 "Teixobactin: An antibiotic that can trick bacteria")
The New Year seems to have brought a ray of hope for tuberculosis and septicemia patients. Scientists have discovered a new antibiotic, which can efficiently cure the two infectious diseases. Interestingly, the medicine, Teixobactin, has been produced from mud/soil.
The new antibiotic, which could be used by humans in about five years from now, has been discovered by a team of scientists who came out with a report on the medicine in an international research journal, Nature.
The new drug is developed out of screening of uncultured bacteria, which is considered to be better than synthetic approaches. According to the scientists, there are almost no detectable signs of bacteria becoming resistant to the antibiotic.
The report on Teixobactin comes at a time when the World Health Organisation (WHO) has already aired its warning, saying that in the post-antibiotic era, many common infections may remain cureless. “It is an increasingly serious threat to the global public health that requires action across all government sectors and society,” WHO has said.
In 2012, there were about 450,000 new cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). According to the WHO, extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) has been identified in 92 countries. MDR-TB requires treatment courses that are much longer and less effective than those for non-resistant TB.
Teixobactin, which was tested on mice, has not been tested on humans yet. While the new discovery seems to have no side effects after curing the infection, it would be crucial to know how humans react to it.
Kim Lewis, senior author of the article and director at the Antimicrobial Discovery Center at Northeastern University in Boston, told The New York Times that the studies on humans will begin in about two years, and even after the drug passes all the necessary tests, it will take five to six years for it to be available for use.
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“Essentially, we’re tricking the bacteria. Back in their native dirt, they divide and grow into colonies. Once the colonies form, the bacteria are 'domesticated', and researchers can scoop them up and start growing them in petri dishes in the laboratory,” Lewis told NYT.
WHO has been vocal about the fact that the new resistance mechanisms emerge and spread globally, threatening our ability to treat common infectious diseases, resulting in death and disability of individuals. Without effective anti-infective treatment, many standard medical treatments will either fail or turn into very high-risk procedures, the WHO pointed out.