UK experts have welcomed the discovery of a new antibiotic – while warning it will not tackle some of the toughest organisms to destroy.
Researchers revealed yesterday that they discovered the antibiotic in garden soil.
Ordinary dirt was a big source of antibiotics until 50 years ago when scientists could not find any more organisms that could be cultured in the laboratory.
But, using new techniques, scientist studied bacteria that could not be cultivated.
This led to the new substance, teixobactin, revealed in the journal Nature. The chemical has so far proved it can evade antibiotic resistance – as tests have been unable to find bacteria that avoid to resist it.
The project involved scientists in Massachusetts, USA, at Bonn University, Germany and in Ongar, Essex, UK.
Antibiotic Research UK warned that human clinical trials would be critical as the new drug is similar to an existing substance, vancomycin.
Chief executive Professor Colin Garner said the new drug seemed particularly active against gram positive bacteria such as Clostridium difficile.
Gram negative bacteria include Salmonella, Legionella and E.coli.
Professor Garner said: “It remains to be seen if teixobactin demonstrates similar toxicity.
“Whilst the finding of teixobactin is very exciting, there is a long way to go before knowing if it will be useful in the clinic.
“Also Gram-negative bacteria are a bigger problem from a public health perspective than Gram-positive bacteria since the frequency of infection is higher and the risk of antibiotic resistance greater.”
A new antibiotic kills pathogens without detectable resistance Nature 7 January 2015; doi:10.1038/nature14098 [abstract]
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