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Bacteria Discovered In Irish Soil Kills Four Drug-Resistant Superbugs (msn.com)

NBC News reports on how microbiologist Gerry Quinn "followed up on some folklore his family had passed on to him." Old timers insisted that the dirt in the vicinity of a nearly 1,500-year-old church in County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, an area once occupied by the Druids, had almost miraculous curative powers.... "Here in the western fringes of Ireland there is still a tradition of having this folk cure," Quinn told NBC News. "We can look at it and see maybe it's just superstition -- or we can actually investigate and ask, 'is there anything in the soil that produces antibiotics...?'"

Once Quinn and his team decided to focus on the Irish soil, they narrowed their search to a specific type of bacteria, called Streptomyces, because other strains of this bacteria have led to the development of 75 percent of existing antibiotics, Quinn said. The bacteria was discovered by a team based at Swansea University Medical School, made up of researchers from Wales, Brazil, Iraq and Northern Ireland. The researchers first tried the newly discovered strain of Streptomyces on some garden variety bacteria. In their petri dish experiment, "it knocked them out," Quinn said. "Then we thought we'd take it one step further and find some multi-resistant organisms."

The bacteria in the experiment killed four out of the top six organisms that are resistant to antibiotics, including MRSA. "It's quite surprising," said Quinn... "The lesson is, some of the cures are right underneath your feet."

Vaughn Cooper, an evolutionary geneticist/microbiologist at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Medicine, tells NBC that more research is needed before this yields a super-antibiotic -- but "it's a cool discovery."

The World Health Organization has named antibiotic resistance as one of 2019's ten top public health threats.

8 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. It was alcohol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Drunken Irish bacteria are good fighters

    1. Re:It was alcohol by jcr · · Score: 2

      The druids have been gone for over a millennium. Hippies LARPing as druids aren't druids.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  2. Happy St Patties Day by wolfheart111 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    A gift from the Irish. WE need all the good news we can get today... CC

    --
    [($)]
    1. Re:Happy St Patties Day by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 2
      There's also this other headline, which for some reason has had less coverage:

      Material Discovered In Chernobyl Soil Kills Four Drug-Resistant Superbugs

      Can't imagine why this is less newsworthy...

  3. Re:Here we go by Aighearach · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You read it here first, folks.

    What you said was so generic, I doubt even a single person read it here first.

    You didn't name the name of the thing, so it doesn't even have that much difference compared to the standard rant.

  4. Re:Here we go by Required+Snark · · Score: 2
    Completely accurate. Want an example: anti-bacterial hand soap/dish soap. Advertising is awash (pun intended) with "Kills 99.99% of Germs!". Meanwhile current bacteria populations are becoming immune to the agents used in these products. It's called evolutionary adaptation and it works no matter what anyone thinks about evolution or god.

    Meanwhile, if someone can make money on new antibiotics now the future can just go fuck itself. Use it up and breed (pun intended) future trouble because PROFIT!

    --
    Why is Snark Required?
  5. Rub some dirt on it! by cdsparrow · · Score: 2

    So, the macho 'rub some dirt on it' thing actually works if you have special dirt... #themoreyouknow

  6. Re:Here we go by jbengt · · Score: 3, Informative

    Penicillin is use by bacteria to defend themselves. Of course there are other bacteria that are resistant to it! That's how bactiera A can eat bactiera B! Bacteria A are resistant to the effects of bacteria B's defenses, penicillin.

    Your main point might be correct, but this is not. Penicillin was derived from mold, not from bacteria. RTFA that you linked.