Riley Suggests How The 'Post-Antibiotic Apocalypse' Can Be Prevented

Margaret A. Riley, biology and M2M, comments in a NBC news story about how to deal with the post-antibiotic era in medicine. Riley suggests developing a new class of drugs called bacteriocins, naturally occurring compounds that can be targeted at specific germs in the body, unlike antibiotics that attack good and harmful bacteria. Riley is working to develop a special bacteriocin to deal with E. coli that causes urinary tract infections and is also working on one for tuberculosis and cystic fibrosis. The new germ-fighting bacteriocins can also be used on livestock to prevent diseases.