Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Persistent Bacteria Go Down

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday May 15, 2011 @09:12PM from the catching-more-bugs-with-sugar dept.

Doctors have discovered that adding sugar to antibiotics increases their ability to knock out persistent staph infections (abstract). Certain types of bacteria called persisters shut down their metabolic processes when exposed to antibiotics. Adding sugar keeps the bacteria feeding, making them more susceptible to drugs. From the article: "Adding such a simple and widely available compound to existing antibiotics enhances their effectiveness against persisters, and fast. One test showed that a sugared up antibiotic could eliminate 99.9 percent of persisters in two hours, while a regular antibiotic did nothing. Doctors believe that this discovery will help treat urinary tract infections, staph infections, and strep throat, but its most life-saving application may be against the age-old disease tuberculosis. This infection of the lungs kills many people, and is hard to fight off. A little sugar could help save a lot of lives."

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Let me be the first to say it... by Rie+Beam · 2011-05-15 21:15 · Score: 4, Funny

I'm taking this with a grain of salt.
1. Re:Let me be the first to say it... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-05-15 21:29 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Yes. The joke was made in the TITLE!
2. Re:Let me be the first to say it... by DataDiddler · 2011-05-15 21:41 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  They still need to do a double blind study to verify this technique's efficacy versus sugar pill.
  
  --
  Working...
3. Re:Let me be the first to say it... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-05-15 22:58 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  If someone were intelligently designing bacteria, then it would be a lot easier...
  Many a fundies head would explode, as this would simultaneously prove that there is a creator and that she's malevolent.