Bacteria may use snake-type poisons

CAMBRIDGE, England, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- British scientists say they've found hospital superbugs can make poisons similar to those found in rattlesnake venom to attack the body's natural defenses.

The researchers said the toxins are manufactured by communities of bacteria known as biofilms, which are up to a thousand times more resistant to antibiotics than single bacterial cells.

"This is the first time that anyone has successfully proved that the way the bacteria grow -- either as a biofilm, or living as individuals -- affects the type of proteins they can secrete, and therefore how dangerous they can potentially be to our health," said Martin Welch, a lecturer in microbiology at the University of Cambridge.

A widely held view has been that biofilms serve as reservoirs of bacteria that do relatively little harm, said Welch.

"We found that, in contrast to expectation, biofilms do indeed produce harmful chemicals," he said. "However, the type of tissue-degrading enzymes and toxins made by the biofilm bacteria differ from those produced by free-floating bugs, which may help them to survive attacks by our immune systems."

The research was reported Monday at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, during the fall meeting of the Society for General Microbiology.