Multiresistant bacteria: software for anticipate their … – Why doctor?

The ‘superbugs’ pose each year more and more problems. These antibiotic-resistant bacteria – Staphylococcus aureus as by-example – significantly complicate the fight against infections, even the most common such as pneumonia and urinary tract infections. Indeed, these bacteria tend to mutate and become resistant to previously effective drugs against them. In the United States, Staphylococcus aureus annually kills nearly 20,000 people. This is more than HIV.

In order to be one step ahead of the superbugs, a team of researchers decided to use the computing power of computers. This team has created a computer algorithm to predict the attacks against superbugs that evolve permancence.

Predict the most likely changes

The program, called OSPREY, predicts the most probable mutations that bacteria could develop when faced with a new type of drug, as explained by a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . The researchers tested OSPREY on MDR bacteria Staphylococcus aureus: MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)

Researchers have programmed their software so that it predicts that genetic mutations. bacteria would suffer to become pest resistant to a new class of drugs still under experimentation: the ‘propargyl-related antifolates, “presented as promising against MRSA infections. When the researchers exposed S. aureus to these new drugs, they have well observed genetic changes that the software had expected.

Have a step ahead of the superbugs

“This allows us to see in advance how a bacterium is resistant to drugs that we develop before they are deployed,” said Bruce Donald, professor of computer science and biochemistry at Duke University and author of the study.

The team hopes that this approach will give researchers a head start in the race against the superbugs. The objective of this research is to increase the lifetime of drugs in development. The software was created so open-source , that is to say, it is free (for researchers).

The Minister of Health, Marisol Touraine announced on Monday 17 November, the creation of a working group for the preservation of antibiotics, which shall report, by June 2015, proposals to reduce the incidence of infection with multidrug-resistant bacteria and promote development new anti-infective molecules.