Here’s a hint–there are three errors here (answers below the fold):
Here they are:
- Let’s get the grammar mistake out of the way: it’s “polyamines”, not “polyamine’s.” Don’t news agencies have people who check this sort of thing?
- Technically, ‘polyamine’ isn’t incorrect as polymyxin antibiotics are polyamines, but so are a lot of other things that have nothing to do with antibiotics.
- Then there’s the whopper: ‘colitis.’ Nope. Colitis is a disease involving the inflammation of the colon. The antibiotic the article is discussing is colistin.
Jeepers.
If you want to read more about this, I have posts here and here.
mikethemadbiologist
In fact, there’s a fourth. The word “a” is missing before “new gene” in the first line.
Like you, I’m appalled that Reuters should be so sloppy. And I fell around at the thought of colitis being an antibiotic. Why in heck are they putting journalists who’re clearly completely scientifically illiterate onto the task of writing science articles? Or, just possibly, is this a case of berserk spellchecking software “correcting” “obvious errors” like “colistin”?
They’ve got a point. It would be frankly alarming if you could buy colitis online without a prescription.