MRSA Notes

I swear I already wrote about this, but for the life of me, I cannot find it in my archives here at MRSA Notes. Regardless, it was back in the news last week, so here we go again on a topic that I am not sure how I feel about.

London researchers have gained approval to test on humans a new class of antibiotic that, when used in conjunction with another antibiotic, will reduce treatment times from 7-10 days to only a day or two.

Clive Page, professor of pharmacology at King’s College London, one of the researchers, is quoted by BBC News as saying, “It [HT61] may lead us to providing a combination of drugs — one to target the dividing bacteria and one to target the persistent form. [Source]

While it would be wonderful to not have to have so many days of antibiotic treatment, I just wonder what is lost in the exchange. Is 1-2 days going to be enough time to thoroughly kill the bacteria? Are more people going to be taking antibiotics that don’t need them because a 1-2 day treatment is “no big deal?”

Can you think of other reasons this might not be a great thing? Are you totally convinced this IS a great thing? Why?

MRSA, MRSA Drugs, Research and Development

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