Breakthrough in fight against antimicroboial resistance as scientists discover how bacteria is ‘hiding’ from drugs – The Telegraph

The fight against antibiotic resistance has taken a step forward after scientists discovered how bacteria hide from drugs in the body.

Public health experts are deeply concerned that the rise in resistance to medication could make even the simplest operations impossible in the future and the Chief Medical Officer has said it is one of the biggest threats to the world today.

But although scientists have known that bugs adapt to evade antibiotics they did not know how they were doing it.

Now for the first time, Newcastle University has discovered that bacteria actually change form to avoid being detected.

In studying samples from 30 elderly patients with recurring urinary tract infections, they found that bacteria lost their cell wall, turning from a little tube-shaped organism to an amorphous blob which antibiotics cannot spot. 

Lead author, Dr Katarzyna Mickiewicz researcher at Newcastle University said: “Imagine that the wall is like the bacteria wearing a high-vis jacket.

“This gives them a regular shape (for example a rod or a sphere), making them strong and protecting them but also makes them highly visible – particularly to human immune system and antibiotics like penicillin.

“What we have seen is that in the presence of antibiotics, the bacteria are able to change from a highly regular walled form to a completely random, cell wall-deficient L-form state- in effect, shedding the yellow jacket and hiding it inside themselves.

“In this form the body can’t easily recognise the bacteria so doesn’t attack them – and neither do antibiotics.”

The research also captured on video for the first time, bacteria re-forming a cell wall after the antibiotic had gone – taking just 5 hours to return to its usual state. 

Scientists believe that is why urinary tract infections return so often, because the antibiotics do not actually wipe out the bacteria. 

Dr Mickiewicz explained: “They can then re-form their cell wall and the patient is yet again faced with another infection. And this may well be one of the main reasons why we see people with recurring UTIs.

“For doctors this may mean considering a combination treatment – so an antibiotic that attacks the cell wall then a different type for any hidden L-form bacteria, so one that targets the RNA or DNA inside or even the surrounding membrane.”

The research was published in the journal Nature Communications.