Researchers find new insights on development of antibiotic resistance

13-01-2021

One of the biggest challenges for healthcare and medical professionals is the development of antibiotic resistance � a common condition experienced by people worldwide. Antibiotic resistance is when pathogens become resistant to the current treatments used against them, which makes it difficult, sometimes impossible for doctors to treat a certain condition, because the medicines and treatments for the said disease, do not work on the disease-causing pathogen. Antibiotic resistance has been a subject of study for researchers worldwide. It has been found that common, unnecessary, wrong, overuse of antibiotics can cause antibiotic resistance. With recent research, scientists have found new insights on the development of the condition. According to researchers at the Quadram Institute on the Norwich Research Park, development of antibiotic resistance by bacteria can have 'side effects' for them, including their ability to cause disease. The new study has the potential to help in the development of new treatments, and give a better understanding of how resistance actually arises so that we can find ways to minimize the condition. Led by Dr Mark Webber, the team developed a model using Salmonella bacteria to allow a more realistic simulation of how bacteria grow and are exposed to antibiotics in the real world. Most bacteria in their natural state are found in communities known as biofilms. Bacteria are hard to kill in these communities, but little is known about how they might adapt when exposed to antibiotics. The research was published in the journal npj Biofilms and Microbiomes. Researchers developed a model for how bacteria in a biofilm will respond to antibiotics, and results were compared to the reaction of bacteria in traditional lab conditions. It was found that bacteria in biofilms can develop antibiotic resistance very rapidly. However, when this happens, their ability to cause disease is also affected, in the first place. These insights into antibiotic resistance will help more studies understand how the condition evolves in the real world, and what are the best ways to counter it. Dr Mark Webber said, "I'm proud of this work as it has been a large effort and it has provided new insight into how bacteria adapt and evolve in different conditions. We are now able to better model and predict how bacteria respond to drugs in the real world." Lead author Dr Eleftheria Trampari said, "I hope this model system will now be more widely used and we can understand the consequences for bacteria of developing resistance and use this information to help guide treatments which will minimize risks to human and animal health."