Nat Microbiol: Treating Superbugs with Existing Antibiotics

, June 11, 2020 /--- PRNewswire/ -- In a recent study, researchers from USC found that a new screening method could better simulate the inside of the human body to determine whether existing antibiotics can fight deadly superbug infectionsresearchers found that the antibiotic rifabutin was highly active against the multi-resistant bacillusThe study was published in the recent journal Nature Microbiology(Photo:Rifabutin is often used to treat tuberculosis and is the safest and most effective medicine needed in the health system in the Who's essential medicines catalogueBacillus boso bacteria can cause pneumonia, meningitis and blood infectionsAccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2 percent of hospital-acquired infections caused by bacillus in the U.Seach yearresearchers say one of the reasons Rifabutin's ability to superbugs is overlooked is the limitations of current screening techniques"Bacteria grow very differently in the human body," said Brad Spellberg, chief medical officer at southern California Medical Center and senior author of the study"So the team designed a new type of "nutrition-restricted" medium that better simulates the condition of the bodythey found that Rifabutin had strong activity with Boscobacteria grown in nutrient-limited mediums (and animal tissues), but was not effective for bacteria that grow in more commonly used mediascientists have found that Rifabutin uses a unique Trojan horse strategy that induces bacteria to actively import drugs into their own, bypassing the bacteria's external cell defensesThe researchers found that in traditional rich media, high levels of iron and amino acids inhibit pump activity(Bio Valley Bioon.com)source:Old Old antibiotic maybe a powerful new tool against the original source of the
Luna, B., et al (2020) Anutrient-limited screen unmasks rifa
ininth Nature Microbiology.
doi.org/10.1038/s41564-020-0737-6.