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How researchers are revamping antimicrobial drugs

New antibiotics are needed to tackle drug-resistant bacteria. Scientists are searching for candidates and revitalizing existing drugs.
  1. Neil Savage

    1. Neil Savage is a freelance writer in Lowell, Massachusetts.

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The infections show up everywhere. In India, at least 58,000 babies die each year as a result of ‘superbugs’ — microorganisms that are resistant to almost all known treatments. And the multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii has turned up in US military hospitals from Texas to Landstuhl, Germany. The bacterium can cause pneumonia, as well as infect wounds, the bloodstream and the urinary tract. Physicians presume it was introduced by wounded soldiers returning from the Middle East.

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Nature 586, S55-S56 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02886-1

This article is part of Nature Outlook: Antimicrobial resistance, an editorially independent supplement produced with the financial support of third parties. About this content.

Updates & Corrections

  • Clarification 14 January 2021: The caption for the image showing Kim Lewis has been amended to also name postdoc Yu Imai.

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