--- title: New Mutation Makes Bacteria Resistant to Drugs description: A mutation discovered in people and livestock in China makes bacteria resistant to last-resort drugs canonical: https://time.com/4120064/mutation-bacteria-drug-resistant/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-19T13:56:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:18.223Z article:section: Health og:title: New Mutation Makes Bacteria Resistant to Drugs og:description: Will we soon have a post-antibiotic world? og:url: https://time.com/4120064/mutation-bacteria-drug-resistant/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24fc3a1e7983062d/69886f312dce012ab29e64b6/e-coli-outbreak.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5240 og:image:height: 2948 og:image:alt: E Coli og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New Mutation Makes Bacteria Resistant to Drugs twitter:description: Will we soon have a post-antibiotic world? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24fc3a1e7983062d/69886f312dce012ab29e64b6/e-coli-outbreak.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Newly Discovered Bacteria Can Resist All Antibiotics > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=3e8ce8ba-e84e-48e9-bcc1-288bf3f0e9cf&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: New Antibiotic Kills TB, MRSA Without Building Resistance [Watch (HLS stream): New Antibiotic Kills TB, MRSA Without Building Resistance](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hkSBloPw.m3u8) (1:56)  _Published 2015-01-08. Researchers published findings on teixobactin on Wednesday. The compound might hail a new line of antibiotics to which bacteria have trouble adapting._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 19, 2015 1:56 PM UTC  E.coli bacteria E.coli bacteria Ian Cuming—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 19, 2015 1:56 PM UTC A mutation discovered in people and livestock in China makes bacteria resistant to last-resort drugs. A [new report](http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099%2815%2900424-7/abstract) found bacteria resistant to colistin, a drug used when all other treatments have failed, in 16 patients, 15% of raw meat samples and a fifth of the animals tested. The mutation that made the bacteria resistant to the drug is called the MCR-1 gene, and spread resistance between various bacteria including E. coli. Prof Timothy Walsh of the University of Cardiff, who worked on the study [told BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-34857015), “All the key players are now in place to make the post-antibiotic world a reality. If MCR-1 becomes global, which is a case of when not if, and the gene aligns itself with other antibiotic resistance genes, which is inevitable, then we will have very likely reached the start of the post-antibiotic era. At that point if a patient is seriously ill, say with E. coli, then there is virtually nothing you can do.” ## Transcript Researchers believe they may have found an antibiotic that kills off even the toughest strains of bacteria without allowing that bacteria to build up a resistance. In a study published online Wednesday in the journal, Nature, researchers introduced Teixobactin, drug resistant tuberculosis, and even MRSA you see here. Died off at a rate so effective researchers figured the new compound was toxic. And wouldn't make for a useful drug when they tested it on mice. One even said he figured this was just another boring molecule. We tested that compound against mammalian cells and found that it was not toxic against mammalian cells. So then we put two and two together. And so we have something very intriguing. intriguing, indeed. Since Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, most antibiotic research has been done on the 1 % of microbes that can be tested easily in a petri dish or a lab. But researchers grew this new compound by tricking soil microbes into developing while they were still in the ground. Antibiotic resistance is one of the most serious. Health threats we face today. The CDC believes antibiotic resistant bacteria infect more than 2 million people and kill more than 23, 000 people a year. Most antibiotics attack a particular part of the bacteria cell structure, like the DNA in proteins. Or it's cell wall. But the bacteria eventually adapt to the attacks and continue their spread, stronger than before. This compound attacks two molecules crucial for the bacteria's cell wall. Meaning, even if a resistance built up for one molecule. Tyksobactin would still kill the bacteria by attacking the other, but before we declare this a super drug, experts who weren't part of the study have already cautioned bacteria developing a resistance is likely just a matter of time. One NYU professor told the Washington Post, the danger in a drug like this is that the minute it gets released. 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