Saturday, April 26, 2008

ANTIBIOTICS KEEP BACTERIA ALIVE

ANTIBIOTICS KEEP BACTERIA ALIVE
SOURCE: SCIENCE 4.11.08

Researcher Dantas isolated bacteria that grow on antibiotics as their only source of carbon. They are very diverse and closely related to bacteria that cause human infections. We always think that antibiotics are our best weapons against bacterial infections. Yet each of these antibiotic eating bacteria are resistant to various other antibiotics at various high strengths.

This phenomenon suggests that this unappreciated reservoir of antibiotic resistance can contribute to the antibiotic resistance we find in human pathogenic bacteria. These bacteria closely resemble human bacteria and were found super resistant in that they tolerated concentrations 50X higher than the concentrations used to define antibiotic resistance.

Pathogenic bacteria can readily use resistant genes originating from bacteria that subsist on antibiotics.

The thought arises: Are antibiotics always the answer to infections or can it actually lead to more bacterial growth?

Your comments always appreciated. Visit us @ www.drneedles.com for further information.

No comments:

Labels