New antibiotic offers real signs of hope

We’ve said it before-we started this blog to highlight the dangers of antibiotic resistance. It’ still what we’re really all about, despite the odd excursion into other matters. So when something comes up that really offers hope, we quickly revert to type. And so we think we have something good for you today, or rather Ethan Ennals of the Daily Mail does. [1]

It’s called Gepotidacin. It’s been developed for UTIs, and is still in its early stages. But we’ll let Ethan and Wikipedia[2] riff on that for you. The key learning points for us are more general, and we hope not too discursive, for our busy readership.

Firstly: it’s a new antibiotic, developed in a rigorous programme of research. After all the doom and gloom we throw at you here, that has to be something to cheer about. Secondly, there’s a clever new methodology, carefully targeting the gene sequence of the offending organism. As the researchers point out, this may give the new medicine a longer shelf life. Don’t forget; resistance to he first generation of antibiotics was springing up after only a few years. Thirdly (admittedly a bit speculative): research successes tend to be like buses. There’s nothing for a long time, and suddenly three come along at once. And so we offer congratulations to the researchers who pioneered this success, and to the journalists who are spreading the Good News. Where’s there’s thought, there’s hope.

[1]https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11687755/Relief-1-7million-Britons-suffering-urinary-tract-infections.html

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gepotidacin#antibiotic resistance #superbugs #medicine #dna