Article: Study finds further reason for spread of drug resistance
- From: "Robert Karl Stonjek" <rstonjek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 15:22:10 -0400 (EDT)
Study finds further reason for spread of drug resistance
By TOM PAULSON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Some bacteria build "living walls" in response to exposure to antibiotics,
Seattle scientists have discovered, creating a physical barrier that shields
them and contributes further to the growing problem of drug-resistant
infections.
These walls, called biofilms, are natural and already recognized as a
problem in drug treatment. What hadn't been recognized is that the drugs
themselves can sometimes stimulate the bugs to build the barrier.
"It's a community of bacteria that have circled the wagons, so to speak, to
defend themselves against the antibiotics," said Dr. Samuel Miller, a
University of Washington microbiologist and lead investigator for a report
on this drug-induced bacterial resistance in today's edition of the journal
Nature.
"We think this may be a general property of all gram-negative bacteria,"
Miller said.
Gram-negative bacteria (the name refers to a diagnostic test method) include
some of the most difficult-to-treat infections -- such as airway Pseudomonas
infections in people with cystic fibrosis, salmonella, bubonic plague, E.
coli and other bacterial infections.
Full Text at
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/237928_biofilm25.html
Comment:
Bacteria want their planet back.
Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek
.
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