Battling drug resistant bacteria with bacteriophages

The overuse of antibiotics over extended periods of time has led to the emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria in recent years. This poses a significant threat to public health, with more than 1.2 million deaths ...

Are bacteriophages the new antibiotics?

Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, may be used as an alternative treatment option when antibiotics fail. Leiden researchers have studied the structure and function of a novel bacteriophage that could be used to ...

How bacteria evade bacteriophages in vivo

Phage therapy, which uses viruses known as bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections, is a long-standing medical procedure whose mechanisms of action are still poorly understood. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur and ...

A new multipurpose on-off switch for inhibiting bacterial growth

Researchers in Lund have discovered an antitoxin mechanism that seems to be able to neutralize hundreds of different toxins and may protect bacteria against virus attacks. The mechanism has been named Panacea, after the Greek ...

Bacterial viruses: Faithful allies against antibiotic resistance

It is a fact that bacteria are increasingly developing antibiotic resistance. Information campaigns have raised awareness among the general public that the main cause of antibiotic resistance is the high 'selection pressure' ...

Important role of prokaryotic viruses in sewage treatment

Prokaryotic viruses (phages) existing in activated sludge (AS), a biological treatment process widely used in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), act to regulate the composition of microbial community in the activated sludge. ...

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