Researchers have analysed the soil from an area of Fermanagh in Northern Ireland and found a bacteria that can halt the spread of several antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
The researchers took the soil sample from the place called Boho Highlands, which is an area of alkaline grassland and the soil is reputed to have healing properties.
As per the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, the newly-identified strain of bacteria, named as 'Streptomyces sp. Myrophorea,' is capable of reducing the growth of four of the top six multi-resistant pathogens, who are responsible for healthcare-associated infections, identified by the World Health Organization (WHO).
These multi-resistant pathogens are Vancomycin resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Klebsiella pneumonia and Carbenepenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumanii.
Paul Dyson, the Professor at Swansea University Medical School in Britain said, "Our discovery is an important step forward in the fight against antibiotic resistance."
The team also discovered that Streptomyces sp. myrophorea restricts both gram positive and gram negative bacteria, which differ in the structure of their cell wall. It should be noted that usually gram-negative bacteria are more resistant to antibiotics.
As per the lead researcher Gerry Quinn from Swansea University, their findings of "antimicrobial substances from Streptomyces sp.myrophorea will help in our search for new drugs to treat multi-resistant bacteria, the cause of many dangerous and lethal infections. We will now concentrate on the purification and identification of these antibiotics."
