Scientists May Finally Have Found a "Secret Weapon" Against Superbugs in The Dirt of This Country…

Teresa Neumann : Jul 3, 2014
E-Science News/McMaster University

"Discovery of a fungus capable of rendering these multi-drug-resistant organisms incapable of further infection is huge. The availability of more treatment options will ultimately save many more lives." -Irena Kenneley, Microbiologist

(Ontario, Canada) - A fungus living in soil samples taken from a national park in Nova Scotia could offer new hope in the global threat of antibiotic-resistant germs that kill thousands every year. (Photo courtesy: e! Science News)

According to a report in E-Science News, a team of researchers at McMaster University has discovered a molecule called AMA, derived from a fungus, is able to disarm one of the most dangerous antibiotic-resistance genes: NDM-1 or New Delhi Metall0-beta-Lactamase-1, which is listed as a global health threat by the World Health Organization.

"This is public enemy number one," Gerry Wright, director of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster, said of NDM-1. "It came out of nowhere, it has spread everywhere, and has basically killed our last resource of antibiotics, the last pill on the shelf used to treat serious infections. Not only do we have the emergence of an antibiotic resistance gene that is targeting the last drug resource we have left, but it is carried by organisms that cause all sorts of challenging diseases and are multi-drug resistant already. It has been found not only in clinics, but in the environment."

The Wall Street Journal quoted Irena Kenneley, a microbiologist at Case Western Reserve University, as saying: "Discovery of a fungus capable of rendering these multi-drug-resistant organisms incapable of further infection is huge. The availability of more treatment options will ultimately save many more lives." 

"This is a made-in Canada solution for a global problem," concluded Wright. "Going back to those environmental organisms, were we got antibiotics in the first place, is a really good idea."