New family of 'super-antibiotics' capable of beating MRSA

London, August 5 (ANI): Scientists have created a family of 'super-antibiotics' capable of beating MRSA and other deadly infections.

During the study, one of the drugs killed strains of the hospital superbug resistant to antibiotics already in use.

Others were more than a match for food poisoning bug E coli, and acinetobacter, a soil-dwelling bug that is even harder to treat than MRSA.

New treatments could save the taxpayer millions, as well as save lives.

The 'super-antibiotics' work in a similar way to members of a long-standing family of drugs called quinolones, which tackle respiratory and other infections by interfering with an enzyme that many different types of bacteria need to breed.

The new drugs, still in development stage, attach to the same enzyme as quinolones, but in a different place, meaning they can kill bugs that are resistant to other drugs.

"This is an important step forward in the race against antibiotic resistance," The Daily Mail quoted Ted Bianco, of the Wellcome Trust, as saying. (ANI)