Groundwork with new antibiotic

– Scientists have discovered a new antibiotic that is highly effective against bacteria resistant to known antimicrobials, which was found in a soil sample taken in Italy.

Named pseudouridimycin, or PUM, the new antibiotic is produced by a microbe found in the soil.

It has killed a wide range of bacteria in laboratory tests and cured mice infected with scarlet fever.

Details of the discovery were published in the US scientific journal, Cell. – AFP