Antibiotic Compound Kills Hard-to-Treat, Infectious Bacteria While Sparing Healthy Bacteria in the Gut

June 20, 2024byDr. Monica M. Bertagnolli

Drug-resistant bacteria are responsible for a rise in serious, hospital-acquired infections, includingpneumoniaandsepsis. Many of these bacteria are classified as gram-negative, and are harder to kill than gram-positive bacteria. Unfortunately, the limited number of antibiotics that can help combat these dangerous infections can also damage healthy microbes in the gut, leaving people at risk for other, potentially life-threatening infections. Such antibiotic-induced disruption has also been linked in studies to irritable bowel syndrome, colon cancer, and many other health conditions.

Theres a great need for more targeted antibiotics capable of fending off infectious gram-negative bacteria while sparing the community of microbes in the gut, collectively known as the gutmicrobiome. Now, in findings reported in the journalNature, a research team has demonstrated a promising candidate for the job. While the antibiotic hasnt yet been tested in people, the findings in cell cultures suggest it could work against more than 130 drug-resistant bacterial strains. Whats more, the study, supported in part by NIH, shows that this compound, when given to infected mice, thwarts potentially life-threatening bacteria while leaving the animals gut microbiomes intact.