Singapore, May 4 -- Scientists from A*STAR Infectious Diseases Labs (A*STAR IDL), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore's Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine), the National University of Singapore (NUS), and international collaborators have uncovered how Mycobacterium abscessus - a bacterium that causes serious lung infections - can evade bacteriophage (phage) therapy, and demonstrated a combination strategy to overcome this resistance, offering a pathway towards more effective and durable treatments.

M. abscessus infections are challenging to treat due to their intrinsic resistance to many antibiotics and are increasingly recognised as a significant public health threat. The researchers found that "smooth" strains of M....