New Delhi

When we say the word 'bacteria,' we quickly imagine disease and infections. And rightly so, because bacteria are behind many diseases that are even fatal. So for a layperson, it may be hard to imagine that there might be a natural entity which might kill a bacteria.

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Enter bacteriophages.

Bacteriophages are a group of bacteria which not only kill bacteria, but even use their mechanism to multiply own numbers. Scientists have now found that bacteriophages may come in handy to kill drug-resistant bacteria or 'superbugs'.

Whenever a bacterium finds itself in an environment low on nutrients, it goes into a sleep-mode kind of a state in which it remains alive but dormant.

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Even though they are dormant, the bacteria develop protection mechanism that protects them from bacteriophages or antibiotics.

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Till now, attempts to kill dormant bacteria using bacteriophages were unsuccessful. Researchers from the University of Basel and ETH Zurich in Switzerland have now tasted success.

"In view of the huge number of bacteriophages...I was always convinced that evolution must have produced some that can crack into dormant bacteria," says microbiologist Alexander Harms from the University of Basel.

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Harms and the team of researchers have found a new type of bacteriophage they've named Paride.

And where was this virus found? In rotting plant material inside a Swiss cemetery.

The origin may have a macabre touch to it, but Paride was found to be killing Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium that causes serious form of pneumonia.

Lab tests have reportedly found that in combination with antibiotic meropenem, Paride was able to kill 99 per cent of P aeruginosa. The team found that the combination was also effective when tried in mice.

The research has been published in journal Nature Communications.

(With inputs from agencies)