Options running out to treat 'super-bugs'

HOUSTON, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. infectious disease researchers warn that people are dying from "super bugs" because the antibiotic arsenal has run dry.

Dr. Barbara E. Murray and Dr. Cesar Arias of the University of Texas Medical School in Houston say a super bug is an organism that can evade antibiotics by:

-- destroying the medication by producing an enzyme that devours the drug.

-- creating a barrier to the drug.

-- pumping out any antibiotic that reaches the bacterial cell.

-- modifying the target of the antibiotic so the drug can't bind to it.

"Most of the public has heard of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, because it produces the most cases each year. However, many have not heard of other super bugs that can be far worse," Murray says in a statement.

The Gram-negative bacteria are the most antibiotic-resistant with fewer treatment options in life-threatening diseases, such as certain forms of pneumonia, bloodstream infections, gastroenteritis and even meningitis, Murray said.

"We have run out of options," she said. "The promise of genomics has not panned out."

Taking antibiotics without a prescription, or not following the prescription as directed, allow antibiotics to be exposed to a wide-range of bacteria in the body, both good and bad, giving the bugs an opportunity to find ways to beat antibiotic weapons, the researchers says.

The findings are published in The New England Journal of Medicine.