University researchers are using a new method in the fight against multi-resistant bacteria

Bacteria.Photo: pixabay.com

Researchers at the University of Oslo are behind a method that uses statistics to develop antibiotics against certain multi-resistant bacteria.

Researchers at the University of Oslo (UiO) may have found a method that can help to combat multidrug-resistant bacteria, according to NRK news.

A computer analyses huge amounts of information about bacteria, and all the possible cell changes that may occur in bacterium.

Researchers hope the procedure may make it possible to tailor drugs targeting a specific bacterium, and in the long term, to prevent it reproducing.

Professor of biostatistics, Jukka Corander, is the leader of the research group behind the new method.

‘We’re talking about bacteria which are causing hundreds of millions of infections annually if we look at it from a wider perspective’, said Coranda. He explained that the amount of data that must be processed is enormous.

‘I think that this is a very interesting approach. If one can avoid treating other bacteria that it isn’t necessary to treat, it is an advantage’, said the infection control doctor at Rikshospitalet, Egil Lingaas.

Overuse of antibiotics has led to a large increase of multi-resistant bacteria, that is, bacteria that are resistant to two or more antibiotics. The World Health Organisation, WHO, has discussed the problem of antibiotic resistance as a real threat in all parts of the world.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today