For decades, modern medicine has relied on antibiotics as a safety net. A chest infection, a post-surgical complication, a ventilator-related pneumonia — all were problems with familiar solutions.
That confidence is now eroding, as more infections stop responding to the drugs designed to kill them.
Against this backdrop, researchers are revisiting an unexpected tool already used in hospitals, one that was never meant to fight bacteria in the first place.
When antibiotics stop working
Drug-resistant infections are rising worldwide, driven in large part by decades of antibiotic overuse.
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Health experts warn that resistance could soon make routine hospital infections far more dangerous, particularly in intensive care units.
One of the most troubling culprits is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium responsible for a significant share of hospital-acquired pneumonia cases.
It thrives in vulnerable patients and is notoriously difficult to treat once it becomes resistant to multiple drugs.
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, part of the Mass General Brigham system, are now exploring a different way to attack such infections — not with new antibiotics, but with a gas already used in critical care.
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A familiar therapy, a new purpose
Nitric oxide has long been used as an inhaled therapy to improve oxygen levels, particularly in newborns with serious heart and lung conditions.
The same research group that helped pioneer its use decades ago has now examined whether higher doses could also harm bacteria.
According to findings published in Science Translational Medicine, laboratory experiments showed that increasing doses of nitric oxide could directly kill Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Animal studies followed, with pigs suffering from experimental pneumonia showing lower bacterial levels and improved lung function after receiving high-dose inhaled nitric oxide.
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Early human signals and cautious optimism
To explore whether such doses could be used safely in people, the researchers tested repeated high-dose exposure in a small group of healthy volunteers and a limited number of critically ill patients with drug-resistant infections.
No serious safety issues were reported. Additional insight came from a review of patients who had received similar treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The researchers stress that this work does not offer an immediate clinical solution. Instead, it lays groundwork for larger trials designed to determine whether the therapy truly improves outcomes in patients with resistant lung infections.
The idea is not to replace antibiotics, but to complement them. As resistance grows, strategies that weaken bacteria without relying on traditional drugs may become an essential part of future treatment.
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Sources: News Medical and Science