Turning Bacteria's Weakness into Strength: A New Way to Fight Antibiotic Resistance

Carbapenems are strong antibiotics used when other medicines don’t work against bacterial infections. But some bacteria have become resistant to them by producing an enzyme called VIM-2, which helps them survive the antibiotics. Unfortunately, there are no medicines yet that can stop this enzyme.

Our research found that bacteria with VIM-2 don’t grow well when zinc, an important mineral, is low—like in human blood or animal infections. We studied their genes and processes to learn how they use zinc and found that blocking certain systems weakens them, making it harder for them to grow.

We also discovered that VIM-2 damages the bacteria’s protective outer layer, which makes them easier to kill with the antibiotic azithromycin. In tests with mice, azithromycin worked well to treat infections caused by these resistant bacteria.

These findings show ways we can target weaknesses in resistant bacteria, giving hope for new treatments against infections that are hard to cure.

From:

Tu, M.M., Carfrae, L.A., Rachwalski, K. et al. Exploiting the fitness cost of metallo-β-lactamase expression can overcome antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens. Nat Microbiol 10, 53–65 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-024-01883-8

New Reasons not to let Raw Milk Sit at Room Temperature

For the longest time, I've known that you should refrigerate raw milk (any milk really but especially raw milk). This is to prevent any stray pathogens that may have made their way into the milk from growing to levels that would lead to illness. Well, there is a new reason you should avoid letting raw milk sit a room temperature. That is to prevent the spread of antibacterial resistance, particularly to your gut. 

Apparently, there is a new food-health fad of making "clabber" (I have no idea what that is) which starts with letting milk sit for a long period at room temperature. Well, researchers have found that the bacteria in raw milk left at room temperature preferentially promote the sharing of antimicrobial resistance genes between bacteria leading to large "inoculations" of such bacteria into the guts of people who later drink the milk. The authors suggest that people making clabber use " a starter culture if they want to ferment raw milk."

See the news item here: https://www.labmanager.com/news/raw-milk-may-do-more-harm-than-good-study-finds-23173