Some respiratory infections may persist despite treatment due to multiple bugs

Respiratory infections often persist in the people with lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis despite treatment due to the presence of multiple bugs that reduce the efficacy of antibiotics reveals a studyIn such cases where other microbes are present much higher doses of antibiotics are needed to eliminate a bacterial infection of the airways according to the findings published in The ISME JournalIn the study researchers from the University of Cambridge in London showed that even low levels of one type of microbe in the airways can have a profound effect on the way other microbes respond to antibioticsThe results highlight the need to consider the interaction between different species of microbe when treating infections with antibiotics and to adjust dosage accordinglyPeople with chronic infections often have coinfection with several pathogens but the problem is we dont take that into account in deciding how much of a particular antibiotic to treat them with said Thomas OBrien who carried out the research for his doctorate in the University of Cambridges Department of BiochemistryOur results might help explain why in these people the antibiotics just dont work as well as they should OBrien addedChronic bacterial infections such as those in the human airways are very difficult to cure using antibioticsAlthough these types of infection are often associated with a single pathogenic species the infection site is frequently cocolonised by a number of other microbes most of which are not usually pathogenic in their own rightTreatment options usually revolve around targeting the pathogen and take little account of the cohabiting species However these treatments often fail to resolve the infectionIn the study the team developed a simplified model of the human airways containing artificial sputum phlegm designed to chemically resemble the real phlegm coughed up during an infection packed with bacteriaThe model allowed them to grow a mixture of different microbes including pathogens in a stable way for weeks at a timeThis is novel because usually one pathogen will outgrow the others very quickly and spoil the experiment It enabled the researchers to replicate and study infections with multiple species of microbe called polymicrobial infections in the laboratoryThe three microbes used in the experiment were the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus and the fungus Candida albicans a combination commonly present in the airways of people with cystic fibrosisThe researchers treated this microbial mix with an antibiotic called colistin which is very effective in killing Pseudomonas aeruginosa But when the other pathogens were present alongside Pseudomonas aeruginosa the antibiotic didnt workWe were surprised to find that an antibiotic that we know should clear an infection of Pseudomonas effectively just didnt work in our lab model when other bugs were present said Wendy FigueroaChavez in the Universitys Department of BiochemistryThe same effect happened when the microbial mix was treated with fusidic acid an antibiotic that specifically targets Staphylococcus aureus and with fluconazole an antibiotic that specifically targets Candida albicansThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever