Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign discovered an antibiotic that spares good bacteria that might solve the problem with standard antibiotics, which kill both good and bad bacteria.
The experts discovered lolamicin, a novel antibiotic targeting gram-negative infections while protecting gut microorganisms. According to Science Alert, in a lab and animal testing, lolamicin showed promise by killing all 130 drug-resistant strains of E. coli and K. pneumoniae. This treatment also cured rat acute pneumonia and blood infections without damaging the gut microbiota.
Gram-negative bacteria, which cause bowel, lung, bladder, and blood infections, have become resistant to medicines and tough to destroy. Broad-spectrum antibiotics eliminate both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, while selective gram-negative medicines safeguard beneficial germs.
Notably, lolamicin did not alter mice's gut microbiomes a month after therapy, unlike amoxicillin or clindamycin. In mice, the antibiotic also reduced colon Clostridioides difficile infections compared to other antibiotics.
Lolamicin Antibiotic to Save Millions of Lives
Since the United States has 500,000 C. difficile infections and 30,000 deaths, microbiome-sparing antibiotics like lolamicin may save lives.
Researchers are refining lolamicin to prevent pathogen resistance. Study authors remarked that the intestinal microbiome is significant "to maintaining host health, and its perturbation can result in many deleterious effects."
Moreover, researchers believe lolamicin and other pathogen-specific antibiotics will become crucial "to minimizing collateral damage to the gut microbiome," making them "superior" to clinical antibiotics today.
Over a million people die annually from antibiotic-resistant bacterial illnesses, and without new treatments, the number will rise, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Protein synthesis requires bacterial ribosomes, which many antibiotics block. Over the decades, bacteria have devised methods to resist antibiotics from inhibiting their ribosomes. Genetic differences often alter ribosome chemistry, blocking antibiotic binding.
WHO Releases Updated List of High Risk Drug-Resistant Bacteria
Recently, the World Health Organization released the new WHO Bacterial Priority Pathogens List (BPPL) for 2024 lists 15 antibiotic-resistant bacteria families as critical, high, and medium priority. This list guides antibiotic resistance therapy development.
AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites no longer react to drugs, increasing disease spread, sickness, and mortality. Antibiotic abuse is the primary cause of AMR. The redesigned BPPL uses fresh facts and expert views to guide antibiotic R&D and enhance worldwide collaboration for innovation.
WHO Assistant Director-General for Antimicrobial Resistance and interim Dr. Yukiko Nakatani noted that the updated list maps "the global burden of drug-resistant bacteria and assessing their public health impact," thus addressing the "antibiotics pipeline and access crisis."
Notably, since the announcement of the first Bacterial Priority Pathogens List in 2017, the threat of antimicrobial resistance has grown, undermining the efficacy of many medications and threatening major medical advances.
WHO Assistant Director-General for Universal Health Coverage, Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases Dr. Jérôme Salomon said that antimicrobial resistance endangers the treatment of "high-burden infections" including tuberculosis, leading to severe conditions "and higher mortality rates."
The BPPL 2024 calls for universal access to effective, inexpensive infection prevention, diagnosis, and treatment to combat AMR. WHO's people-centered approach and core package of AMR treatments are essential for reducing AMR's impact on public health and the economy.
