Researchers fear new wave of antibiotic resistant superbugs

A “silent pandemic”, said to be worse than Covid, is set to kill 10 million in 2050. Now Aussie doctors have made a terrifying discovery about treating superbugs.

Australian scientists have discovered how bacteria evolves into a superbug that can beat antibiotics, warning we face a “silent pandemic” of a greater risk than Covid.

Superbugs are expected to claim 10 million lives a year by 2050, and researchers fear we are “on the brink” of losing antibiotics – vital for chemotherapy, surgery and treating infections.

But this world-first discovery suggests antimicrobial resistance is worse and more complex than expected, with doctors unable to distinguish ‘regular’ infections from this superbug.

The findings, published in Nature Communications, could spark a change in strep throat treatment for healthy children in urban centres such as Melbourne, with antibiotics reserved for at-risk populations.

Researchers from the Telethon Kids Institute partnered with multiple organisations, including Melbourne’s Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, to test an important type of antibiotics that stop bacteria from producing folate, which they need to grow.

Researchers fear a new wave superbugs of could be antibiotic-resistant.

Wesfarmers Centre’s Dr Timothy Barnett said “for the first time ever” they discovered a new “mechanism of resistance” where bacteria — if blocked from producing folate — steals it from their human host instead.

“Being undetectable makes it very hard for clinicians to prescribe antibiotics that would effectively treat this infection, potentially leading to very poor outcomes and even premature death,” he said.

This prescribing of unnecessary antibiotics that won’t work can also contribute to the rise of antimicrobial resistance.

The study looked at Group A Streptococcus, responsible for more than 600 million infections each year from common conditions such as strep throat to a flesh eating disease.

While most people recover, some infections can lead to life-threatening complications, many of which disproportionately impact remote Indigenous communities.

But Dr Barnett said he expects this new method of resistance is “more widespread than just one bacteria and one antibiotic”.

“Unfortunately, we suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

“Without antibiotics, we face a world where there will be no way to stop deadly infections, cancer patients won’t be able to have chemotherapy and people won’t have access to have lifesaving surgeries.

Co-author Associate Professor Asha Bowen said their research found a mechanism which had slipped “under our radar” — escaping efforts to identify superbugs and adjust patient treatments accordingly.

“(It’s) even more startling than we had previously expected,” she said.

She said she uses antibiotics “every single day” as a paediatric infectious disease specialist and a world without them is “very scary”.

“We need new drugs,” she said.