British Researchers Discover How Bacteria Become Drug Resistant

British researchers at the University of East Anglia (UAE) have stated that they’ve discovered how the bacteria behind E. coli and salmonella build up a resistance to antibiotics. The researchers believe that they can develop a drug that switches off the bacteria’s ability to become resistant to antibiotic drugs. The results of the study were published in Nature.

Professor Changjiang Dong of UAE’s Norwich Medical School said that the findings were important, and could help to curb the daunting risks of bacteria growing resistant to a number of routine drugs on the market. “It is a very significant breakthrough,” Dong said. “This is really important because drug-resistant bacteria is a global health problem. Many current antibiotics are becoming useless, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Many bacteria build up an outer defense which is important for their survival and drug resistance. We have found a way to stop that happening. The number of superbugs are increasing at an unexpected rate. This research provides the platform for urgently-needed new generation drugs.”

Haohao Dong, another researcher at UAE, also commented on the results of the study. “The really exciting thing about this research is that new drugs will specifically target the protective barrier around the bacteria, rather than the bacteria itself,” he said. "Because new drugs will not need to enter the bacteria itself, we hope that the bacteria will not be able to develop drug resistance in future.”

Leading health experts from around the globe have stated that if no research is completed on finding a solution for rising rates of antibiotic resistance, then even routine trips to the hospital could become deadly due to risk of infection, and that older bacteria previously thought eradicated could reappear.