this curious life

Scientists are hunting for so-called 'superbugs' in Australian livestock and pets.

"We're currently establishing a network of university-based, private and government veterinary microbiology laboratories throughout Australia that can supply us with the bacteria isolated from animal infections. These will give us a good indication of how prevalent antibiotic resistance is in our animal populations.

"We expect our study will confirm that Australia has low rates of resistance to important classes of drug in these key animal pathogens, relative to other countries, which will be good news for our exporters".

TUBERCULOSIS is hardly a new scourge. Lately, however, the disease—caused by bacteria that travel through air and attack the lungs—has become much harder to treat.

'In total, 43.7% of the 1,278 patients did not respond to at least one so-called second-line drug, used when the most popular medicines fail. The results varied widely from one country to another. In Thailand the figure was 33.3%; in Latvia a staggering 62% of samples showed resistance.'