Antibiotics Combo More Effective Than Single Drug

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Having patients take the two antibiotics lankacidin and lankamycin at the same time is a more effective way to combat pathogenic bacteria than using either antibiotic on its own, a new study says.

Individually, each drug is marginally effective at fighting pathogens, said the American and Israeli researchers. However, when used together, the two antibiotics are much more likely to be effective against dangerous pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureas (MRSA), United Press International reported.

"What we found most amazing is that the two antibiotics appeared to help each other in stopping pathogens from making new proteins and in inhibiting bacterial growth," lead investigator Alexander Mankin, professor and associate director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at the University of Illinois in Chicago, said in a news release.

The study was published online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.