Facing a future in which current antibiotics are useless, two new scientific approaches may help build back our defenses against deadly bacteria. Though the human body contains trillions of bacteria and (usually) remains healthy, many bacteria continue to evolve to outsmart current antibiotic medications. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC), warns that we’re buying time on the biological clock and that current medications soon will not be able to cure people of life-threatening infections. “Many people see antimicrobial resistance as a threat to someone else,” he said during a press conference last month. “Without more action now, more patients will be thrust back to … a post-antibacterial era.” Two newly published papers show that the next generation of bacteria-killers is on the horizon, including a treatment for deadly bacteria affecting military personnel in the Middle East and the highly infectious hospital superbug Clostridium difficile (C. diff). Learn More: 6 Surprising Facts About the Microbes in Your Gut »

PPMOs: A New Approach to Fighting Bacteria Researchers at Oregon State University and other institutions say bacteria’s new worst enemy may be a peptide-conjugated phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer, or PPMO. These lab-synthesized forms of DNA or RNA can silence specific genetic targets, and researchers say they function better than a standard antibiotic without the risk of bacteria becoming resistant to them. Researchers tested PPMOs against infections in animals caused by two strains of Acinetobacter, which is affecting overseas troops. Researchers say the PPMOs performed better than broad-spectrum antibiotics against A. baumannii, which can cause respiratory infections and sepsis and can be deadly to people with a weakened immune system. Unlike antibiotics, which attack a bacteria cell’s function and can cause other side effects, PPMOs disrupt the bacteria’s genes. Issues of toxicity need to be addressed in further testing before PPMOs can be used in humans, the researchers said. “The mechanism that PPMOs use to kill bacteria is revolutionary,” lead author Bruce Geller, a microbiology professor at Oregon State, said in a statement. “Molecular medicine is the way of the future.” The research was published in the latest issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases. Get the Facts About the Flu »