Buying drugs such as Lipitor to lower cholesterol levels could prevent antibiotic resistance in H_ pylori
Maintaining a healthy cholesterol level is the priority of many Americans, some of whom buy Lipitor in order to achieve this.
Maintaining a healthy cholesterol level is the priority of many Americans, some of whom buy Lipitor in order to achieve this. A new report published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy suggests that avoiding high cholesterol could also prevent the gastrointestinal pathogen Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) from developing resistance to antibiotics.
Lead author David McGee and his colleagues from Louisiana State University explained that this bacterium affects one-third of individuals in the U.S., causing gastritis and peptic ulcers that cost approximately $10 billion to treat each year. Although antibiotic therapy is effective, more cases are being seen in which H. pylori appears to be resistant to treatment.
The researchers found that cholesterol appeared to play a role in helping the pathogen thwart the effects of drugs.
"We found that H. pylori grown with cholesterol displayed a very dramatic increase in resistance to many antibiotics," McGee said. "It would be important to learn whether we can manipulate the ability to clear H. pylori infections in animals and humans by lowering cholesterol either through dietary means or cholesterol-lowering drugs."
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