(Sound effect: Wall falling) Tear down that wall. I'm Bob Karson
with the discovery files--new advances in science and
engineering from the National Science Foundation. (Sound effect:
battle sounds--artillery, planes) In the war against antibiotic-
resistant infections, sometimes we run out of ammo. For example,
there are some strains of tuberculosis that are completely drug-
resistant. Since no drug works, you get it--you die. Gonorrhea--
once easily cured by antibiotics--is becoming resistant to
treatment. Staph infections take more lives in the U.S. every
year than HIV/AIDS. That's why a new compound discovered by
scientists at the University of Illinois and UC San Diego show
so much promise. The compound takes a different tack to
accomplish the same goal as antibiotics while reducing the
resistance factor. It works by targeting an enzyme not found in
human cells, but necessary for bacterial survival--disrupting
biosynthesis of the cell wall. (Sound effect: mice sounds) The
team tested the compound on mice in