Scientists have been in search of a method to treat bacteria proof against multiple drugs for years. And now, they could have just stumbled upon the proper solution for these superbugs.
Recent research to be presented on the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Copenhagen, Denmark this week will highlight latest compounds combined with a precious metal that works well against hard-to-treat bacteria, UPI reported.
In accordance with researchers, gold-based compounds have shown efficacy against multi-drug-resistant superbugs. This may very well be a game-changer within the medical community’s fight against diseases which have develop into proof against many drugs.
The team behind the research studied 19 gold compounds and their activity against an array of superbugs isolated from patients. The bacteria they evaluated included the notorious Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus epidermidis and plenty of more.
They found that 16 of the 19 compounds were highly effective against the drug-resistant S. aureus and epidermidis. Nevertheless, all of them were also effective against at the least one in all the multi-drug-resistant bacteria. Some were effective against several superbugs.
“The kind of gold complexes we studied, referred to as gold (III) complexes, are relatively straightforward and cheap to make. They can be easily modified and so provide an enormous amount of scope for drug development,” study creator Sara Soto Gonzalez stated, per UPI.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that antimicrobial resistance is becoming an enormous threat to the effective prevention and treatment of the ever-increasing range of infections as bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi mutate and develop changes that allow them to evade drugs designed to counter them.
Experts hope that gold may very well be the reply to the longtime problem of drug-resistant bacteria for the reason that precious metal has antibacterial properties. Per Soto Gonzalez, the gold complexes they studied can stop certain enzymes from working, damage the DNA of bacteria and disrupt the function of their membranes.
“With research on other forms of gold metalloantibiotics also providing promising results, the long run is vivid for gold-based antibiotics,” she added.
In February, a United Nations report said climate change may very well be fueling the rise in antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms. The organization said the environment plays a key role in the event and transmission of superbugs.
“The identical drivers that cause environmental degradation are worsening the antimicrobial resistance problem. The impacts of antimicrobial resistance could destroy our health and food systems,” Inger Andersen, the UN Environment Programme’s executive director, said on the time.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in three people infected by flesh-eating bacteria, necrotizing fasciitis, die from the infection.
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