Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a novel compound that effectively clears bacterial infections in mice, including those that can result in rare but potentially fatal « flesh-eating » illnesses. The compound could be the first of an entirely new class of antibiotics, and a gift to clinicians seeking more effective treatments against bacteria that can’t be tamed easily with current antibiotics.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a novel compound that effectively clears bacterial infections in mice, including those that can result in rare but potentially fatal « flesh-eating » illnesses. The compound could be the first of an entirely new class of antibiotics, and a gift to clinicians seeking more effective treatments against bacteria that can’t be tamed easily with current antibiotics.
The research is published Aug. 2 in Science Advances.
The compound targets gram-positive bacteria, which can cause drug-resistant staph infections, toxic shock syndrome and other illnesses that can turn deadly. It was developed through a collaboration between the labs of Scott Hultgren, Ph.D., the Helen L. Stoever Professor of Molecular Microbiology, and Michael Caparon, Ph.D., a professor of molecular microbiology, and Fredrik Almqvist, a professor of chemistry at the University of Umeå in Sweden.
A new type of antimicrobial would be good news for clinicians seeking effective treatments against pathogens that are becoming more resistant to currently available drugs, and thus much more dangerous.
« All of the gram-positive bacteria that we’ve tested have been susceptible to that compound. That includes enterococci, staphylococci, streptococci, C. difficile, which are the major pathogenic bacteria types », said Caparon, the co-senior author.
