Pitting one germ against the other, researchers said on Monday they had developed at least two new methods of fighting infection without the use of antibiotics. One method uses a deadly enzyme made by viruses called bacteriophages that precisely execute bacteria, and another uses compounds made by one bacteria to shut down another without actually killing it. Each illustrates potential new ways to fight the growing problem of superbugs -- bacteria that have mutated the ability to resist most or even all of the antibiotics used against them. They might also work against biological agents such as anthrax, the researchers told a meeting sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology. A single squirt of the bacteria-killing enzyme may keep an infected person from sneezing out bacteria for up to a week, said Dr. Vincent Fischetti of Rockefeller University in New York.
