This enables germs to go under the radar and avoid being picked up by drugs.
According to the authors of the report, this is the first time bacteria have been shown to change their form inside the human body. They do so dropping their cell wall —the primary target of several classes of antibiotics. This enables germs to go under the radar, and avoid being picked up by drugs, although it can leave them more vulnerable to the human immune system.
"This gives them a regular shape , making them strong and protecting them but also makes them highly visible—particularly to human immune system and antibiotics like penicillin," she explained. Mickiewicz and her team came to this conclusion after analyzing samples taken from elderly patients suffering from recurring urinary tract infections . Twenty-nine of the 30 samples analyzed contained bacteria that had changed shape—though the precise strain of bacteria varied. L-forms E. coli, Enterococcus, Enterobacter and Staphylococcus were detected.has shown that L-form switching can be triggered by the immune system, but it is antibiotic treatment that seems to be the more common cause.
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