IT IS getting harder to treat acne because the bacterium that causes it is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics. However, adding viruses that kill this bacterium to acne treatments could restore their effectiveness, an animal study suggests.
“I myself have suffered from acne,” says Amit Rimon at the Israeli Phage Therapy Center, based at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “It might be cosmetic, but it can have a major psychological impact.”
Certain strains of Cutibacterium acnes are thought to be the main cause of acne, often treated with antibiotics applied to the skin or swallowed as a pill, or both. But these standard treatments are becoming less effective as C. acnes gains resistance to these drugs.
So Rimon and his colleagues isolated eight different types of bacteriophages, viruses that infect and kill various…
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New Scientist (Digital) - 1 Issue, 23-Apr-22