Ross and John discover how golden staph is learning to beat antibiotics

Scientists at Monash University have discovered how golden staph has learnt to conquer antibiotics.

The super-bug was put under the microscope by a research team who discovered it had become resistant to antibiotics.

Dr Matt Belousoff, Monash University scientist and lead author told 3AW Breakfast the golden staph had learnt to mutate to fight the powerful medication.

“Antibiotics are like a targeted missile, targeting bacteria that kill them, so bacteria want to avoid that at all costs, so it will mutate their DNA,” Dr Belousoff said.

He likened the fight we have with this bacteria as “war like”.

“Because there is so many bacteria in our blood system, just one with a mutation can help the super-bug beat the drugs,” he explained.

Some strains that have been found in hospitals have been resistant to incredibly strong antibiotics called, “last line antibiotics”.

The research currently relates to golden staph but can now be used to adapt to examine other bacteria.

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