Antibiotics losing race against resistant superbugs

February 4, 2009

Washington (IANS): People are dying of superbugs because the

antibiotic armoury has run dry, leaving one unprotected from the

depredations of ever-changing bacteria, warned infectious disease

researchers.

A superbug can evade antibiotics by producing an enzyme that devours

the drug; creating a barrier to the drug; pumping out any antibiotic

that reaches the bacterial cell and modifying the target of the

antibiotic so the drug can't bind to it.

" Most of the public has heard of MRSA (methicillin-resistant

Staphylococcus aureus) because it produces the most cases each year.

However, they have not heard of other superbugs that can be far

worse, " said Barbara E. Murray, co-author and director of Division of

Infectious Diseases at the University of Texas Medical School (UTMS).

" The gram-negative bacteria are the most antibiotic-resistant with

fewer treatment options in life-threatening diseases, such as certain

forms of pneumonia, bloodstream infections, gastroenteritis and even

meningitis, " she said.

Gram-negative bacteria can release toxins created by their cell walls

into the bloodstream, where it is harder to treat them.

According to a 2004 report, " Bad Bugs, No Drugs " , by the Infectious

Diseases Society of America (IDSA), none of the 89 new drugs approved

by the US Food and Drug Administration were antibiotics.

Murray and co-author Cesar Arias said people are also taking

antibiotics without prescriptions or not following the prescription as

directed, said an UTMS release.

" We have run out of options. The promise of genomics has not panned

out. Gene sequencing has not helped us find a better way to fight

these bugs, " said Murray.

These findings were published Thursday in The New England Journal of

Medicine.

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