Ancient Bacterium Found in Romanian Ice Cave Shows Resistance to Modern Antibiotics
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\nResearchers in Scarisoara Ice Cave in north\u2011western Romania have discovered a 5,000\u2011year\u2011old bacterium that exhibits resistance to multiple modern antibiotics, a finding that sheds light on the ancient origins of antimicrobial resistance.<\/p>\n
The bacterial strain, identified as Psychrobacter SC65A.3, was extracted from deep within the glacier of the ice cave by a team of Romanian scientists. According to reporting by Agence France\u2011Presse and research published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, laboratory analysis showed the microbe is resistant to 10 commonly used antibiotics, despite having lived in isolation long before such drugs existed.<\/p>\n
Genome sequencing revealed the bacterium carries more than 100 genes associated with drug resistance. Researchers said the discovery demonstrates that antimicrobial resistance is a natural phenomenon that pre\u2011dates the clinical use of antibiotics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis finding shows that resistance did not begin with modern antibiotics,\u201d said Dr. Cristina Puhoaria, a biologist at the Bucharest Institute of Biology, noting that ancient microbes may hold clues about how resistance genes evolved in microbial communities over millennia.<\/p>\n
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that antimicrobial resistance is among the most serious global health threats, undermining the effectiveness of essential medicines and complicating the treatment of infections worldwide. Scientists say studying ancient resistant bacteria could improve understanding of resistance mechanisms and inform future strategies to combat drug\u2011resistant infections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ancient Bacterium Found in Romanian Ice Cave Shows Resistance to Modern Antibiotics —————————— Researchers in Scarisoara Ice Cave in north\u2011western Romania have discovered a 5,000\u2011year\u2011old bacterium that exhibits resistance to multiple modern antibiotics, a finding that sheds light on the ancient origins of antimicrobial resistance. The bacterial strain, identified as Psychrobacter SC65A.3, was extracted from …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_108372464460192_245495985553329":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[10878],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archaeology"],"yoast_head":"\n