a high risk to individuals with medical devices like catheters, those in intensive care, long-term hospital patients, and those recovering from surgical wounds.

Infections with CRAB are extremely hard to treat. The main reason is that, being a Gram-negative bacteria, it has an outer membrane that acts as a shield. It's made up of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) which need to be targeted if there's any hope of destroying the bacterium,

A lot of antibiotics fail to do this, reflecting the urgent need for new drugs like zosurabalpin.

Zosurabalpin is highly effective at combatting CRAB /Handout/Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library/Getty Images
Zosurabalpin is highly effective at combatting CRAB /Handout/Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library/Getty Images

Advert

Kenneth Bradley, global head, Infectious Disease Discovery at Roche Pharma Research & Early Development, explained: 'Surprisingly, this new class of antibiotics binds both to the transport complex as well as the LPS itself, preventing its transport to the outer membrane.

'Consequently, the LPS remains trapped in the inner membrane complex. Without the ability to transport LPS, the bacteria die.'

This breakthrough drug may also offer novel treatments against other Gram-negative pathogens that target the LPS transport system.

For example, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, another Gram-negative bacterium, caused around 32,600 hospital-acquired infections in 2017 and is increasingly difficult to treat.

Advert

In one Nature article, Morgan K. Gugger and Paul J. Hergenrother pointed out that it's been over half a century since the US Food and Drug Administration approved a new antibiotic for harmful Gram-negative bacteria.

So, it's been a long time coming.

However, scientists stress that further research is necessary for the risk that the bacteria might eventually develop resistance to zosurabalpin as well.

Featured Image Credit: Handout/Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library/Getty Images
Science
World News

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

an hour ago
18 hours ago
19 hours ago
20 hours ago
  • an hour ago

    Psychologist reveals simple everyday act that can has power to completely change your relationship

    Experts believe this mundane chore could be the key to keeping your relationship happy

    Science
  • 18 hours ago

    Scientist made shock admission ahead of NASA mission to asteroid 'worth $10,000,000,000,000,000,000'

    It's not what most people want to hear

    Science
  • 19 hours ago

    Ozempic users share shocking ‘Ozempic sex’ side effect that not many people know about

    It's not just your wasitline that could be shrinking

    Science
  • 20 hours ago

    Solar panels illegal in 49 states could transform energy for the USA

    A YouTuber showed how the solar panels can be plugged into a home outlet

    Science
  • Groundbreaking drug can 'bring brain back to life' as Parkinson's reversal hope grows
  • Scientists discover never-seen-before bacteria on China's International Space Station that could threaten astronauts
  • Scientists warn mysterious 'mirror life' bacteria could wipe out everything on Earth
  • Psychologist reveals simple everyday act that can has power to completely change your relationship