U.S. scientists create ultra-tough antibiotic to fight superbugs

U.S. scientists have modified a 60-year-old drug to create an ultra-tough antibiotic. Researchers hope this new antibiotic will be able to fight bacteria that are resistant to drugs currently available on the market.

Scientists at Scripps Research Institute modified antibiotic vancomycin so that it can overcome the present resistance and added two ways to kill vancomycin-resistant enterococci bacteria, otherwise known as VRE.

“Organisms just can't simultaneously work to find a way around three independent mechanisms of action. Even if they found a solution to one of those, the organisms would still be killed by the other two,” lead researcher Dr. Dale Boger told the BBC.

The modified vancomycin is 1,000-fold more powerful than before and has been proven to be able to kill the VRE bacteria in the lab.

Vancomycin-resistant enterococci is commonly found in hospitals. It can cause dangerous wound and bloodstream infections.
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