A team of biologists from University of California, Los Angeles found two combinations of antibiotics that were extremely successful in reducing growth of E. coli bacteria, according to UCLA.
Their findings were published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
The team tested every possible combination of a group of six antibiotics, including some combinations of three drugs at once. Two of those combinations of three drugs of different classes were more successful than expected.
Sign up for our FREE E-Weekly for more coverage like this sent to your inbox
"We have a logical, methodical way to identify three-drug combinations to pursue," said Pamela Yeh, PhD, the study's lead author. "We think it's vital to have this framework for identifying the best possible combinations of antibiotics."
More research is needed to identify which drug combinations would be most effective on different diseases and different parts of the body. The team is now working to test combinations of four antibiotics.