Why a Common Antibiotic Treating Diarrhea is Failing ... | 農藥合法資訊網

2019年2月28日—After30years,themostcommonlyprescribedantibioticusedtofightit,metronidazole,knowncommonlybythebrandnameFlagyl,isnolonger ...

In the world of superbugs (bacteria that has grown resistant to antibiotics) Clostridioides difficile, a bacterium that causes diarrhea and colitis, is among the most stubborn. In 2013 the Centers for Disease Control called C. diff an “urgent threat” after causing 30,000 deaths in 2011. It is often picked up by patients over 65 who are hospitalized and receive broad spectrum antibiotics.

C. diff doesn’t go down easily. After 30 years, the most commonly prescribed antibiotic used to fight it, metronidazole, known commonly by the brand name Flagyl, is no longer as effective as it used to be. Now researchers want to know why and what genetic changes are occurring to cause this resistance in efforts to identify new drug targets to stop the bacteria.

“C. diff has a billion different ways to figure out how to become resistant to metronidazole,” said Kevin Garey, professor of pharmacy p...