Health Insider Update

While most people are under the impression that antibiotic resistance strictly refers to the phenomenon in which humans or livestock build up a tolerance to antibiotic medications, there are far more dangerous implications, ones which are rarely discussed.

Due to treated animal waste being exposed to water supplies, as well as indiscriminate prescribing practices by physicians, many bacterial strands are becoming resistant to the majority of antibiotics – sometimes before ever entering a human! However, scientists are now claiming that they have discovered a powerful new antibiotic they say can kill an array of germs – with no possibility of bacterial resistance. This could be the end of the war between bacteria and mankind.

Before discussing the new antibiotic, a bit of antibiotic resistance history will provide better context. The generous antibiotic dosing of livestock has become an accepted part of the food industry, utilized to keep animals healthy in unhealthy situations, as well as to trigger weight gain.

Some of these antibiotics are the same strands used to treat human illness, and the overlap has caused the antibiotics to be less impactful at treating illness.  Physicians have been as generous with prescribing antibiotics to patients, often as a precautionary measure.

Antibiotic have also been found in water and soil deposits, downstream from many meat processing farms. According to T.A. Avandiran’s “Microbial assessment and prevalence of antibiotic resistance in polluted Oluwa River,” medicated animals’ waste seeps into soil, eventually making its way into the water supply.

Now exposed to nearly our full antibiotic arsenal, diseases have the chance to naturally evolve over time, creating an increased tolerance to most antibiotic medication. Within the sediment Dr. Avandiran collected, nearly all bacteria showed a great resistance to many antibiotic strands.

The risk caused by the commercial and medical overuse of antibiotics has kept many scientists in a state of panic, knowing that the potential for a super bacterium was growing daily. Called Teixobactin, this new variety of antibiotic might end those days of worrying about antibiotic resistance.

Discovered after sifting through thousands of soil samples, Teixobactin has already been described as one of the most powerful antibiotic strands ever discovered. While testing will take at least 2 years, the breakthrough has already sent shockwaves through the scientific community. The potential is limitless.