(credit: quinn norton)

Sifting through the bacteria that inhabit our cavernous snouts, researchers came up with one that produces a new antibiotic—an antibiotic unlike any other bacteria-busting drugs known to modern medicine. That prized chemical nugget can kill off Staphylococcus aureus strains, including the dastardly methicillin resistant kind called MRSA, plus other drug-resistant foes. Though it’s still unclear how exactly the new drug slays nasal rivals, scientists are hopeful that the compound will be useful in treating deadly MRSA infections and even clearing out S. aureus from the nose before it has a chance to cause an infection.

“Nobody has found something like this before,” Bernhard Krismer, a bacteriologist at the University of Tübingen in Germany and a lead scientist for the research, said in a press briefing. The drug, along with its bacterial maker, have “a huge impact on the composition of the microbiota,” Krismer added. The full results of the nasal excavation appear in the July 28 issue of Nature.