Researchers succeed in making antibiotic a thousand times stronger

[OrbitalDawn]

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/31/rese...ing-antibiotic-a-thousand-times-stronger.html

Researchers have succeeded in making an antibiotic a thousand times stronger in a scientific breakthrough which could strengthen modern medicine's arsenal in its fight against drug resistant infections.

A team from the California-based Scripps Research Institute have modified the antibiotic vancomycin, deeming the new variation "the first antibiotic to have three independent mechanisms of action" in a press release made public Monday.

Dr. Dale Boger, the lead scientist behind the development, said that the adapted vancomycin meant that "doctors would need to use less of the antibiotic to fight infection."

The drug was tested on vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), a bacteria which can cause infections in the intestine, urinary tract and wounds. VRE is listed as being high priority on the World Health Organization's ranking of bacteria which most urgently need research and development into new antibiotics.

 

[Aquila ka Hecate]

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/31/rese...ing-antibiotic-a-thousand-times-stronger.html

Whew! Breathing space, anyway.
If you saw the rates of multi-drug-resistant infections which are now killing people in our hospitals, you would be terrified.

 

[The_Librarian]

And what will the after-effects of the stronger antibiotics be in the long-term? :erm:

 

[Aquila ka Hecate]

And what will the after-effects of the stronger antibiotics be in the long-term? :erm:

Yeah.

 

[Fulcrum29]

And what will the after-effects of the stronger antibiotics be in the long-term? :erm:

One needs to understand antibodies and antibiotics in their own respect. Antibiotics in an overdose can be dangerous. The goal here is to deliver smaller dosage(s) with a stronger punch.

 

[OrbitalDawn]

More info here:

Superantibiotic is 25,000 times more potent than its predecessor

Boger and his colleagues have assembled all three weapons into one single vancomycin analog. The new antibiotic is at least 25,000 times more potent against microbes such as VRE and VRSA, they report this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Moreover, when Boger’s team tested vancomycin-resistant bacteria against the new three-part analog, the microbes were unable to evolve resistance even after 50 rounds. Many antibiotics begin to fail after just a few rounds. This suggests the new compound may be far more durable than current antibiotics, Boger says.

"Organisms just can't simultaneously work to find a way around three independent mechanisms of action,” he says. “Even if they found a solution to one of those, the organisms would still be killed by the other two."

:erm:

Direct link to paper:

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/05/23/1704125114

 

[OrbitalDawn]

Whew! Breathing space, anyway.
If you saw the rates of multi-drug-resistant infections which are now killing people in our hospitals, you would be terrified.

From the above posted article:

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 23,000 Americans die from 17 antibiotic-resistant infections each year (although it’s difficult to parse out how much is due to vancomycin resistance).

Big, big problem everywhere.

 

[Arthur]

Great news. Thanks for posting.

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/31/rese...ing-antibiotic-a-thousand-times-stronger.html

Good to know. Amazing medical progress made daily. Science FTW.

 

[Cius]

Thanks for sharing, good to know. My daughter is currently on a 6 month course of antibiotics to try beat a Cystic Fibrosis superbug infection. Nice to hear the arsenal is getting stronger on how to beat some of these infections.

 

[Arthur]

My daughter is currently on a 6 month course of antibiotics to try beat a Cystic Fibrosis superbug infection.

Sorry to hear. May she recover soon!

 

[Cius]

Thanks. Keep hoping that the big break trough's keep coming that will improve her quality and length of life. Its improved a lot in the last 20 years with average life expectancy up from about 9 years of age to 37 but there is still a long way to go. Also with super bugs that are resistant to multiple antibiotics in some ways its regressing again.

 

[Hosehead]

What is scary is those subsitute antibiotics for treating otherwise unresponsive infections and the lack of ototoxicy knowledge among most doctors.

 

[BTTB]

Thanks for sharing, good to know. My daughter is currently on a 6 month course of antibiotics to try beat a Cystic Fibrosis superbug infection. Nice to hear the arsenal is getting stronger on how to beat some of these infections.

You don't hear much about affected or carriers of Cystic Fibrosis, so forgive me for noting your comment.

My Uncle in his lifetime, married to two different woman was unfortunate to have one child from each union to be born affected with Cystic Fibrosis, the chances of this happening is so rare already, not to mention from 2 different marriages.

 

[Cius]

You don't hear much about affected or carriers of Cystic Fibrosis, so forgive me for noting your comment.

My Uncle in his lifetime, married to two different woman was unfortunate to have one child from each union to be born affected with Cystic Fibrosis, the chances of this happening is so rare already, not to mention from 2 different marriages.

That is astonishing. Even then how many kids did he have in total as each child should only have a 25% chance having both gene's triggering the CF.

 

[BTTB]

That is astonishing. Even then how many kids did he have in total as each child should only have a 25% chance having both gene's triggering the CF.

First marriage 4, 2nd born child affected, died 7 months. Second marriage 1 child, affected, still alive, aged about 30 on a cocktail of medication, doing fine living a normal life.

 

[Cius]

First marriage 4, 2nd born child affected, died 7 months. Second marriage 1 child, affected, still alive, aged about 30 on a cocktail of medication, doing fine living a normal life.

Thanks for sharing. I have two kids, one affected one not. Fortunately despite a late diagnosis at age 7 she is healthy and well, but as is the case for your relative she has a large box of medication she takes each month to maintain that.

 

[BTTB]

Thanks for sharing. I have two kids, one affected one not. Fortunately despite a late diagnosis at age 7 she is healthy and well, but as is the case for your relative she has a large box of medication she takes each month to maintain that.

About 10 years ago I did our family tree and noticed that there were several childhood deaths in the preceding generations.
My great grandfather had 13 children, 4 of which are given as infants that died before age 1. My 2 x Great Grandfather had 10 children 2 of which died before age 1 and my 3 x Great Grandfather had 14 children and from there it appears that 3 to 5 children died very young.
While we will never know what they died from as childhood deaths were quite common, it does offer one plausible explanation for some or all of them. The only way to have known for sure from those earlier generations is to have had handed down accounts from family members that the children had salty foreheads, a symptom of a child with Cystic Fibrosis.

I'm really sorry to hear that one of your children is affected. You and my Uncle belong to a small and rare Club, you have my sympathies.

 

[Ninja'd]

What's it gonna cost and will the average joe be able to afford it?

 

[Cius]

Early stages it will be expensive. If it becomes mainstream the cost will drop. Its all about volume.