Find new antibiotics in ... soil

Through thorough examination of soil samples, US researchers discovered a new antibiotic that could kill resistant bacteria and cause disease.

This completely new type of antibiotic, called malacidins ( metagenomic acidic lipopeptide antibiotic-cidins ), has been isolated from bacteria that live in the soil .

A new antibiotic has been discovered from the soil.(Photo: Getty Images).

Professor Sean Brady and colleagues at Rockefeller University analyzed DNA samples from more than 1,000 acres of land to find an innovative drug that could fight bacteria in a new way. Chemicals attack a key part of the bacterial cell wall - a mechanism that cannot be resisted when in a microbiological laboratory environment. As a result, new antibiotics have solved the infection caused by drug resistance in animals.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that at least 2 million people in the US are infected each year and at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of this infection. Most of these deaths are related to antibiotic resistance occurring in hospitals and nursing homes.

Researchers warn that in the absence of new therapies, the mortality rate of untreatable infections will increase 10-fold by 2050.