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Article: Keeping Bugs from Pumping Drugs.(fighting antibiotic-resistant strains)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- February 12, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A new way to defeat antibiotic, resistant microbes?
Give a baby a spoonful of medicine and phttt! In an instant, he's spit it all over the room. Getting the medicine down, however, isn't the whole battle. Even when an antibiotic's been swallowed, the microbe that it targets may eject it before the infection has been quelled.
In the chemical arms race between modern medicine and quickly evolving bacteria and fungi, some researchers are now opening a new front. They're attacking the machinery, known as efflux pumps, that microbes use to rid themselves of toxic materials, including drugs. These scientists are beginning to develop compounds--efflux-pump ...