When most people have an infected wound or develop a bacteria-based infection such as strep throat, they go to a doctor who prescribes them antibiotics. The medication treats the infection by killing the harmful bacteria and, usually, leaves the patient unscathed. However, what if the antibiotics stop working and doctors are left with no method to treat these infections? Reality is shifting towards this hypothetical as antibiotic-resistant infections slowly become the norm rather than an exception.
A growing health crisis, antibiotic-resistant microbes permeate individuals, causing seemingly untreatable infections. Antibiotics are essential to many additional medical practices such as transplant surgeries and chemotherapy. If this form of treatment were to stop working entirely, medicine would have to undergo a fundamental change.
A certain class of microbes, labeled gram-negative due to their protective outer membrane, are particularly prone to developing antibiotic resistance. New antibiotic development to treat this type of bacteria has been at a standstill for the last 50 years, until now!
One new drug, Zosurabalpin, has been proven effective in early experimental trials for treating antibiotic-resistant, gram-negative infections. Specifically, Zosurabalpin can effectively kill carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, commonly referred to as CRAB. The drug’s ability to treat CRAB is especially relevant as CRAB commonly infects immunocompromised hospital patients, resulting in a 40-60% mortality rate largely due to the lack of drugs available to treat it.
Antibiotic-resistant infections can be dangerous for immunocompromised patients.
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Zosurabalpin works by blocking the transportation of lipopolysaccharides, commonly referred to as LPS, from the cell into its outer membrane. The bacteria cells rely on LPS to maintain the structural integrity of their outer cellular membranes, so by preventing its transportation, zosurabalpin stops bacteria from upholding their membrane and kills them. The drug harms only bacteria, not patients, as human cells do not have LPS or specific protective outer membranes.
While zosurabalpin is still in the early stages of gaining full FDA approval as a drug fit for human consumption, its current results are extremely promising. When given to mice, the drug successfully treated CRAB, results which will hopefully spur human trials soon.
If approved, zosurabalpin could save countless lives and hopefully invoke more antibiotic research. Further discovery to combat the increasing rates of antibiotic-resistant microbes is paramount to maintaining quality healthcare and must be made a global priority.
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