Old antibiotic could target superbugs

A 60-YEAR-OLD antibiotic has been modified to make it 1,000 times more powerful than the original drug.

Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in the U.S. have re-engineered vancomycin so that it fights bacteria in three different ways, making it much harder for bugs to develop resistance against it, the PNAS journal reports.

The researchers, who tested the drug in the lab against vancomycin-resistant enterococci bacteria, hope it will be available within five years. The World Health Organisation has warned antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health.