Scientists in Britain have found how drug-resistant bacteria build and maintain a defensive wall — a discovery that paves the way for the development of drugs to break through the barrier and kill the often-deadly "superbugs."
In recent decades, bacteria resistant to multiple drugs, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or Clostridium difficile, have grown into a global health threat, while superbug strains of infections like tuberculosis and gonorrhea have become untreatable.
The World Health Organization has warned that many antibiotics could become useless this century, leaving patients vulnerable to deadly infections and threatening the future of medicine.