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Possible Antibiotic for MRSA Superbug

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the supersquishing-the-superbug dept.

darkmeridian writes "Merck has discovered a possible treatment for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a virulent superbug resistant to many current antibiotics. The new compound, platensimycin, was found in a sample of South African soil and works by preventing the bacteria from assembling fatty acids into its cell membrane. This mechanism of action is novel among antibiotics, most of which currently block DNA assembly or protein assembly. Of course, this product still has to undergo human testing, but apparently looks promising."

8 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. Superbug vaccine... by crazyjeremy · · Score: 5, Funny
    For some reason when I read this I thought it said there was an Antibiotic for the MPAA Superbug (I know it doesn't quite make sense). Sheesh, what a let down. If there was a RIAA/MPAA vaccine, I bet someone could sell millions.

    Oh well... I guess it's good that they may actually get some treatment options for this disease. It sounds horrible. According to http://citypaper.net/articles/2005-03-03/cb2.shtml
    It usually first appears in a warm, moist section of the body, like an armpit or the crotch. Initially, it is a small, red bump, similar to a spider bite. Within days, it develops into a boil the size of a grapefruit with the potential to spread fatal poisons into the bloodstream. In other strains, it gradually eats away at a victim's flesh. Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a highly contagious skin infection that is resistant to the most commonly used antibiotics.

    So if some stranger in the supermarket asks you to look at their rash and wonders if it's contagious... don't hesitate to punch them. Or maybe you guys don't live in quite the redneck neighborhood that I do...
    --
    Funnypics
    1. Re:Superbug vaccine... by drgonzo59 · · Score: 5, Interesting
      MRSA is already here and is bad enough, but there is already fear of the vancomycin resistant staph. Vancomycin, as it is clear from your story, is a last resort antibiotic, when all others have failed. There is evidence that there could be a super-super-bug that would be resistant to vancomycin as well. The common mechanism of action of these antibiotics is to provent the assembly of the cell wall. It so happens that only prokariotic cells (which staph. aureus is) have this external cell wall structure to prevent them from "exploding" due to high internal osmotic pressure. So this cell wall has been and is a good target for antiobiotics.

      It is interesting how most of the antibiotics -- this new one and including the first one -- penicillin, are sythesized and produced by fungi. There is a constant battle for nutrition and space between the bacteria and the fungi -- some kind of an evolutionary yin and yang. One will always try to overtake the other and will develop new mechanisms for resistance or attack.

    2. Re:Superbug vaccine... by wizardofodd · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Talk about timing... 4 weeks ago I was diagnosed with MRSA. They kept me in the hospital in isolation for the first week. The MRSA was located in my right foot. It was so severe that the had to amputate it to in order to save my life. The worst part of the ordeal was spending 2 weeks without Slashdot. The best part was the spongebath with 3 of the nurses. :-)

      Now I'm at home taking a antobiotic called cefazolin every 8 hours until the remainder of the infection clears up. But now I get to spend all day reading Slashdot. I guess somepeople would give their right foot to be able to do that. ;-)

      Hey, what do you expect me to do, cry about it? Just keeping my spirits up.

  2. Source...code. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "The new compound, platensimycin, was found in a sample of South African soil and works by preventing the bacteria from assembling fatty acids into its cell membrane."

    Just one more reason for us to not destroy our environment.

    1. Re:Source...code. by mojojojoe · · Score: 5, Informative

      South Africa isn't quite third world. It has a dual economy, which our government is doing its best to merge. Needless to say most of the pharmaceutical companies there have learnt to behave well. Some of them go out of their way to assist indigenous communities, especially if they have assisted in finding useful plants and that sort of thing. Also, finding a soil bacteria that produces any antibiotic is not so simple. You have to take thousands and thousands of soil samples and eventually, if you are lucky, you might get one sample that is kinda useful. As a South African, you can regard this as our gift to you, if you think that it is our gift. We all live in the world, South Africans benefit from antibiotics found in other countries soils, so why shouldn't you benefit from stuff found in our soils. The pharmaceuticals companies did the grunt here, so they deserve the payoff.

  3. MRSA is a big deal... by Bushwuly · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I used to work in a residential facility for disabled children with severe/profound mental retardation, and those who had the hardest time were the ones that contracted MRSA. Because these kids had such significant physical problems, they were often in and out of hospitals and would contract the virus while admitted there. Besides the scary fact that this bug is prevalent in hospitals of all places, it is so dangerous and contageous to children that those who contract it have to be kept in isolation.

    Every day I would walk by the isolation ward and look in, just to let the kids know that someone was concerned for them. These children already had the odds stacked against them, and to top it off with the fact those who attended to them had to avoid all physical contact cut me to the heart. How sad is it to be a kid who can never be hugged, having to live without anyone touching them?

    If someone can isolate and develop an antibiotic that can cure MRSA, I'll be one of the first in line to shake their hand.

    --
    Get over yourself.
  4. MRSA treatment already exists by ParanoidCowboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's called Vancomycin, and it's been around for a while. If the pharmacy doesn't stock that, Teicoplanin will also work. Quite honestly, the MRSA is not exactly a superbug. For the most part, these organisms are caught in the hospital - proper handwashing and isolation should prevent most people from evening catching these bugs. The real "superbug" these days is Vancomycin Insensitive Staph Aureus (VISA) - organisms that require concentrations of vancomycin that come close to causing neprotoxicity (kidneys) and ototoxicity (ears) and who knows what else.

  5. MRSA colonization. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Not to put a monkey wrench into things, but a substantial proportion of the people reading this are colonized with Staph aureus, and depending upon what part of the world you hail from and your recent medical history, there's a good chance that it's MRSA. If you know a friendly microbiologist, get them to swab your nose. You'd be surprised.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd= Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=1653404 7&query_hl=6&itool=pubmed_docsum/

    MRSA is typically resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics, including penicillins and cephalosporins. Just because it's resistant does not mean that it's going to eat away at your flesh. Methicillin sensitive strains will do that just as happily, particularly if they produce leukocidins (eg: MRSA strain USA300).

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd= Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=1644711 0&query_hl=9&itool=pubmed_docsum/

    Calling vancomycin a cure for MRSA is exceedingly short sighted. VRSA/VISA (the I stands for intermediate, not insensitive), is becoming increasingly common in some regions. Topical agents, such as mupirocin or chlorhexidine may help to attenuate nasal and skin carriage (groin, axilla etc), but reports of MuRSA are also beginning to surface. It's an uphill battle.

    My advice? (And yes, I hold a PhD in the field). Avoid contributing to the problem. Don't suck down antibiotics every time you get the sniffles, especially if you don't have to. More importantly, if your doctor insists upon it, don't stop taking the antibiotics the moment you feel better: finish the entire course, as prescribed. Data to associate feedlot/livestock antibiotic supplements and the transmission of resistant pathogens into human populations is scant. Worry first about the factors you can control. Your children will thank you for it.