Skip to main content

Scientists Discover Viruses That Can Deactivate Dangerous Bacteria Section 1: The Growing Problem With Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

Bacterial infections are getting more difficult to treat, particularly in hospitals and other healthcare settings. This is because many germs are becoming antibiotic-resistant. In 2017, nearly 30,000 multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections were reported among hospitalised patients in the United States. P. aeruginosa is a bacterium that can cause severe infections in the blood, lungs, and other regions of the body.

How Viruses Help Fight Bacteria
Scientists at Texas A&M AgriLife Research discovered a new technique to combat these hazardous bacteria. They are researching viruses called bacteriophages, or phages, which can infect and destroy bacteria. The researchers discovered that a phage named PP7 may connect to a component of the P. aeruginosa bacteria known as the pilus. The pilus acts like a spear, allowing bacteria to move around and disseminate antibiotic resistance to other bacteria.

When the PP7 phage connects to the pilus, the bacteria pushes it to the surface. However, in the process, the pilus flexes and snaps off. Without the pilus, P. aeruginosa bacteria are significantly less likely to infect their hosts and transmit antibiotic resistance.

"In our study of Pseudomonas, we were able to explain much more about what exactly is going on, including the force and speed of pilus detachment, and understand why and how this happens," said Lanying Zeng, Ph.D., a professor in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics.

A novel approach to treating bacterial infections.
The researchers anticipate that this discovery may lead to novel treatments for bacterial illnesses. Doctors could utilise phages to disarm germs by breaking off their pili, rather than immediately killing them. This could improve the patient's immune system's ability to fight the illness on its own or allow doctors to use fewer doses of antibiotics.

"If you simply kill the bacteria, you break the cells, and they're going to release toxic material from inside the cell into the host," said Junjie Zhang, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Texas A&M University. "Our strategy is to use a specific sort of phage to disarm the bacteria. By removing this appendage, we prevent them from exchanging drug-resistance genes or moving around.

Scientists at Texas A&M's Centre for Phage Technology are still researching how phages may be utilised to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. They are looking for similar cases where phages reduce the pathogenicity of other types of pathogenic bacteria.

"We are taking a synergistic approach," Zhang explained. "We're attempting to figure out a universal mechanism for this sort of phage and how it affects different bacteria. That is the overarching goal of our collaborative effort: to address the problem of multidrug-resistant microorganisms."
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cutting calories may reduce cellular ageing and increase lifetime.

State College, Pennsylvania — Penn State researchers are presenting fresh persuasive data linking diets to ageing. Their study focused on telomeres, the genetic "end caps" that protect our chromosomes, and how calorie restriction impacts them. The scientists studied data from a two-year trial of caloric restriction in humans and published their findings in the journal Ageing Cell. They discovered that those who restricted their calories lost telomeres at different rates than the control group. Despite this, both groups concluded the research with roughly identical telomere lengths. Previous research found that reducing calories by 20 to 60 percent resulted in prolonged life for a variety of species. When a person's cells split, some telomeres are lost as chromosomes are copied to a new cell. The cell's telomeres are then shortened in total. The telomere cap eventually disappears as cells divide. The genetic information on the chromosome becomes more vulnerable to de...
Post a Comment
Read more

DUI without alcohol? A rare syndrome in the intestines may be the culprit.

  Imagine you are a police officer. You see a car swerving all over the road. You pull over the driver, and they are plainly inebriated. They insist, with slurred speech, that they haven't consumed any alcohol all day. Do you believe them? In 2024, a Belgian man was acquitted after being arrested three times for DUI in four years. Though his position at a brewery raised suspicions, he asserted that he had not been drinking. Three doctors confirmed that he had auto-brewery syndrome and was ignorant. People with this illness have microorganisms in their intestines that produce abnormally high levels of alcohol when they break down sugars and carbs. Though it is an uncommon condition, a lady was acquitted of a DUI conviction in 2016 after being diagnosed with the same syndrome. Her blood alcohol level was four times the legal limit. I am a microbiologist who is fascinated by how the gut microbiome influences human health. As the author of the book "Pleased to Meet Me: Genes, G...
Post a Comment
Read more

A study reveals serious side effects from common dementia medications.

Several antipsychotic medications used to treat dementia patients have been linked to dangerous side effects such as heart failure, according to a study released Thursday. A study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found that using antipsychotics in persons with dementia can lead to major adverse outcomes such as stroke, blood clots, heart attack, heart failure, fracture, pneumonia, and acute kidney injury. Scientists discovered that the greatest hazards arise when therapy begins, "underscoring the need for increased caution in the early stages of treatment". Risperidone, quetiapine, haloperidol, and olanzapine are common antipsychotic medications used to treat psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia. They are also used to treat depression that has proven resistant to other drugs, as well as those suffering from dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease. Antipsychotics are not designed to heal these conditions, but rather to alleviate certain symptoms such ...
Post a Comment
Read more