What is Antibiotic Resistance?

What if I told you there were trillions of tiny bacteria all around you? It's true. Microorganisms called bacteria were some of the first life forms to appear on Earth. Though they consist of only a single cell, their total biomass is greater than that of all plants and animals combined. And they live virtually everywhere: on the ground, in the water, on your kitchen table,...

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The Resistance Fighter

As a visiting research fellow at the Pasteur Institute in 1962, on leave from medical school, Stuart Levy met a Japanese scientist who introduced him to an exciting recent breakthrough by researchers from his country. “The Japanese had discovered that resistance to antibiotics could be transferred from one bacterium to another,” Levy says—even across species. “This was...

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Antibiotic Resistance Can Boost Bacterial Fitness

Certain mutations that seem to confer antibiotic resistance in three different pathogenic bacterial species also provide a growth advantage and increased virulence during an infection, according to a study published in Science Translational Medicine today (July 22). While there are many well-known examples of antibiotic-resistance mutations that reduce bacterial fitness,...

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What's Causes Antibiotic Resistance?

What are the possible consequences of antibiotic resistance? Many of the available treatment options for common bacterial infections are becoming more and more ineffective. As a consequence, there are situations where infected patients cannot be treated adequately by any of the available antibiotics. This resistance may delay and hinder treatment, resulting in complications...

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