So, we’ve all heard about how bacteria are starting to adapt to our antibiotics, right? (It’s standard-issue survival of the fittest stuff–the bacteria that can best survive antibiotics survive and reproduce, leading to more antibiotic resistant bacteria.)
Well, apparently, there are now bacteria that literally eat our antibiotics. The bacteria cited in the article can, if necessary, live only on antibiotics.
The good news is that these bacteria aren’t the kind that attack humans, but the bad news is that they’re “closely related to those that cause cystic fibrosis (Burkholderia cepacia) and blood infections (Serratia marcescens).”
On the one hand it’s terrible, because as we continue to overuse antibiotics and antibacterial soaps and the like, this is going to happen faster and faster until the antibiotic-resistant strains of our most dreaded diseases are the most common strains. On the other hand, it’s fascinating to hear about these new strains of bacteria evolving right before our eyes.