Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Superbugs abound in soil

Survey of bacteria reveals an array of antibiotic-resistance


Bacteria that live in soil have been found to harbour an astonishing armoury of natural weapons to fight off antibiotics. The discovery could help researchers anticipate the next wave of drug-resistant 'superbugs'.

... Many of the bacterial strains were immune to antibiotics that they have probably never been exposed to before. And the crafty creatures used some previously unknown ways to detoxify some drugs, such as adding a sugar molecule on to the drug telithromycin, which prevents it from crippling a cell.


If the little bastards are so smart, isn't it time we recruited them?

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