U.S. researchers reported Wednesday they have identified a new way to destroy anthrax that might also allow officials to detect the deadly bacteria with a hand-held device.

　The technique is based on naturally occurring bacteria-killers known as bacteriophages, a group of viruses that infect only bacteria.

　Dr. Vincent A. Fischetti and his colleagues at Rockefeller University in New York have shown that extracts of an enzyme produced by bacteriophages can destroy anthrax that has become resistant to antibiotics.

　Fischetti told Reuters that, in a few years, this technique may provide a tool to combat bioterrorists’ efforts to create antibiotic-resistant anthrax strains — as well as help fight other difficult-to-treat infections.

　In the experiments, reported in the Aug. 22 issue of the journal Nature, Fischetti and his colleagues found that the enzyme, PlyG lysin, helps destroy anthrax bacteria.

　The team infected mice with a strain of anthrax resistant to the antibiotic streptomycin. Such an infection would usually kill mice within five hours.

　However, when the mice were injected with PlyG lysin, nearly 70 percent of them fully recovered, and the others survived up to 21 hours.(SD-Agencies)