Stomping out Superbugs: Incredible new discovery reveals bacteria compound stronger than drug-resistant superbugs

New technology allows needed bacteria to grow in natural environment

The key to fighting drug resistant "Superbugs" may have been found. Teixobactin, a compound from a special bacteria detected in soil, is able to bypass the tricks germs have developed for avoiding the effects of antibiotics.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Previous discovery of teixobactin had been overlooked because the bacteria it dwells in does not thrive in labs. Using technology, Kim Lewis of Northeastern University and her team found a way to compile the needed compounds without having to artificially grow the bacteria in a lab.

According to NBC News, it's called an iChip. The iChip allows the bacteria to grow in their natural environment. This allows scientists to get a large enough sample to pull the antibiotics from.

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"What most excites me is the tantalizing prospect that this discovery is just the tip of the iceberg," said Mark Woolhouse, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh to NBC News.

An increasing amount of bacteria mutating to resist antibiotics. The need for new antibiotics is dire.

"[Patients] are having to stay in the hospital, undergo other procedures, and, unfortunately, they are dying because we don't have new, effective antibiotics," stated Amanda Jezek, vice president of public policy and government relations at the Infectious Diseases Society of America to NBC News.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than two million people are infected by drug-resistant bacteria each year; 23,000 die of their infections.

Lewis' iChip screened 10,000 different bacteria and found the one they'd been looking for in Eleftheria terrae. "Lab tests showed it makes a compound that is great at killing other bacteria. It breaks down their protective cell walls and stops the rebuilding process," according to NBC News.

Another positive for this new discovery, it doesn't damage the cells of mammals.

"It seems impervious to the various mutations that bacteria can use to resist its deadly effects," explained Lewis and colleagues to NBC News. They tried many ways to get teixobactin-exposed bacteria to mutate, but they did not mutate. "That probably won't last forever, but it could take decades for resistant mutants to evolve."

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According to their report, "It is likely that additional natural compounds with similarly low susceptibility to resistance are present in nature and are waiting to be discovered."

Although this exciting discovery brings hope for conquering the Superbugs, it is likely to be years before teixobactin could become a new antibiotic drug.

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