#antimicrobial-resistance

#antimicrobial-resistance

Scientists have developed what they call a virus cocktail to fight superbugs in a major advance for infectious disease treatment. Researchers from Monash University and The Alfred, in Melbourne, Australia, have developed a product that uses bacterial viruses, known as bacteriophages', to combat antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. The treatment, named Entelli-02, is a five-phage cocktail designed specifically to target Enterobacter cloacae complex (ECC), a group of bacteria responsible for severe, less treatable infections.

The study, published on September 22 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, examines a bacteria called NDM-producing carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (NDM-CRE). Researchers found that, between 2019 and 2023, NDM-CRE infections surged by more than 460% in the U.S. These infections, which range from pneumonia to bloodstream and urinary tract infections, are extremely hard to treat and can be deadly due to their antibiotic-resistant properties-hence the name "superbug."

The number of infections by drug-resistant, nightmare bacteria rose by almost 70 percent between 2019 and 2023 in the United States, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the country's national public health agency. Driving the increase are drug-resistant bacteria with the so-called NDM gene (New Delhi metallo--lactamase), researchers said. Bacteria with the NDM gene were once considered exotic and were linked to only a small number of patients, mostly outside the US.

A UK government-funded study shows that without concerted action, increased rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) could lead to global annual GDP losses of $1.7tn over the next quarter of a century.