A new antibiotic excites many health experts after the drug successfully killed a drug-resistant bacteria during an animal test. Because of this, many scientists expect human trials to be the next step.
A Publix Supermarket pharmacy manager counts out the correct number of antibiotic pills to fill a prescription on August 7, 2007, in Miami, Florida. Publix has decided to start giving away seven commonly prescribed antibiotics for free.
For the past few years, doctors and other health professionals across the globe have been making efforts to create medicines that can combat anti-antibiotic bacteria.
The arrival of the new class of antibiotics is a big deal because it was able to kill one of the deadliest drug-resistant bacteria; the Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (Crab).
New Antibiotic Kills Drug-Resistant Bacteria
According to The Guardian's latest report, the new class of antibiotic that successfully killed the Crab bacteria during the animal test is the Zosurabalpin. Scientists involved in the test said that the medicine was tested in mouse models of pneumonia and sepsis.
This is a big deal for the medical industry since the drug-resistant Crab strains are considered a priority 1 critical pathogen by the World Health Organization.
This bacteria is on the same level as the two drug-resistant forms of bacteria, specifically Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
"Crab is a significant cause of infection in hospitals, particularly in people who are on ventilators," explained Dr. Andrew Edwards from the Imperial College London.
"While it is not an aggressive pathogen it is resistant to multiple different antibiotics, making it very difficult to treat," added Dr. Edwards.
Andrew, who wasn't part of the new antibiotic research, said that since Crab strains are difficult to treat, the latest antibiotic test that successfully killed the bacteria is pretty exciting.
He added that it provides confidence that the methods being used to find new classes of antibiotics can defeat drug-resistant bacteria.
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More Antibiotics Against Drug-Resistant Bacteria Arrive
Jean Lee, a Ph.D. student at Melbourne's Doherty Institute, inspected the superbug Staphylococcus epidermidis on an agar plate in Melbourne on September 4, 2018. - A superbug resistant to all known antibiotics that can cause "severe" infections or even death.
Aside from the latest Zosurabalpin drug, New Scientist recently reported that another new class of antibiotics was discovered.
Scientists made this game-changing discovery, thanks to the help of artificial intelligence. Just like Zosurabalpin, the recently discovered antibiotic class also showed promising results.
It effectively worked against both MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus.
"Our [AI] models tell us not only which compounds have selective antibiotic activity, but also why, in terms of their chemical structure," said Broad Institute's Felix Wong, one of the involved health experts.
If you want to learn more about this health breakthrough, you can click this link.
Related Article: New Anti-Anti-Resistant Bacteria Antibiotics Discovered by AI! First One in Over 60 Years
