back to article Microbes that laugh at antibiotics: UK sinks £4.5m into China-Brit kill team

British research councils are attempting to tackle the rising problem of microbial resistance by pumping £4.5m into six research partnerships between the UK and China. The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, The Economic and Social Research Council and the Medical Research Council will be funded under the …

  1. Swarthy
    Paris Hilton

    I wonder...

    I'm wondering if the research is into new antibiotics that aren't being resisted yet (kicking the can down the road), or if they are looking at new methodologies for attacking bacteria.

    Or are they just going to dust off some Russian research on bacteriophages?

    1. sniperpaddy

      Re: I wonder...

      Phage research is currently active. Nothing old there.

  2. FredTheBaddy

    "Antibiotics are no longer routinely given ..."

    I wish that were true. When my 3 year old had a possible infection the doctor prescribed antibiotics because "it would take about 5 days for the results of the urine test to come back - however - if you're worried you can go to A&E and they'll do a urine test and give you the result straight away".

    In other words, the antibiotics were entirely unnecessary, being prescribed purely because the doctor's surgery couldn't do something as basic as a urine test.

    1. King Jack
      Joke

      Re: "Antibiotics are no longer routinely given ..."

      @ FredTheBaddy

      "..surgery couldn't do something as basic as a urine test." Now that is what's called "taking the piss"

    2. John 110

      Re: "Antibiotics are no longer routinely given ..."

      <Microbiologist hat>

      Currently in our Lab, we use traditional culture/sensitivities methods to check urines. A negative result will be available in 24hrs. A positive result is trickier. Depending on how hard the organism is to identify and the sensitivity pattern, it can take 36 to 48hrs to give you a result.

      What a clinician does with that result is variable as well. A lot depends on how ill/frail the patient is (or how young) and whether they're immunosuppressed. The bottom (front-bottom in this case) line is that most simple UTIs clear up themselves if you drink plenty of water and the urine doesn't look like pus to start with. Persistent and chronic UTIs in the very young, the very old and the debilitated sometimes need more work/antibiotics.

      note 1: A&E will only use a dipstick and check for protein in the urine - that's not what I would call a result. That can only come from taking a sample and sending it to the lab.

      note 2: "something as basic as a urine test" (snort)

      see http://labtestsonline.org.uk/understanding/analytes/urine-culture/tab/faq/ if you can be bothered

      </Microbiologist hat>

    3. Gene Cash Silver badge

      Re: "Antibiotics are no longer routinely given ..."

      Shoot... the "doctor" at the local clinic prescribes antibiotics for a cold, which even I know is a virus and not affected by antibiotics.

      1. John 110

        Re: "Antibiotics are no longer routinely given ..."

        We have GPs based in the rougher areas who prescribes antibiotics for colds rather than try to tell some ned (that's not listening anyway) that it's not going to do any good.

        As an aside, colds can leave you susceptible to secondary infections and, depending on your physical condition, antibiotics can be useful for preventing complications.

        The whole area is a bit of a delicate balance and our Medics spend a lot of time giving antibiotic advice on the phone.

      2. x 7

        Re: "Antibiotics are no longer routinely given ..."

        " the "doctor" at the local clinic prescribes antibiotics for a cold, which even I know is a virus and not affected by antibiotics."

        except in many cases a viral respiratory infection simply acts as a lead-in precursor to a much more intense secondary bacterial infection, which may well need antibiotics to shift. I frequently do - or at least did, until I discovered the trick of taking decongestants at the first sign of a viral infection: using a phenylephrine based (or similar) drug keeps the sinuses clear and dry and stops any chance of the bacterial infection developing.

    4. Alan Brown Silver badge

      Re: "Antibiotics are no longer routinely given ..."

      Given that a bladder infection can turn life-threatening in less than 48 hours, it isn't surprising the doc took the cautious approach.

      That said, going to the local ED for a test is a better option.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Discovered when?

    "Antibiotics were discovered in the 1940s"

    Antibiotics were discovered long before the 1940s.

    Antibiotics might not have been named as such until 1942 but the discovery probably lies in the very distant past; the ancient Greeks and Egyptians used antibacterial mold and plant extracts to treat infections, albeit without understanding how they worked. On a more scientific footing, synthetic antibiotics were being developed in the late 1880s and even Fleming's 'discovery' of Penicillin was in 1928.

  4. munkiepus

    "Super gonorrhea"????

    Well that doesn't sound very super at all

    1. TheFinn

      Re: "Super gonorrhea"????

      Batman vs.....?

      1. sniperpaddy

        Re: "Super gonorrhea"????

        My biggest chuckle today. Cheers !!!

    2. The Nazz

      Re: "Super gonorrhea"????

      I felt such a drip when the Dr gave me the test results.

    3. Frumious Bandersnatch

      Re: "Super gonorrhea"????

      Reminds me of the old joke "What do you give the man who has everything? Penicillin."

      Kills 99.9% of bacteria. But they're not the ones I'm worried about ...

  5. cd

    I'm rooting for the microbes. I hear they don't have any marketers amongst their ranks.

    1. Swarthy

      Where do you think the marketeers come from?

      1. PhillW

        re: Where do you think the marketeers come from?

        that's awfully disparaging to bacteria don't you think?

  6. Professur

    Make something idiot proof ... they come up with a better idiot. Keep finding new drugs to kill bacteria .... wouldn't a better choice be to find ways to let us live with the bacteria? Evolution is an understood process, isn't it? Leave a population hole, something will fill it.

    1. Alan Brown Silver badge

      "wouldn't a better choice be to find ways to let us live with the bacteria?"

      That would entail a return to the days of having 9 kids so that 2 or 3 would survive to adulthood.

  7. Kurt Meyer

    Surprising

    China, eh?

    No research partnerships closer to home?

    1. sniperpaddy

      Re: Surprising

      ..cos Britain is off the research list.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    £4.5m

    How much research does 4.5 million buy, not a lot perhaps

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