RESEARCHERS from Monash University may have discovered a method to revert antibiotic resistance in danagerous superbugs, using bacteriophages.
Data published in Nature Microbiology, showed phages could be used to kill Acinetobacter baumannii, which the authors said was responsible for up to 20% of infections in intensive care units.
Lead author from the Monash University School of Biological Science, Dr Fernando Gordillo Altamirano, noted phages are viruses which "only kill bacteria... but cannot harm humans".
The authors found that A. baumannii developed resistance to the phages, but in doing so lost their resistance to antibiotics.
"A. baumannii produces a capsule, a viscous and sticky outer layer that protects it and stops the entry of antibiotics," Gordillo Altamirano said.
"Our phages use that same capsule as their port of entry to infect the bacterial cell.
"In an effort to escape from the phages, A. baumannii stops producing its capsule; and that's when we can hit it with the antibiotics it used to resist."
The study showed resensitisation to at least seven different antibiotics, Monash University School of Biological Science Group Leader, Dr Jeremy Barr said.
"This greatly expands the resources to treat A. baumannii infections," Dr Barr said.
"We're making this superbug a lot less scary."
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