Superbugs cultivated in a laboratory. A team led by researchers from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) has made an important breakthrough in the battle against superbugs and their resistance to multiple drugs, the council said. The scientists have designed molecules that can break the cellular mechanisms which result in these bacteria becoming unaffected by conventional antibiotics. In recent decades, drug-resistant bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile, have become a global health threat, while superbug strains of infections such as tuberculosis and gonorrhoea are now untreatable.