Antibiotics from Dirt Can Combat Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotics are often used to fight illnesses caused by bacterial infections such as strep throat and meningitis. Currently, there is a serious health threat caused by bacteria that have become resistant to these antibiotics around the world, making bacterial infections much more difficult to treat. The Tiny Earth project is a program that uses students around the world to join the fight against antibiotic resistance. Working with Tiny Earth in my microbiology class, I was able to isolate a strain of bacteria from the soil in my backyard which produces antibiotics with promising results in fighting many different ESKAPE pathogen relatives. With further testing, this bacterial strain could be proven to be effective in fighting the antibiotic resistance crisis.