4 ms·

This isn't particularly surprising, I'm not sure why this is "big news". Many antibiotics are naturally occurring and fairly common

• ars 13y ago
  Many? I believe all of them are based on antibiotics found in nature. They have been modified somewhat for various reasons (including patents), but the basic action hasn't changed.
  • aroch 13y ago
    Not all, there are a bunch of commercial, synthetic antibiotics. I can think of a few that aren't even sold for their antibiotic properties but instead because of other beneficial effects such as depression treatment (MAOI)
    • deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
    • ars 13y ago
      MAOI led me to oxazolidinone which is indeed synthetic, so I stand corrected. Still very rare to have a synthetic antibiotic, but I guess it does exist.