Quarter of Bacterial Pathogens Can Speed Up Spread of Antibiotic Resistance

(Newswire.net — June 9, 2022) Orlando, FL — Health authorities continue to warn that antibiotic resistance is an alarming global health threat. Today, scientists research this problem and find ways to reduce its prevalence.

A study has shown that one-quarter of bacterial pathogens can spread antibiotic resistance directly to peers.  

According to the biomedical engineers at Duke University, at least 25 percent of antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria in clinical settings are actually capable of spreading resistance directly to other bacteria. 

Simultaneously, the research shows that antibiotic use does not significantly impact the rate at which genes responsible for resistance are swapped between bacteria. 

The research used a new high-throughput technique that involved measuring the rate at which bacteria exchange DNA packages bestowing resistance. According to experts, the speed and ability to automate much of the process could permit new insights into what variables impact transfer rates. 

Further, such efforts could be helpful to doctors in slowing or even reversing the spread of resistance in some human pathogens. 

The findings of this research were published in the journal Science Advances.

“Our previous research showed that antibiotics do not affect the rate at which bacteria spread their resistance directly to their community in laboratory strains of E.coli,” said Lingchong You, professor of biomedical engineering at Duke. 

“But we wanted to see if this is also true for clinical strains of pathogens that are actually out there in the world.”

Every antibiotic-resistant pathogen has a genetic recipe for its resistance. However, it is also worth noting that not all recipes are the same. A way to transfer resistance is for that genetic recipe to be written neatly into a sharable book of sorts called a plasmid.

The plasmid is then picked up and read by a neighboring bacteria through a process called conjugation.

“So the real problem is the resistance making its way into pathogens that harm humans,” said Jonathan Bethke, a Ph.D. student working in You’s laboratory and the first author of the new paper. 

“We’re looking to gain a good understanding of what factors affect their rate of conjugation because if you can slow that process down enough, the plasmids carrying the genes for resistance can fall out of a population.”

Experts have been looking into measures potentially helpful in halting the spread of antibiotic resistance. It is worth keeping in mind that warding off urinary tract infections is vital, and this is due to the fact that the increasing UTI rates fuel the skyrocketing demands of and use of antibiotics. 

In reducing the odds of having UTIs, it may be helpful to use plant-based remedies like D-mannose. It is widely reported to nowadays through the use of formulas like Divine Bounty D-mannose (http://www.amazon.com/D-Mannose-600mg-Cranberry-Dandelion-Extract/dp/B01LX5KGF0).