JERUSALEM, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Israeli scientists have discovered that some bacteria can survive antibiotics in more than one way, helping explain why infections sometimes return after treatment, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said in a statement on Friday.
According to the researchers, understanding bacteria's different survival strategies could lead to more effective treatments.
Antibiotics are designed to kill harmful bacteria, but in many cases, a small number manage to survive and cause illness again later.
This problem affects common conditions, including urinary tract infections and infections tied to medical implants.
For many years, scientists believed that surviving bacteria simply went to sleep, making antibiotics that target growing bacteria less effective.
The new study, published in Science Advances, shows that this is only part of the picture, finding two different survival strategies.
In the first strategy, bacteria deliberately slow down and enter a protected resting state.
In the second strategy, bacteria survive in a damaged and disordered condition. These cells are neither calm nor protected, and instead, their normal systems break down, especially the outer membrane that holds the cell together.
This discovery helps explain why earlier studies often produced conflicting results, as scientists were unknowingly observing different types of surviving bacteria.
The researchers noted that doctors may use one approach to target sleeping bacteria and a different one to attack damaged ones.
By tailoring treatments this way, future therapies could more effectively clear infections and reduce the risk of relapse worldwide, they concluded.
