Link: Experts: Chatter key to fight superbugs – USATODAY.com.
Do germs communicate? Many scientists think so and are betting the chatter may hold the key to developing the next generation of drugs to fight killer superbugs.
The conventional wisdom has long been that the carpet-bombing approach is the best way to fight infection. But as evidence of bacterial bonding has mounted in the past decade, researchers are now focusing on antibiotics that will break down the lines of communication.
In the last 20 years, the number of scientists working in this field has jumped from a few solitary researchers to thousands. In Britain, the strategy is one of the top research priorities of a newly formed center dedicated to stopping superbugs.
"Bacteria are a bit like an army going into battle," said Dr. Paul Williams, professor of molecular biology at the center at Nottingham University. "Only when they’ve got strength in numbers do they tell their troops to start firing."
The thinking is that if bacterial communication can be interrupted, the microbes might be incapacitated before doing any damage. And by not killing off the bacteria, they won’t have the Darwinian opportunity to evolve into resistant strains.
