Reputed Medicinal Soil Yields a Superbug-killing Bacterium

It’s no secret that antibiotic resistance is a problem that already poses a serious threat to public health, and it’s expected to get worse. That’s sent researchers searching for new antibiotics. One place that they can look is in soil. Bacteria have to compete against one another in the fight for survival, so some have developed highly competitive strategies, including creating antibiotics that will kill other microbes. Soil is rich with microbial life, so it's an excellent place to look for new antibiotics.

Scientists studying Irish soil that has a reputation for having medicinal properties have now found a strain of bacteria that can kill superbugs. When tested against the top pathogens that are resistant to drugs, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the newly-identified bacterium stopped the growth of all of them. The researchers named the new bacterial strain Streptomyces sp.myrophorea.

"This new strain of bacteria is effective against four of the top six pathogens that are resistant to antibiotics, including MRSA. Our discovery is an important step forward in the fight against antibiotic resistance,” said a Prof.

The soil came from the region around Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, known as the Boho Highlands. Locally, it’s thought that the soil has a healing effect.

“Our results show that folklore and traditional medicines are worth investigating in the search for new antibiotics. Scientists, historians, and archaeologists can all have something to contribute to this task. It seems that part of the answer to this very modern problem might lie in the wisdom of the past,” he added.

Dr. is a member of the research team who was formerly a resident of Boho, County Fermanagh, and was aware of the soil. Traditionally, a bit of this soil would be placed in cloth and then applied to toothaches and throat infections. Of note -ethnopharmacology is a field of study that explores new places for medicines, including folklore.

The new bacterial strain was able to inhibit the growth of six pathogens that are resistant to drugs and often sicken hospital patients: MRSA, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE), Klebsiella pneumonia, and carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumanii. It also stopped the growth of gram-negative bacteria. 

The team is currently working to determine how the bacterium prevents the growth of those deadly microbes.

"The discovery of antimicrobial substances from Streptomyces sp.myrophorea will help in our search for new drugs to treat multi-resistant bacteria, the cause of many dangerous and lethal infections,” said the Prof..

“We will now concentrate on the purification and identification of these antibiotics. We have also discovered additional antibacterial organisms from the same soil cure which may cover a broader spectrum of multi-resistant pathogens," he concluded.

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WHO publishes list of antibiotic-resistant bacteria to speed up drug research

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published its first-ever list of antibiotic-resistant “priority pathogens”, a catalogue of 12 bacteria families that pose a great threat to human health.

The list was drawn up in a bid to guide and promote research and development (R&D) of new antibiotics, as part of WHO’s efforts to address growing resistance among bacteria to medicines currently in use. It highlights the threat of gram-negative bacteria that have inculcated the ability to resist treatment, and are capable of passing on genetic material that allows other microbes to become drug-resistant as well. Consequently, ailments such as urinary tract infections – which were eminently treatable until a few years ago – have now become life-threatening.

“This list is a new tool to ensure that R&D responds to urgent public health needs,” says Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO’s assistant director-general for health systems and innovation. “Antibiotic resistance is growing, and we are fast running out of treatment options. If we leave it to market forces, the new antibiotics we urgently need won’t be developed in time.”

The WHO list is divided into three categories: critical, high and medium priority. The most critical group includes multidrug resistant bacteria that target hospitals, nursing homes and patients dependent on life-preserving devices such as ventilators and blood catheters. They include Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas and various Enterobacteriaceae (such as Klebsiella, E coli, Serratia and Proteus). They can cause deadly infections such as bloodstream infections and pneumonia. These bacteria have become resistant to a large number of antibiotics, including carbapenems and third-generation cephalosporins – the best available option for treating multi-drug resistant bacteria.

The second and third tiers in the list – the high and medium priority categories – contain other increasingly drug-resistant bacteria that cause more common diseases such as gonorrhoea and food poisoning due to salmonella.

The matter will come up at a meeting of G20 health experts in Berlin this week. “We need effective antibiotics for our health systems. We have to take joint action today for a healthier tomorrow. Therefore, we will discuss and bring the G20’s attention to the fight against antimicrobial resistance. WHO’s first global priority pathogen list is an important new tool to secure and guide R&D related to new antibiotics,” says Mr Hermann Gröhe, federal minister of health, Germany.

The list is intended to spur governments to put in place policies that incentivise basic science and advanced R&D by both publicly funded agencies and private sector entities investing in new antibiotic discovery. It will provide guidance to new R&D initiatives such as the WHO/Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) Global Antibiotic R&D Partnership, which is engaging in the not-for-profit development of new antibiotics.

Tuberculosis, which has become increasingly resistant to traditional treatment in recent years, was not included in the list because it is targeted by other dedicated programmes. Other bacteria that were not included, such as streptococcus A and B and chlamydia, have low levels of resistance to existing treatments and do not currently pose a significant public health threat.

The list was developed in collaboration with the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Tübingen, Germany, using a multi-criteria decision analysis technique vetted by a group of international experts. The criteria for selecting pathogens on the list were: How deadly their infections are; whether their treatment requires long hospital stays; how frequent is their resistance to existing antibiotics; how easily they spread from animal to animal, animals to humans, and from person to person; whether they can be prevented (e.g. through good hygiene and vaccination); how many treatment options remain; and whether new antibiotics to treat them are already in the R&D pipeline.

“New antibiotics targeting this priority list of pathogens will help reduce deaths due to resistant infections across the world,” says Prof Evelina Tacconelli, head of the infectious diseases division at the University of Tübingen and a major contributor to the list. “Waiting any longer will cause further public health problems and dramatically impact patient care.”

