蜜芽传媒

While the world's attention remains gripped by Covid, the scientific community continues to work on a problem which the World Health Organization estimates could be responsible for 10 million deaths annually in 30 years: antibiotic resistance.

Scientists say that If it's not tackled, we could go back to a 'nightmare pre-antibiotic age' when some of the things we take for granted - like not dying after a routine operation - could be put at risk.

But the good news is they say they now have a potential way to keep many 'last resort' antibiotics working - at just a fraction of the cost the world has spent on battling Covid. It involves developing 'guardian angel molecules' which protect the antibiotics from attack from resistant bacteria - and could be given to patients as a combination treatment.

One of the lead authors is Professor Christopher Schofield, Head of Chemistry at the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research at Oxford University.

"These are genuinely wonder drugs which underpin all of modern medicine but they were all developed in the last century, and while we've been enjoying the benefits of these wonderful molecules, the bacteria have been busy building up resistance to the extent that in some parts of the world they no longer work routinely."

(Photo: Antibiotic Doxycycline capsules spill from a bottle. Credit: Science Photo Library)

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