A new MEGA SUPERBUG

As if on cue, the media is abuzz with a new dire threat. This time there is a mega superbug called MDR-acinetobacter. The good news is that David Paterson of the University of Queensland, has a new Australian government grant to assist in the development of new antimicrobials. He has received $2 million over 5 years to study this Mega Superbug. That's a new term for me. Perhaps if we have antibiotics to treat the infection they are just superbugs but if there are no effective antibiotics it becomes a mega superbug. I think someone should write a guideline to clarify this - but that would also take a $2 million grant, I suspect. There is a nice picture of David here for those of you, like me, who miss seeing him since he left Pittsburgh. I hope there is funding at NIH that can assist in drug discovery for MDR-Gram negative rods, since we don't have many options currently.