The United States modulates extremely powerful antibiotics against bacteria

To combat the VRE virus, US scientists improved their 60-year-old vancomycin antibiotic into a powerful drug with an increase in effectiveness thousands of times.

Mankind is facing a "post-antibiotic period" , the period when many infections that are treated become irreparable. Of these, vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are a threat to doctors. It usually appears in the hospital, causing infection of the wound and blood vessels. The World Health Organization ranks VRE on the list of 12 most dangerous drug-resistant bacteria for human health.

Vancomycin new version is strengthened and more durable than the old version.(Photo: BBC).

Currently, some antibiotics are still resistant to VRE but vancomycin has been completely disabled. In response to this situation, scientists from the Scripps Research Institute (USA) have improved 60-year-old antibiotics.

According to BBC, thanks to changes in the molecular structure, vancomycin new version is strengthened with sustainability with thousands of times higher efficiency than the old version. The drug attacks the cell wall and destroys VRE, preventing the pathogen from escaping. In laboratory conditions, the effect of vancomycin improves almost intact after 50 times of exposure to bacteria.

"This is an extremely important development , " said Professor Nigel Brown from the American Society of Microbiology. The Scripps Research Institute hopes vancomycin will be ready for use in the next 5 years.