Even as the health sector advances and innovates, the concern of “superbugs,” antibiotic-resistant infection strains, are a big concern in the future of medicine. A new natural antibiotic could be the solution to this crisis.
A team of researchers from Northeastern University discovered the antibiotic, named Teixobactin, in 2015 and were the first to discover that teixobactin significantly suppressed mechanisms involved in resistance to vancomycin-based antibiotics which are recommended for complicated skin infections, bloodstream infections, endocarditis, bone and joint infections, and MRSA-caused meningitis.
Now, five years later, the team is developing it as a human therapeutic. The research is focused on using the antibiotic against MRSA, which is resistant to the antibiotic methicillin. Bacteria usually develop resistance to antibiotics 48 hours after exposure, but with this new compound, they failed to do so.
This discovery could be revolutionary in treating persistent infections, especially as we see more antibiotic resistant bacteria cropping up.
