Bill writes:
> The battle is not being won by the bacteria. There have been new developments that could short circuit bacteria's ability to develop resistance.

> Almost as soon as penicillin was introduced in 1942, the bacteria it was designed to defeat began evolving to resist it. Now many common bacteria have acquired resistance to multiple antibiotics, making some infections extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible, to treat. So far, most of these pernicious drug-resistant infections have been confined to hospitals, where opportunities abound for resistant bacteria to spread and enter the bloodstream or infect open wounds. As the number of antibiotic resistant bacteria has increased, drug companies have been fleeing the field, leaving a dearth of new antibiotics, especially for the hard-to-kill Gram-negative bacteria. Short of a new wonder drug, the only near-term fix is to curb antibiotic use.

-- from www.sciencemag.org on July 18, 2008



-- 
Peter L Borst
Danby, NY USA
42.35, -76.50
http://picasaweb.google.com/peterlborst

****************************************************
* General Information About BEE-L is available at: *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm   *
****************************************************