An Antibiotic Effect Minus Resistance

After 70 years, antibiotics are still the primary treatment for halting the spread of bacterial infections. But the prevalence of antibiotic resistance is now outpacing the rate of new drug discovery and approval.

A microbiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) has discovered a different approach: Instead of killing the bacteria, why not disarm them, quashing disease without the worry of antibiotic resistance?

Ching-Hong Yang, associate professor of biological sciences, has developed a compound that shuts off the "valve" in a pathogen's DNA that allows it to invade and infect.

The research is so promising that two private companies are testing it with an eye toward commercialization.

“We analyzed the genomic defense pathways in plants to identify all the precursors to infection,” says Yang. “Then we used the information to discover a group of novel small molecules that interrupt one channel in the intricate pathway system.”

Yang and collaborator Xin Chen, a professor of chemistry at Changzhou University in China, have tested the compound on two virulent bacteria that affect plants and one that attacks humans. They found it effective against all three and believe the compound can be applied to treatments for plants, animals and people.

Prevalence Of Antibiotic Resistance It's widely accepted in the medical community that a high level of antibiotic use is related to antibiotic resistance, but only recently has the risk to the individual been assessed. The study, published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy this month, and funded by the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, has shown that patients who have taken a prescription of antibiotics within the previous two months have double the chance of carrying antibiotic resistant bacteria. The same effect was not seen in patients who had taken a prescribed course of antibiotics within the previous 12 months. The study's findings indicate that despite patient expectations, doctors should be more discerning when prescribing antibiotics.

The study looked at whether a doctor prescribing antibiotics increased an individual's risk of developing antibiotic resistance. Previous research has shown that antibiotics are often prescribed for minor ailments where they have a limited or insignificant effect. In spite of this, a culture of antibiotic use seems to have evolved, where patients seeing doctors with sore throats, coughs and ear-ache expect to be treated with antibiotics.

The work was published online this month in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Urgent concerns about antibiotics

The economic costs and health threats of antibiotic resistance have become so serious that the World Health Organization (WHO) this year dedicated World Health Day to call global attention to the issue.