Bacteria and virus partners up to protect themselves from immune cells, a breakthrough discovery.

Antibiotic resistance has always been one of the biggest threats to humanities. Most of the bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics. The antibiotics that we are using are not effective against bacteria anymore. Discovery of new antibiotics is the solution to this problem, but there has been only one antibiotic discovered in the last 20 years.

The scientist has found out that antibiotic-resistant bacteria use a virus in evading the immune response, a breakthrough discovery. When a virus-infected bacteria were subjected to immune response, the phagocytes digest some of the bacteria but sent signals to other immune cells to digest only the virus. Thus, the rest of the bacteria were saved from an immune attack. However since the virus is protected inside the bacteria, the immune cells could not recognize them and were safe from the immune response. This is how Virus and Bacteria coexist together helping each other in survival.

References:
1. Bacteriophage trigger antiviral immunity and prevent clearance of bacterial infection

Science 29 Mar 2019:

Vol. 363, Issue 6434,

http://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat9691

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