<
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/oct/24/antibiotic-resistance-daptomycin-superbug-study>
"The rise of an almost untreatable superbug has been linked to a common
antibiotic, an Australian-led study has found.
The study – published in
Nature – found that rifaximin, an antibiotic used to
treat liver disease, causes resistance to another antibiotic, daptomycin.
Daptomycin is one of the few drugs that is effective against
vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE), a contagious bacterial infection that
can cause serious reactions in hospitalised patients.
Dr Adrianna Turner, the study’s lead author, said the “really surprising”
finding was the first recorded instance of an antibiotic causing resistance to
one in a different class. It was previously thought that the risk of antibiotic
resistance only applied to the one antibiotic.
The findings also overturned the widely held idea that rifaximin was a low-risk
antibiotic.
Last month international leaders committed to decisive action on antimicrobial
resistance – the development of bacteria to resist treatment. This included the
aim of reducing the estimated global 4.95m deaths associated with antimicrobial
resistance annually by 10 percentage points by 2030.
Turner said when bacteria became resistant to an antibiotic, “it’s a bit like
gaining a new ability in a video game”.
“But when exposed to rifaximin, the VRE bacteria don’t just get one boost –
they gain multiple abilities, like super-speed and super-strength, allowing
them to easily defeat even the final boss, which in this case is the antibiotic
daptomycin.”
Rifaximin use triggers changes in an enzyme within the bacteria, which then
leads to changes in the VRE’s cell membrane, causing cross-resistance,
researchers from the Doherty Institute and Austin Health found.
Turner did not rule out the possibility that other antibiotics could create
resistance to antibiotics in different classes.
Researchers are now investigating whether daptomycin-resistant strains of VRE
may be transmitted to other patients within the hospital."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
