<story><title>Polymers capable of killing bacteria without inducing antibiotic resistance</title><url>https://today.tamu.edu/2023/12/21/texas-am-team-develops-polymers-that-can-kill-bacteria/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>onetimeuse92304</author><text>The problem with killing bacteria isn&amp;#x27;t that we are lacking ways to do so. Steeping them in a strong acid should make sure they are killed and they should not find a way to develop resistance to a strong acid.&lt;p&gt;The problem is we want to kill them, while in human body, without causing too much detriment to the host.&lt;p&gt;To do this, we essentially need to develop something that will cause serious harm to the bacteria and yet not harm human cells. This means exploiting various differences between bacteria and humans.&lt;p&gt;A polymer that kills cell walls indiscriminately is hardly an acceptable solution for a human. Yes, bacteria may not be able to gain resistance to it but also it can&amp;#x27;t ever be used on a real human because mass cell death will cause too much damage to the human.&lt;p&gt;And &amp;quot;solving the problem of selectivity&amp;quot; will cause bacteria to be able to find their resistance eventually. Because if it is possible to escape your cell wall getting disrupted because you have specific DNA -- a bacteria can gain resistance.&lt;p&gt;I am firmly of the opinion it is not possible to develop an antibiotic guaranteeing the bacteria will not be able to gain resistance to it.&lt;p&gt;Simply -- the resistance can be had as evidenced by human cells. And the genetic material is abundantly available to the bacteria -- they are pretty much surrounded by it while in our bodies. There is always going to be non-zero chance for resistance to be acquired by a cell and then spread to the offspring.</text></comment>
<story><title>Polymers capable of killing bacteria without inducing antibiotic resistance</title><url>https://today.tamu.edu/2023/12/21/texas-am-team-develops-polymers-that-can-kill-bacteria/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>gentleman11</author><text>&amp;gt; without inducing antibiotic resistance&lt;p&gt;Isn&amp;#x27;t that a way of saying &amp;quot;no bacteria can ever adapt to this method of killing them&amp;quot;? Won&amp;#x27;t at least 0.1% of them find a way to survive, and gradually adapt to this as well?</text></comment>