Scientists may be on an antibiotic that can defeat the superbug—and the bacteria to formulate the drug is in your nose!

Don’t Get a Tissue

Antibiotics that currently exist are increasingly becoming less effective. Many bacteria and bugs have become drug-resistant. Hence, the creation of the superbug—illnesses we cannot fight naturally or with modern medicines.

Researchers in Germany, however, have discovered a bacteria that lives in the human nose, which may help revolutionize antibiotics.

Smell’s Good

The bacteria found in people’s noses is called Staphylococcus lugdunin NSIS. That particular strain produces a chemical called lugdunin. Lugdunin can fight off other strong bacteria. Additionally, lugdunin doesn’t appear to be prone to developing resistance.

Antibiotic-resistant bugs are becoming an enormous problem for doctors and their patients. Drugs that used to be able to kill common bacteria are no longer active. We’ve had to develop stronger antibiotic strains, but. Unfortunately, the bugs seem to be getting stronger.

Serious Stuff

The findings from this research are enormously valuable at this time. We need newer and more powerful antibiotics, but there aren’t many options. Development of drugs is slow and perhaps not funded as well as it should be. The need for a medicine that can take on the superbug is crucial.

Currently, MRSA (the superbug) can be deadly. MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. It used to be that an ordinary Staph infection was treated simply and more efficiently. Now, it’s possible, that if you develop a Staph infection, especially a hospital-acquired one, it can be life-threatening.

Around the world, approximately 700,000 people die each year from a superbug. Without a line of defense in antibiotics, it is expected that death tolls will rise exponentially. Superbugs, without a fight, will cause more deaths than cancer—possibly by the next decade.

Where There’s Hope…

We may find a solution—hopefully, sooner than later. Using the human body as a new place to mine for microbes is a brilliant idea. Our microbiota could conceivably provide a source to invent and develop a medicinal army to fight against pathogens.

The director of the World Health Organization explains that these drug-resistant pathogens travel quickly across the globe. Perhaps if we paid more attention to food trade and transportation, we could slow the spread.

In the meanwhile, there are ways that humans can help keep more pathogens from becoming drug-resistant. We can be mindful of our antibiotic use. If we are stricken with a virus, such as the flu, an antibiotic is useless. Taking less than the full amount prescribed can also cause a future immunity to the drug. Keep in mind, too that many of the animal products we eat have been given antibiotics.

The bottom line is that it is time to take action. We do not want society to revert to the days before antibiotics were invented. That may happen if we let the superbug grow.