A new class of antibiotics has been identified by a group of researchers from American and Canadian universities. It is an extremely powerful and effective molecule against antimicrobial resistance, a phenomenon that kills over 1.1 million people worldwide every year.
The discovery of Lariodicin is the first 30 years after the last antibiotic discovered by medicine and is derived from a soil bacterium, called paenibacillus, which is distinguished by its ability to inhibit the protein synthesis of bacteria, showing high efficacy against antibiotic-resistant strains. The discovery, extremely significant for medicine, was made by following the growth of soil bacteria for about a year, allowing the identification of slow-growing species that had previously gone unnoticed. Researchers at McMaster University in Canada and the University of Illinois in Chicago have identified a microorganism that naturally produces this powerful new antibiotic that acts according to a completely new mechanism of action, non-toxic to the human body.
Antibiotic resistance is a biological phenomenon in which microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites, develop the ability to resist antimicrobials (antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, etc.) that would normally block their growth. This process can make clinical treatments ineffective and increase the risk of persistent, serious and difficult-to-treat infections. “The discovery of alternative inhibitors of protein synthesis offers a new chemical scaffold for the development of much-needed antibacterial drugs,” states the research published in Nature that announces the discovery.
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