Biochemistry warns against antibiotic resistance: ‘It’s dramatic’

Acinetobacter baumannii (Ab) has become one of the major threats to public health due to its huge genetic diversity and high mortality when it invades humans.

For some time now, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have included the antibody on their list of critical pathogens and consider it a “superbug” because it is resistant to all available antibiotics.

In her lab at Cal State Fullerton, Argentine biochemist María Soledad Ramírez has studied how to combat the deadly ability of the bacterium, which is mainly infected in hospitals , can cause diseases such as pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis. May cause death.

“It’s very poorly adaptable. It can remain on surfaces for over 100 days … like on the counter or in hospital equipment. Once the antibody gets into the hospital, it’s nearly impossible to eradicate,” Ramirez noted to the agency. CyTA-LeroiHe makes a powerful statement of principle on his website: “Never underestimate the power of germs again”.

The expert studies how antibodies adapt and how it can develop resistance to different antibiotics as a way to find new treatment alternatives for one of today’s major health problems. “Bacteria have acquired a terrifying ability to evolve, much more powerful than humans,” he said. He charted: “Just 15 years ago, urinary tract infections were easily treated with antibiotics. This is no longer the case, and the information provided by the antibiogram is necessary to determine the best way to address the problem.”

The scientist said the loss of drug efficacy was partly linked to the bacteria’s natural adaptations, but she stressed that the other reason was the overuse of antibiotics. “For example, when a person takes a drug without being told, or discontinues treatment prematurely because they already feel well, or even because a doctor prescribes it ‘just in case’ or gives in to patient pressure,” he lists road. Another big issue, he stressed, is the use of antibiotics in livestock, where they are used as growth factors or prophylactically so as not to affect production.

Although the antibody is a nosocomial bacterium with few case reports at the community level, Ramirez explained that since it is also associated with tropical climates, climate change is expected to affect its infection type. reason.

find a solution

The rapid spread of multidrug-resistant and “pan-resistant” bacteria (to all antibiotics) worldwide, leading to infections that can no longer be treated, is of particular concern, according to a recent WHO report. “Antibiotic resistance is one of the top ten public health threats facing humanity,” he warned.

“We have fewer and fewer effective antibiotics, and developing new ones is very difficult. There will always be resistance; faster in some cases, slower in others, but it’s a dramatic situation. As the study People, doctors and patients, all we can do is delay this resistance,” Ramirez said. He took advantage of his recent visit to Buenos Aires to present his latest work to scientists at the Foundation Leroy (FIL). , with whom he maintains a permanent collaboration; especially Rodrigo Sieira from the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Microbiology.

But the new antibiotics have not been without setbacks. In his paper, Ramirez shared his conclusions about cefodiclox, one of the latest antibiotics approved by the U.S. drug regulator, the FDA, to treat serious infections caused by “superbugs.” “While its effectiveness is very promising, we’ve seen increased resistance,” he said.

Cefdicol is not yet available in Argentina, it is a very special molecule because it is a mixture of two antibiotics from the penicillin family (beta-lactams) to which they added an iron (catechol) compound, iron is the element of iron. Bacteria need it in order to cause an infection. The Japanese lab (Shionogi) that created it named it “Fetroja,” a reference to the Trojan horse because it “tricks” bacteria into getting the iron they need, and in the process opens the door to an insidious enemy. The drug thus attacks the microorganism from two places simultaneously: from the outside, through porins or channels in its outer membrane, and from the inside, through the active iron uptake system.

“Reports in the literature suggest that cefodiclox is less successful for treating infections caused by antibodies. Our research at the transcriptome level in the laboratory may explain at least part of this: We found that the human protein HSA triggers a bacterial response, thereby Alters and reduces the expression of the active iron uptake system. Therefore, the antibiotics are less effective,” explains Ramirez. They are now investigating whether there are specific HSA receptors, he said.

Antibiotic resistance is a serious problem and is predicted to kill more people than cancer by 2050. In the face of this “hidden epidemic”, the use of various strategies to combat superbugs was evaluated, such as giving hospitalized patients three different antibiotics or antibiotic-phage combinations. Phages are viruses that infect bacteria. They attack cell membranes, allowing antibiotics to work. But it has not been proven, and it is not clear whether phages are harmless to humans,” the scientist emphasizes.

In an effort to limit and contain the health threat posed by bacterial resistance, the Argentine government enacted the Antimicrobial Resistance Prevention and Control Act last week. In order to promote their responsible use in human and animal health, the regulation states, inter alia, that they may only be sold on the basis of a recorded prescription, in sufficient quantities for a complete treatment and in a single container.