U of A scientific team discovers how superbug resists drugs
Baku, June 9 (AZERTAC). A University of Alberta researcher has identified the mechanism a potentially lethal strain of bacteria uses to protect itself from antibiotics. It is an important step that could one day lead to an effective treatment. Microbiologist Mario Feldman and his team discovered that acinetobacter baumannii, the superbug linked to a recent death at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, can layer itself with glycoproteins, or molecules of sugar and proteins, preventing antibiotics from getting through.
The bacteria has been around since the 1970s, but forms of it have become multi-drug resistant in the past 15 years. It is responsible for hospital outbreaks and deaths in Europe, South America and the northeastern United States. “Now we have a problem because when a patient in a hospital gets infected with this, sometimes it`s very, very difficult to treat,” said Feldman, adding it is unlikely someone would be at-risk of contracting acinetobacter outside a hospital. Tests conducted on animals showed that without glycoproteins, the bacteria are far less dangerous, said Feldman, who is with Alberta Glycomics Centre at the university. The next task is to see if there are ways of inhibiting acinetobacter`s ability to produce glycoproteins. If successful, that could mean finding new ways of diagnosing patients, preventing infections, helping disinfect hospitals and creating antibiotics.
Dr. Mark Joffe, senior medical director of infection prevention and control for Alberta Health Services, said those numbers are more representative of the U.S. than Canada, but there are still plenty of extra expenses associated with an infected patient. As bacteria continue to get smarter, not many drug companies are developing antibiotics that can keep up with them, Joffe said. That`s because antibiotics are used too sparingly to be profitable, especially in comparison to medications for lifelong problems such as high cholesterol or diabetes.
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