We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress hp
Sign In
Advertise with Us

Download Mobile App




Certain Antibiotic Combinations Could Target Heteroresistance

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 03 Jul 2019
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a significant threat to human health, with one estimate suggesting they will cause 10 million worldwide deaths per year by 2050, surpassing deaths due to cancer. More...
Heteroresistance means that standard tests used in hospital laboratories would not always detect resistance to a given antibiotic, because only a small sub-population of the bacterial cells are resistant to the drug.

Antibiotic combination therapy offers promise for treating highly resistant bacterial infections, but the factors governing the sporadic efficacy of such regimens have remained unclear. Because new antibiotic development can take a decade or longer, it is imperative to effectively use currently available drugs. Dogma suggests that antibiotics ineffective as monotherapy can be effective in combination.

Microbiologists at the Emory Health Sciences (Atlanta, GA, USA) and their colleagues examined 104 bacterial isolates from a CDC-supported surveillance program in Georgia (Multi-site Gram-negative Surveillance Initiative), tracking multi-drug resistant "superbugs" (Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae or CRE). They chose two isolates of pan-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria, Nevada-2016 and AR0040. The first came from a woman who had died in a Nevada hospital in 2016. This "superbug" stimulated alarm from public health officials, because standard laboratory tests showed it was resistant to 26 different antibiotics, including a last resort drug called colistin.

The team found that within an isolate, the subpopulations resistant to different antibiotics were distinct, and over 88% of CRE isolates exhibited heteroresistance to multiple antibiotics (‘multiple heteroresistance’). Combinations targeting multiple heteroresistance were efficacious, whereas those targeting homogenous resistance were ineffective. Two pan-resistant Klebsiella isolates were eradicated by combinations targeting multiple heteroresistance, highlighting a rational strategy to identify effective combinations that employ existing antibiotics and could be clinically implemented immediately.

David S. Weiss, PhD, and associate professor of medicine (infectious diseases) and senior author of the study, said, “We can think of heteroresistance as bacteria that are 'half resistant'. When you take the antibiotic away, the resistant cells go back to being just a small part of the group. That's why they're hard to see in the tests that hospitals usually use. We're saying: don't toss those drugs in the trash; they may still have some utility. They just have to be used in combination with others to do so.” The study was published on June 17, 2019, in the journal Nature Microbiology.

Related Links:
Emory Health Sciences


Gold Member
Blood Gas Analyzer
Stat Profile pHOx
Collection and Transport System
PurSafe Plus®
New
Rapid Molecular Testing Device
FlashDetect Flash10
New
Gold Member
Automatic Hematology Analyzer
DH-800 Series
Read the full article by registering today, it's FREE! It's Free!
Register now for FREE to LabMedica.com and get access to news and events that shape the world of Clinical Laboratory Medicine.
  • Free digital version edition of LabMedica International sent by email on regular basis
  • Free print version of LabMedica International magazine (available only outside USA and Canada).
  • Free and unlimited access to back issues of LabMedica International in digital format
  • Free LabMedica International Newsletter sent every week containing the latest news
  • Free breaking news sent via email
  • Free access to Events Calendar
  • Free access to LinkXpress new product services
  • REGISTRATION IS FREE AND EASY!
Click here to Register








Channels

Molecular Diagnostics

view channel
Image: Left is the original cell image and right is same cell image zoomed in and rendered in the special imaging software (Photo courtesy of FIU)

Brain Inflammation Biomarker Detects Alzheimer’s Years Before Symptoms Appear

Alzheimer’s disease affects millions globally, but patients are often diagnosed only after memory loss and other symptoms appear, when brain damage is already extensive. Detecting the disease much earlier... Read more

Hematology

view channel
Image: New research points to protecting blood during radiation therapy (Photo courtesy of 123RF)

Pioneering Model Measures Radiation Exposure in Blood for Precise Cancer Treatments

Scientists have long focused on protecting organs near tumors during radiotherapy, but blood — a vital, circulating tissue — has largely been excluded from dose calculations. Each blood cell passing through... Read more

Pathology

view channel
Image: An adult fibrosarcoma case report has shown the importance of early diagnosis and targeted therapy (Photo courtesy of Sultana and Sailaja/Oncoscience)

Accurate Pathological Analysis Improves Treatment Outcomes for Adult Fibrosarcoma

Adult fibrosarcoma is a rare and highly aggressive malignancy that develops in connective tissue and often affects the limbs, trunk, or head and neck region. Diagnosis is complex because tumors can mimic... Read more

Technology

view channel
Image: Conceptual design of the CORAL capsule for microbial sampling in the small intestine (H. Mohammed et al., Device (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.device.2025.100904)

Coral-Inspired Capsule Samples Hidden Bacteria from Small Intestine

The gut microbiome has been linked to conditions ranging from immune disorders to mental health, yet conventional stool tests often fail to capture bacterial populations in the small intestine.... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2025 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.