Otago: Antimicrobial
resistance is recognised by Governments and international medical bodies
as a serious threat to health and lives. Dire scenarios predict that
within the next decade people will die from infections we now treat
simply with antibiotics. Professor Kettle says the overuse of
antibiotics, particularly general ones that target many types of
bacteria, has allowed a wide range of bugs to develop resistance, and
render many common antibiotics useless. One of the ways our body
fights infection is through the action of neutrophils, a type of white
blood cell. Neutrophils hunt out and kill pathogenic bacteria. However,
in some cases -not yet well understood by scientists - fatal infections
occur when neutrophils are overwhelmed or bacteria evade them. In these
situations, more neutrophils rush to the site of infection and damage
healthy tissue rather than killing the bacteria.
Professor Kettle
says unlocking the secrets of how bacteria escape from neutrophils
could be critical to combating antibiotic resistance, and is central to
his $4.8 million HRC grant.
"New antibiotics could be designed to
negate bacterial defences so that neutrophils kill bacteria normally
and stop the bacteria from causing major live threatening infections."
Over five years, Professor Kettle’s team will:
- Develop better ways to determine exactly which bacteria are responsible for an infection so the right antibiotics can be used.
- Understand how some bacteria evade neutrophils and promote serious infections.
- Identify new strategies for the development of new types of antibiotics.
Professor
David Murdoch, head of the Department of Pathology at University of
Otago Christchurch and a leader of The Infection Group research group,
will bring his clinical expertise and international links to the
research program. He plays a major role in infectious disease projects
funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Through the new program
it is hoped that this connection can be enhanced to help diagnose
pneumonia in young children from third world countries.
