Microbiologists have reportedly discovered almost one hundred ancient bacteria that are immune to modern antibiotics.
As per a National Geographic report, Microbiologists found the invulnerable bacteria on the walls of the four-million-year-old Lechuguilla cave in New Mexico.
The Lechuguilla cave is one of the longest caves of the world. In some areas of the cave, the isolated bacteria have been living as deep as 1,600 feet below the earth surface for the past millions of years.
Researchers said that these bacteria are not dangerous to humans, but stressed that they are immune to many classes of modern antibiotics.
Chemical biologist Gerry Wright said the newly discovered bacteria would help them know how disease-causing bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics.
Speaking on the topic, Wright added, “When you bring a new antibiotic into the hospital, resistance inevitably appears shortly thereafter, within months to years."
A team led by geomicrobiologist Hazel Barton was the first to enter the ancient cave to gather samples of the bacteria from its walls in 1986. The entrance of the cave was first found in 1984.
Bacteria, one of the earliest life forms on Earth, are highly-adaptable microscopic single-cell organisms. Fossil records suggest that bacteria have been present on Earth for around 3.5 billion years.
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