One-two punch to fight superbugs identified

​Toronto: Researchers have found an effective combination therapy to treat the world's worst infectious diseases - the superbugs that are resistant to all known antibiotics.

The advance has the potential to change medical practice for the treatment of drug resistant infections which the World Health Organisation (WHO) last week identified as of "critical priority" for their threat to human health, researchers said.

The team focused on Gram-negative bacteria which are resistant to all antibiotics including last resort drugs, such as colistin, and lead to pneumonia, wound or surgical site and bloodstream infections, as well as meningitis in healthcare settings.

Gram-negative bacteria have an intrinsically impenetrable outer shell that is a barrier to many otherwise effective antibiotics, and this makes these infections deadly, particularly in hospital settings.

The scientists discovered the antiprotozoal drug pentamidine disrupts the cell surface of Gram-negative bacteria, even the most resistant.

The anti-fungal medication was particularly potent when used with antibiotics against multidrug resistant bacteria.