Bacteria Talk to Each Other

Although the mosquito-borne Zika disease is a virus, its spread draws attention to how quickly illnesses from viruses or bacteria can be carried throughout the world. As many have observed, walls cannot keep diseases from entering any country.

     Earlier posts, "Infection-Killing Bugs and Antibiotics" and "Global Search for New Antibiotics," have looked at various ideas for overcoming the growing resistance infections are showing to cures from existing antibiotics. Research by Helen E. Blackwell, a chemistry professor at the University of Wisconsin, adds to these findings.

     Blackwell has learned bacteria send chemical signals to each other. These signals can cause bacteria, which are simple, tiny organisms with short life spans, to sense a quorum, meaning to form a group big enough to infect an animal or help a plant.

     Once Blackwell discovered the communication properties of bacteria, she began tinkering with their signals in order to block their ability to cause infections. She also notes it could be possible to cause bacteria to start conversations that would do good things for their hosts.

     I was interested to read in The Guardian (November 20, 2015) that, not only can one person catch an infection from another, but Chinese scientists have discovered a gene in a ring of DNA that passes resistance to the antibiotic, colistin, along with bacterial infections. In other words, in this case, humans infected with bacteria from other humans also are infected with resistance to one particular antibiotic cure.