• Question: Does the current mutations of bacteria that make it resistant to antibiotics mean in the future new medicines would have to be made to cure kill the dangerous micro-organisms?

    Asked by rochelle1999 to Alison, Becky, Connie, Gemma, John Robert, Sara on 27 Jan 2014.
    • Photo: John Robert Davis

      John Robert Davis answered on 27 Jan 2014:


      Absolutely, antibiotics are becoming a hot topic for scientists and governments as less and less are effective against bacteria. Currently there are several labs and pharmaceutical companies trying to develop new antibiotics for the future. And as time goes on more and more funding is being used to develop antibiotics.

    • Photo: Gemma Swiers

      Gemma Swiers answered on 3 Feb 2014:


      This is a really interesting question, and I only heard about this last week so I thought I’d share it with you.

      There are a type of virus, known as phage, which can attack and kill certain types of bacteria. Back in the 1920s and 1930s there was a lot of research (mainly in Russia and Poland) done on how to use phage as anti-bacterial treatments. Quite a few scientists think that phage might be useful in our fight against antibiotic resistant bacteria, but a lot more research has to be done to see if this is the case and whether phage can be used safely in humans.

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