Modern superbugs have become distressing to science, as the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated.
We have come far as a species, but as our food and drinks are changing, new superbugs have been found that laugh in the face of our best medicines and treatments. This has led scientists around the world to search our past for answers to our new medical issues that have arisen over the past few decades.
How can a frozen bacterium hold the answers we are looking for?
How looking to the past could save our future
Medical science has come a long way in a very short time indeed.
At first, “laughing gas” or nitrous oxide was used purely for entertainment purposes, but over time, the medical treatment possibilities of the gas became clear as it became a major part of any medical treatment or operation.
We think back on doctors using leeches for medical procedures, before the advent of new types of pharmaceutical drugs to replace them.
Even something as important as Penicillin was discovered by accident when a scientist found that a fungus killed off bacteria in petri dishes. This one seemingly innocuous mistake led to one of the most important developments in medical science.
The COVID-19 wake-up call: Scientists have been galvanized
The pandemic forever altered our understanding of how quickly bacteria can traverse huge distances to affect millions, even billions of people.
Science now knows with no doubt that handwashing is of the utmost importance to human health. This builds on the long-held belief that by simply washing your hands, you can avert disastrous medical issues.
Our technological progress has led to developments from sci-fi movies becoming an actual possibility.
Science has led us down a path to studying the tiniest forms of life to reveal how and what we could learn from the microscopic world that surrounds us. Bacteria can be both a curse and a savior as science deepens our understanding of them.
Teams of researchers have dived deep into our oceans to study the smallest forms of life that may hold a treasure trove of secrets waiting to be unearthed.
However, a recent study has been undertaken to study how one frozen bacterium may hold the answers to the superbugs that dominate our lives at the moment.
The 5,000-year-old drug-resistant secret trapped under the ice
An original research project undertaken has found that an ancient bacterium may hold answers to our superbug problems.
The study, “First genome sequence and functional profiling of Psychrobacter SC65A.3 preserved in 5,000-year-old cave ice: insights into ancient resistome, antimicrobial potential, and enzymatic activities,” published in Frontiers, has made an astonishing finding.
The study revealed that a 5,000-year-old bacterium discovered in Romania is a multidrug-resistant organism.
That means that the bacterium is resistant to ten different antibiotics across eight different classes. It produces its own antimicrobial compounds that may be the answer to dealing with the superbugs of modern-day society.
How the ancient bacterium can change the way we treat superbugs
As one recent study has proven, the smallest of organisms can have far-reaching implications for science, and this one has the same potential.
The study finds that an ancient cold-adapted bacterium may offer us a new source of antimicrobial compounds that are unaffected by the multitude of superbugs that have become a major concern for science.
The study provides significant insight into how natural resistomes can guide the next-generation of medical treatments in our world.
Digging up ancient sites can reveal a whole world of forgotten information that could play a vital role in advancing medical and scientific theories for years to come.