Enlarge / “Brah, sloweth thy roll!” From a manuscript by early medical writer Roger of Salerno (c.1200). (credit: Getty | Hulton Archive)

An ancient bacterium known for devastating and disfiguring its victims has turned to frantically ravaging its own genome to maintain its killer status, according to a new study.

Arran Reeve, suffering from leprosy, circa 1886. (credit: Pierre Arents)

Strains of Mycobacterium leprae—the main bacterium behind leprosy*—are hypermutating in an apparent effort to thwart modern therapies and become extensively drug resistant. Researchers made the alarming discovery in a survey of 154 M. leprae genomes collected from 25 countries. The survey, published recently in Nature Communications, offers a rare genetic glimpse of the ancient, yet cryptic, bacterium, which still manages to cause 200,000 new cases worldwide each year.

The international team of researchers, led by Stewart Cole of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, noted that the hypermutating state “likely favors the emergence of drug resistance.” But, there’s a catch. Because M. leprae already has a concise genome, it also “could be detrimental and ultimately lethal,” he and his team write. Basically, the revved-up mutation rate could haphazardly damage genes essential for survival.

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That’s important because aviation is a huge contributor of greenhouse gas emissions. Aircraft account for 12 percent of US transportation greenhouse gas emissions, and the International Civil Aviation Organization suggests carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted by aircraft account for two percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions. Most of those emissions occur as the airplane is taking off or landing.

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The memo and a related slide deck, published yesterday by Axios, suggests that the Trump administration is considering a surprising shift from privately operated networks to nationalized infrastructure. The presentation carries the title, “Secure 5G: The Eisenhower National Highway System for the Information Age.”

Industry lobby groups and all five members of the Federal Communications Commission have already criticized the suggestion, saying that the US should continue to rely on private industry and that carriers are already building 5G networks.