Researchers and scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Chicago have developed a second-generation antibiotic that may combat common drug-resistant bacterial infections.
The team created the new drug by chemically restructuring an old antibiotic first introduced in the 1960s called spectinomycin which is safe, but weak. Restructuring spectinomycin can produce new versions that are more potent and effective than the original antibiotic against Streptococcus pneumonia, a bacterium that causes pneumonia, meningitis, sepsis and the ear infection otitis media.
In the laboratory, the St. Jude researchers found the restructured spectinomycin blocked the growth of strains of the pneumococcal bacteria resistant to commonly used antibiotics. Additionally, the second-generation antibiotic demonstrated increased antibacterial activity against Haemophilus influenza and Moraxella catarrhalis, which commonly cause respiratory infections, and against bacteria responsible for Legionnaires' disease, gonorrhea and chlamydia.
"The growing problem of drug-resistant bacteria has created an urgent need for new antibiotics that use novel mechanisms to treat adults and children worldwide," said corresponding author Richard Lee, PhD, a member of the St. Jude Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics. "Immune-compromised St. Jude patients undergoing treatment for other indications, as well as adults and children, are particularly at-risk from these types of secondary infections."
According to Dr. Lee and the research team, the re-engineered spectinomycin versions are unlikely to cause serious side effects or interfere with other medications
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