Infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria are difficult to treat and are responsible for over 2.8 million infections and more than 35,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. A new study in Nature Communications reports that a drug used to lower blood pressure could also be the basis of a promising new treatment for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

“MRSA commonly causes infections in both hospitals and the community. It infects people in different ways and can survive even when antibiotics are used, which makes treatment extremely difficult,” said corresponding author Eleftherios Mylonakis, M.D., Ph.D., chair, Houston Methodist Charles W. Duncan Jr. Department of Medicine.

“Scientists around the world are looking at various ways to provide treatment options outside of established antibiotics. The high cost of developing new drugs, and the time it takes to do so, led our team to explore the possibility of using existing medications, approved for other uses, to treat bacterial infections.”