They discover a new trick of bacteria to avoid antibiotics, and it is quite scary

A group of scientists from the Telethon Kids Institute in Australia have discovered a never seen before method who use the bacteria to avoid the antibiotics.

The abuse of medications that most people do, self-medicating or taking them with hardly any symptoms, causes viruses and bacteria to become resistant to them.

There are already superbugs that have become antibiotic resistantand are even passing from humans to animals, as reported Science Alert. It is the case of MRSA and the gonorrheathat kill more than a million people a yearall over the world.

A lots of microbes have the ability to steal genes from each otherand that allows the new methods they develop to avoid drugs to be passed on.

The new trick of bacteria against antibiotics

Microbiologist Timothy Barnett and his team they have been investigating a bacterium very common call group A strepwhich causes sore throat and skin infection, but also scarlet fever.

“Bacteria need to make their own folates in order to grow and, in turn, cause disease. Some antibiotics block this production of folates to stop the growth of the bacteria and treat the infection.Barnett explains.

“Examining an antibiotic prescribed against group A streptococci, we discovered a resistance mechanism in which, for the first time, the bacterium demonstrated the ability to take up folates directly from its human host when prevented from producing its own“.

In other words, strep no longer needs to produce its own folates, a form of vitamin, but you can acquire them from the human body itself. So the antibiotic that blocks the production of folates it is no longer useful, because the bacteria get them from the human body itself. You can see it in this video:

It is a very difficult behavior to detect because it only occurs when there is an infection, it cannot be prevented.

They have discovered that this new antibiotic resistance It is associated with the thfT gene. Bacteria that have it are resistant.

It is an example that the virus Y bacteriaThey, like us, also evolve. But they do it at an infinitely greater speed, because they are born and grow quickly. this new drug resistance by the bacteriais bad news for doctors and pharmacists.