While more R&D is vital, it’s not enough to curb bacterial resistance to drugs. To address the issue, the authorities must ensure better prevention of infections and appropriate use of existing antibiotics in humans and animals – besides rational application of new drugs developed in the future.

India has been doing its bit to combat the problem too. “The threat of anti-microbial resistance is very real, and we always knew it was coming. This is why we have been working to combat the threat for a while now. A national action plan to tackle it is underway, and should be out anytime,” said a senior researcher at the National Centre for Disease Control.

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Predatory bacteria may wipe out 'superbugs'

Predatory bacteria - that eat others of their kind - could be a new weapon in the fight against drug-resistant bacteria or 'superbugs', a new study suggests.
A naturally occurring predatory bacterium is able to work with the immune system to clear multi-drug resistant Shigella infections in zebrafish, researchers from Imperial College London and Nottingham University in the UK said.
It is the first time the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus has been successfully used as an injected anti-bacterial therapy and represents an important step in the fight against drug-resistant infections, or 'superbugs'.
Shigella infection is responsible for over 160 million illnesses and over one million deaths every year - and is a common cause of travellers' diarrhoea.
Cases of drug-resistant Shigella are also on the rise as, although the diarrhoea usually clears up without treatment, antibiotics are often used even in mild cases to stop the diarrhoea faster.
To investigate Bdellovibrio's ability to control drug resistant Gram-negative infections, researchers injected zebrafish larvae with a lethal dose of Shigella flexneri strain M90T, resistant to both streptomycin and carbenicillin antibiotics.
Bdellovibrio was injected into the larvae's infection site and a decrease in the number of Shigella was seen.
In the absence of Bdellovibrio, zebrafish were unable to control the replication of Shigella and levels of the bacteria rose.
"This study really shows what a unique and interesting bacterium Bdellovibrio is as it presents this amazing natural synergy with the immune system and persists just long enough to kill prey bacteria before being naturally cleared," said Serge Mostowy, from Imperial College London.
"It's an important milestone in research into the use of a living antibiotic that could be used in animals and humans," Mostowy said.
Bdellovibrio can invade and kill a range of Gram-negative bacteria, such as E coli and Salmonella, in the natural environment.
Previous research has shown that it can reduce pathogen numbers in the stomach of chickens when taken as an oral therapy, but there is growing need to develop therapies to target infections in wounds and organs. 

 Successful use of Bdellovibrio highlights its potential uses in tackling a range of drug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections that can develop in hospital patients.


"This has been a truly ground-breaking collaboration that shows therapeutic Bdellovibrio in action inside the translucent living zebrafish," Professor Liz Sockett, from The University of Nottingham said. 

 "The predatory action of the Bdellovibrio breaks the Shigella-pathogen cells and this stimulates the white blood cells; redoubling their 'efforts' against the pathogen and leading to increased survival of the zebrafish 'patients'," said Sockett.

The study was published in the journal Current Biology.
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Silver can kill bacteria

Silver can kill bacteria selectively and bacteria are unable to develop resistance against it. Despite its long medical history, scientists have just started to understand the metal's modus operandi.

The use of silver in medicine is as old as western medicine itself. Hippocrates is known to have used it to treat ulcers and wounds, the Romans almost certainly knew of its healing properties, its use continued through the middle ages and up to the present day. In the antibiotic age, interest in silver may have waned a little. But with urgent need to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria, there is resurgence in its uses.

The reason is that silver can kill bacteria selectively and, more importantly, bacteria are unable to develop resistance against it. Despite silver’s long medical history, we do not know how it operates.

A paper published this week  sheds some light on silver’s success against bacteria. The most important find is that silver – unlike most antibiotics – works in more than one way. This is perhaps why bacteria are not able to build resistance to silver.

Here is silver’s multi-pronged approach: first, silver sticks very strongly to sulfur, found in parts of proteins. These sulfur groups normally bond to each other in proteins, holding them together and keeping the protein folded up in its correct shape. But if silver interacts with sulphur then the protein cannot fold correctly, and thus it cannot do its job. Next, silver interferes with how bacteria use iron. Iron is often held in the places it is needed by binding to sulphur. And since silver also interacts with sulphur it stops the iron from doing so. Finally, silver causes bacteria to produce extremely toxic substances called reactive oxygen species. These go on to cause damage inside the cell, harming the DNA, proteins and even the membranes that surround cells.

The net result of this silver onslaught is bacteria with severely damaged defences. Most importantly the membranes and walls that surround it are leakier after the silver treatment. Once weakened, they are much more susceptible to conventional antibiotics.

A researcher showed that with added silver, less antibiotic drug is needed to kill the bugs. A great result in itself, but it gets better. Silver also reverses antibiotic resistance of E. Coli bacteria making them, once more, susceptible to tetracycline.

These experiments not only worked in a Petri dish. When silver was added to standard antibiotics such as gentamicin and vancomycin, he could treat E. Coli infections in the bladder and abdomens of mice. Normally these drugs have little effect on E. coli infections because they are designed to attack a completely separate class of bacteria.

Bacteria are broadly classified into two groups called Gram-negative and Gram-positive. Gram-negatives have an extra cell membrane that protects the bacteria; this means that it is much more difficult for some antibiotics, such as gentamicin and vancomycin, to penetrate the cell. It seems that silver negates this advantage and allows even weaker drugs to do their jobs.

Finally, he showed that the mice themselves remain unharmed by silver. If he is able to repeat this work in humans, then he may actually have a “silver bullet” for antibiotic resistance.







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