Each year more than 45,000 people die in U.S. hospitals alone
due to infections by deadly superbugs immune to antibiotics.
Now scientists have a new weapon to fight these infections
thanks to a breakthrough discovery by researchers at the University
of British Columbia.
Antibiotic-resistant strains of staph aureus bacteria are
called superbugs or hospital staph because of their prevalence
in hospitals. Bacteria are plentiful in hospitals and when
treated repeatedly with antibiotics they gradually develop
immunity to the drugs.
An international health concern, antibiotic-resistant hospital
bacteria account for approximately 45,000 deaths per year
in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centre for Disease Control
and Prevention. Health Canada reports that superbug infections
cost $24-33 million annually to manage and that rates of infection
and colonization have doubled annually for each of the past
five years.
UBC biochemists discovered that an important enzyme in one
of the most notorious hospital superbugs is abnormally structured,
a difference that allows the bacteria to survive in the presence
of antibiotics.
"Now we can design new types of drugs to help us conquer
these potentially lethal infections," says Natalie Strynadka,
UBC associate professor of Biochemistry and an expert in design
of new antibiotics. "It gives us a target to focus on."
Strynadka and Daniel Lim, a UBC Biochemistry PhD student,
analyzed the structure of the enzyme – so small it cannot
be seen by any microscope – by using technology involving
high-resolution X-rays.
Over-prescription of antibiotics and the increased presence
of antibiotics in meat and fish contribute to bacteria developing
resistance to the drugs, Strynadka says.
UBC researchers, who conduct more than 4,000 investigations
annually, attracted $260 million in research funding in 2001/2002.
Electronic images of the researcher and of the enzyme
are available.
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