Better than antibiotics?

By 2008-09-01T00:00:00

Figure 1 - The crystal structure of the PapA protein bound to the molecular chaperone (yellow)

Source: PLOS Pathogen

Chemicals that make bacteria lose their hair could be a new weapon in the fight against infections, and at the same time help to overcome the problem of antibiotic resistance

The ability of bacteria to cause diseases in humans or animals depends on several factors. One of these is so simple that it can be easily overlooked: bacteria need to stick to their host to be able to establish an infection. Many kinds of bacteria do this with the help of very thin hairs, or pili. For instance, the E. coli strains that cause urinary tract infections depend on pili, otherwise they would get washed away during urination.  

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