McMaster team fighting drug-resistant bugs
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Scientists at McMaster University say they’ve found a secret weapon in the urgent battle against antibiotic resistance.
They’ve found a fungus molecule living in the soils of Nova Scotia. Called AMA, it essentially disarms the most resisant genes worldwide. With those neutralized the drugs can do what they were designed to do: attack viruses.
Lead researcher Gerry Wright says the discovery comes at a criticial time. “The resistance problem is something that has been creeping up over a number of years and is now in a situation where public health agencies around the world are raising the alarm, from the WHO to the CDC to Health Canada.”
“Around the globe we’ve seen antibiotic resistance is one of the major threats to modern medicine.”
Extensive testing on humans still needs to be performed to discover possible side-effects. The findings are featured today on the cover of the prestigious journal Nature.
Image: The fungus Aspergillus versicolor in liquid culture after 16 days of growth. (McMaster University)
