<p>British scientists have developed an antibiotic from human breast milk that can combat certain drug-resistant bacteria known as superbugs.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The breakthrough opens a new front in the fight against superbugs, a threat that Prime Minister David Cameron has warned could plunge modern medicine "back into the Dark Ages".<br /><br />According to a report in The Times, a panel set up by Cameron to tackle antibiotic-resistant bugs forecast that they would cost the world ten million lives and 700 billion pounds a year by 2050 if the problem went unchecked.<br /><br />At present the infections kill about 700,000 people each year, including at least 10,000 in the UK.<br /><br />Unlike most conventional antibiotics, the new drug attacks the basic biology of bacteria in a way that makes it almost impossible for them to evolve defences.<br /><br />Developed at the National Physical Laboratory in southwest London, the drug can tear bacteria apart within a fraction of a second.<br /><br />It could also be used to treat genetic diseases such as sickle-cell anaemia by rewriting a cell's DNA, its inventors said.<br /><br />Scientists rigged up part of the protein into an artificial virus that rapidly bursts bacteria while leaving human cells alone.<br /><br />The drug acts as a microscopic "projectile", killing infectious bugs such as E.coli and Staphylococcus aureus at a rate comparable to established antibiotics.<br /><br />The findings were appeared in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal. </p>
<p>British scientists have developed an antibiotic from human breast milk that can combat certain drug-resistant bacteria known as superbugs.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The breakthrough opens a new front in the fight against superbugs, a threat that Prime Minister David Cameron has warned could plunge modern medicine "back into the Dark Ages".<br /><br />According to a report in The Times, a panel set up by Cameron to tackle antibiotic-resistant bugs forecast that they would cost the world ten million lives and 700 billion pounds a year by 2050 if the problem went unchecked.<br /><br />At present the infections kill about 700,000 people each year, including at least 10,000 in the UK.<br /><br />Unlike most conventional antibiotics, the new drug attacks the basic biology of bacteria in a way that makes it almost impossible for them to evolve defences.<br /><br />Developed at the National Physical Laboratory in southwest London, the drug can tear bacteria apart within a fraction of a second.<br /><br />It could also be used to treat genetic diseases such as sickle-cell anaemia by rewriting a cell's DNA, its inventors said.<br /><br />Scientists rigged up part of the protein into an artificial virus that rapidly bursts bacteria while leaving human cells alone.<br /><br />The drug acts as a microscopic "projectile", killing infectious bugs such as E.coli and Staphylococcus aureus at a rate comparable to established antibiotics.<br /><br />The findings were appeared in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal. </p>